LIMENES. The terminology of the Mediterranean ports of the Roman Empire as documented in the literary sources [In two volumes]

Abstract

This research forms part of the Portus Limen Project, which investigates Mediterranean port networks in the Roman Empire. The aim of my research is to investigate the precise semantic and pragmatic implications of the Greek and Latin terms referring to ports or anchorages, especially in relation to one another: what does each harbour form require? Where is it located? What are its singularities in relation to other harbour forms?

My research represents an ontological approach to the study of the Greek and Roman port terminology. A literature review is included, where I discuss the relevant modern research methods. However, this review appears twofold, due to the novelty of combining linguistics research with archaeological finds – two disciplines that are rarely combined with one another. Next, I describe my methodology, based on text mining, decomponential analysis and prototype theory applied to ancient Greek and Latin texts as the only direct testimonies of speech acts in those languages. This leads me to the exposition of all relevant data as far as possible for the period and for the space chosen. I discuss in the first place the usage of each harbour term in isolation in order to seek its prototype. Secondly, I include two case-studies in order to verify if the conclusions reached in the theoretical discussion do apply in the realities on land, and how the different harbour terms co-exist and interact with one another by means of particular sites. Finally, I provide further discussion on the ontological relations between different port terms. In the end, I hope I am offering satisfactory conclusions on the semantics and pragmatics as to the usage of ancient Greek and Latin harbour terms, as well as some ideas for future work.

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