Alex Mullen
Biographic Data
| ID | 5639726 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alex Mullen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alex |
| FAMILY NAME | Mullen |
| SIGNATURE | MULLEN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Nottingham |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9110-4678 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 4 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Cursing and curse tablets in the Roman West
I Captivated by cursesI curse Tretia Maria and her life and mind and memory and liver, lungs, guts, words, thoughts, memory so she cannot speak about secret things 1 RIB I 7
Epigraphy and Literacy in the Iberian Peninsula
This article pays homage to the international cooperation and interdisciplinarity that have characterised the first 50 years of the Palaeohispanic congresses. It presents some of the highlights and lessons learnt from working on the epigraphy and writing equipment of the Iberian peninsula in the context of a recent project, LatinNow, which explored Latinization, local languages, and literacies. We acknowledge the gap between ‘historical grand nar…
Latinization, Local Languages, and Literacies in the Roman West
This volume explores Latinization, local languages, and literacies in the Roman West, focusing on the Iberian Peninsula, Gaul, the Germanies, and Britain in the later Iron Age and Roman period. We use a combination of various sets of evidence and an interdisciplinary—historical, archaeological, sociolinguistic, and epigraphic—perspective to uncover local voices. The results and arguments draw on the importance of context, local communities, and r…
Slavery on the Northern Frontier
A Roman stylus tablet discovered at Vindolanda in 2014 preserves the partial text of a deed-of-sale for an enslaved person, only the second such document from Britain. This article presents the results of multiple techniques used to reveal the almost illegible text and proposes a restoration of the format of the document and its lost content, based on more complete examples from Italy and around the Empire. We examine the late first-century archa…
Languages and Communities in the Late-Roman and Post-Imperial Western Provinces
Languages are central to the creation and expression of identities and cultures, as well as to life itself, yet the linguistic variegation of the later-Roman and post-imperial period in the Roman West is remarkably understudied. A deeper understanding of this important issue is crucial to any reconstruction of the broader story of linguistic continuity and change in Europe and the Mediterranean, as well as to the history of the communities who wr…
Multilingualism and History
We often hear that our world 'is more multilingual than ever before', but is it true? This book shatters that cliché. It is the first volume to shine light on the millennia-long history of multilingualism as a social, institutional and demographic phenomenon. Its fifteen chapters, written in clear, accessible language by prominent historians, classicists, and sociolinguists, span the period from the third century BC to the present day, and range …
Language Shift, Attitudes and Management in the Roman West
To explain Latinization of the Roman West, scholars have long searched for evidence of a language policy mandating the use of Latin. They have found none under the Principate. The Roman centre was not interested in policies involving all its subjects, and elite Romans were uninterested in languages other than Latin and Greek and had no concerns about their use, as long as the Empire’s functioning remained intact. Indeed, it is not clear that any …
A Scato-sexual Message
The Secundinus stone, with its combination of carved phallus and text, was found in 2022 in excavations within the stone fort at Vindolanda. We consider comparanda for the imagery from Vindolanda, Britannia and further afield, and textual parallels particularly from Pompeii. We offer several possible interpretations of the object and prefer an analysis which takes the text, SECVNDINVS CACOR, as it is carved. This interpretation would add an other…
Social Factors in the Latinization of the Roman West
Latinization is a strangely overlooked topic. Historians have noted it has been ‘taken for granted’ and viewed as an unremarkable by-product of ‘Romanization’, despite its central importance for understanding the Roman provincial world, its life and languages. This volume aims to fill the gap in our scholarship, along with its sister volumes, Latinization, Local Languages and Literacies in the Roman West and Languages and Communities in the Late-…
Gaulish
Gaulish is a language in the Celtic language family, documented in Gaul (France and surrounding territories) from around the 2nd century BC and through the Roman period. It is transmitted primarily in Greek (Gallo-Greek) and Latin (Gallo-Latin) script, with a small number of Gaulish texts also attested in the Etruscan alphabet in Italy (Gallo-Etruscan) and with Gaulish names found in Iberian script. In this article we detail current knowledge of …
The Language of Roman Letters
Roman letters demonstrate that language has imperium: the power to resolve problems, to negotiate relationships and to construct identities. This book combines sociolinguistic and historical approaches to explore how that power is deployed by the bilingual elite of the Roman Republic and Empire, offering the first systematic analysis of Greek code-switches in the letters of Cicero, Pliny, Marcus Aurelius and Fronto and in the Lives of Suetonius. …
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages form a sub‐group of Indo‐European languages which, in Antiquity, were spoken widely on the Continent, Britain, and Ireland, but which are now largely restricted to the British Isles and Brittany. In Antiquity, the Celtic languages are attested directly in local epigraphies (Celtiberian, Gallo‐Greek, Gallo‐Latin, Gallo‐Etruscan, Lepontic) and indirectly through names and linguistic features in Latin, Greek, and other sources.
Language of Roman Letters
Gender Bias and the Journal of Roman Studies
Reflecting on present unease about structural biases in the discipline, and aiming to offer a data-rich response to some recent criticisms of this Journal , the Editorial Board has undertaken a study of the representation of female scholars in the Journal of Roman Studies . To that end, we have gathered data on publications, submissions and JRS Editorial Board membership for the past fifteen years, from Volume 95 (2005) through to the present vol…
Sociolinguistics
This chapter begins by considering the motivations for undertaking sociolinguistic studies and discusses the range and quality of evidence that can be marshalled for early Britain. The pre-Roman linguistic situation and the advent and spread of Latin are assessed using linguistic and archaeological evidence, and the extent and nature of Latin–Celtic bilingualism across time, space, and social levels explored. A presentation of the long-standing d…
Why diachronicity matters in the study of linguistic landscapes
It is commonly argued that the proliferation of urban writing known as linguistic landscapes represents “a thoroughly contemporary global trend” (Coupland, 2010: 78). The purpose of this paper is to show that linguistic landscapes are by no means modern phenomena and to draw on our shared interest in multilingual empires to highlight the importance of diachronic inquiry and productive dialog between sociolinguists of modern and ancient societies.…
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages form a sub‐group of Indo‐European languages which, in Antiquity, were spoken widely on the Continent, Britain, and Ireland.
Multilingualism in the Graeco-Roman Worlds
Through words and images employed both by individuals and by a range of communities across the Graeco-Roman worlds, this book explores the complexity of multilingual representations of identity. Starting with the advent of literacy in the Mediterranean, it encompasses not just the Greek and Roman empires but also the transformation of the Graeco-Roman world under Islam and within the medieval mind. By treating a range of materials, contexts, lang…
Opening the Frontier
The frontier between Gubbio (ancient Umbria) and Perugia (ancient Etruria), in the northeast part of the modern region of Umbria, was founded in the late sixth century bc . The frontier endured in different forms, most notably in the late antique and medieval periods, as well as fleetingly in 1944, and is fossilized today in the local government boundaries. Archaeological, documentary and philological evidence are brought together to investigate …
Linguistic Evidence for ‘Romanization’
Based on a new online database of Celtic personal names, this research demonstrates how the study of Romano-British onomastics can shed light on the complexities of linguistic and cultural contacts, complementing archaeological material and literary sources. After an introductory section on methodology, Part One analyses naming formulae and expressions of filiation as evidence for both continuity and change dependent on social and geographical fa…
Opening the Frontier
The frontier between Gubbio (ancient Umbria) and Perugia (ancient Etruria), in the northeast part of the modern region of Umbria, was founded in the late sixth century bc . The frontier endured in different forms, most notably in the late antique and medieval periods, as well as fleetingly in 1944, and is fossilized today in the local government boundaries. Archaeological, documentary and philological evidence are brought together to investigate …
Gender Bias and the Journal of Roman Studies
Reflecting on present unease about structural biases in the discipline, and aiming to offer a data-rich response to some recent criticisms of this Journal , the Editorial Board has undertaken a study of the representation of female scholars in the Journal of Roman Studies . To that end, we have gathered data on publications, submissions and JRS Editorial Board membership for the past fifteen years, from Volume 95 (2005) through to the present vol…
Linguistic Evidence for ‘Romanization’
Based on a new online database of Celtic personal names, this research demonstrates how the study of Romano-British onomastics can shed light on the complexities of linguistic and cultural contacts, complementing archaeological material and literary sources. After an introductory section on methodology, Part One analyses naming formulae and expressions of filiation as evidence for both continuity and change dependent on social and geographical fa…
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages form a sub‐group of Indo‐European languages which, in Antiquity, were spoken widely on the Continent, Britain, and Ireland.
Multilingualism in the Graeco-Roman Worlds
Through words and images employed both by individuals and by a range of communities across the Graeco-Roman worlds, this book explores the complexity of multilingual representations of identity. Starting with the advent of literacy in the Mediterranean, it encompasses not just the Greek and Roman empires but also the transformation of the Graeco-Roman world under Islam and within the medieval mind. By treating a range of materials, contexts, lang…
Opening the Frontier
The frontier between Gubbio (ancient Umbria) and Perugia (ancient Etruria), in the northeast part of the modern region of Umbria, was founded in the late sixth century bc . The frontier endured in different forms, most notably in the late antique and medieval periods, as well as fleetingly in 1944, and is fossilized today in the local government boundaries. Archaeological, documentary and philological evidence are brought together to investigate …
Sociolinguistics
This chapter begins by considering the motivations for undertaking sociolinguistic studies and discusses the range and quality of evidence that can be marshalled for early Britain. The pre-Roman linguistic situation and the advent and spread of Latin are assessed using linguistic and archaeological evidence, and the extent and nature of Latin–Celtic bilingualism across time, space, and social levels explored. A presentation of the long-standing d…
Why diachronicity matters in the study of linguistic landscapes
It is commonly argued that the proliferation of urban writing known as linguistic landscapes represents “a thoroughly contemporary global trend” (Coupland, 2010: 78). The purpose of this paper is to show that linguistic landscapes are by no means modern phenomena and to draw on our shared interest in multilingual empires to highlight the importance of diachronic inquiry and productive dialog between sociolinguists of modern and ancient societies.…
The Language of Roman Letters
Roman letters demonstrate that language has imperium: the power to resolve problems, to negotiate relationships and to construct identities. This book combines sociolinguistic and historical approaches to explore how that power is deployed by the bilingual elite of the Roman Republic and Empire, offering the first systematic analysis of Greek code-switches in the letters of Cicero, Pliny, Marcus Aurelius and Fronto and in the Lives of Suetonius. …
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages form a sub‐group of Indo‐European languages which, in Antiquity, were spoken widely on the Continent, Britain, and Ireland, but which are now largely restricted to the British Isles and Brittany. In Antiquity, the Celtic languages are attested directly in local epigraphies (Celtiberian, Gallo‐Greek, Gallo‐Latin, Gallo‐Etruscan, Lepontic) and indirectly through names and linguistic features in Latin, Greek, and other sources.
Language of Roman Letters
Gender Bias and the Journal of Roman Studies
Reflecting on present unease about structural biases in the discipline, and aiming to offer a data-rich response to some recent criticisms of this Journal , the Editorial Board has undertaken a study of the representation of female scholars in the Journal of Roman Studies . To that end, we have gathered data on publications, submissions and JRS Editorial Board membership for the past fifteen years, from Volume 95 (2005) through to the present vol…
Gaulish
Gaulish is a language in the Celtic language family, documented in Gaul (France and surrounding territories) from around the 2nd century BC and through the Roman period. It is transmitted primarily in Greek (Gallo-Greek) and Latin (Gallo-Latin) script, with a small number of Gaulish texts also attested in the Etruscan alphabet in Italy (Gallo-Etruscan) and with Gaulish names found in Iberian script. In this article we detail current knowledge of …
Languages and Communities in the Late-Roman and Post-Imperial Western Provinces
Languages are central to the creation and expression of identities and cultures, as well as to life itself, yet the linguistic variegation of the later-Roman and post-imperial period in the Roman West is remarkably understudied. A deeper understanding of this important issue is crucial to any reconstruction of the broader story of linguistic continuity and change in Europe and the Mediterranean, as well as to the history of the communities who wr…
Multilingualism and History
We often hear that our world 'is more multilingual than ever before', but is it true? This book shatters that cliché. It is the first volume to shine light on the millennia-long history of multilingualism as a social, institutional and demographic phenomenon. Its fifteen chapters, written in clear, accessible language by prominent historians, classicists, and sociolinguists, span the period from the third century BC to the present day, and range …
Language Shift, Attitudes and Management in the Roman West
To explain Latinization of the Roman West, scholars have long searched for evidence of a language policy mandating the use of Latin. They have found none under the Principate. The Roman centre was not interested in policies involving all its subjects, and elite Romans were uninterested in languages other than Latin and Greek and had no concerns about their use, as long as the Empire’s functioning remained intact. Indeed, it is not clear that any …
A Scato-sexual Message
The Secundinus stone, with its combination of carved phallus and text, was found in 2022 in excavations within the stone fort at Vindolanda. We consider comparanda for the imagery from Vindolanda, Britannia and further afield, and textual parallels particularly from Pompeii. We offer several possible interpretations of the object and prefer an analysis which takes the text, SECVNDINVS CACOR, as it is carved. This interpretation would add an other…
Social Factors in the Latinization of the Roman West
Latinization is a strangely overlooked topic. Historians have noted it has been ‘taken for granted’ and viewed as an unremarkable by-product of ‘Romanization’, despite its central importance for understanding the Roman provincial world, its life and languages. This volume aims to fill the gap in our scholarship, along with its sister volumes, Latinization, Local Languages and Literacies in the Roman West and Languages and Communities in the Late-…
Latinization, Local Languages, and Literacies in the Roman West
This volume explores Latinization, local languages, and literacies in the Roman West, focusing on the Iberian Peninsula, Gaul, the Germanies, and Britain in the later Iron Age and Roman period. We use a combination of various sets of evidence and an interdisciplinary—historical, archaeological, sociolinguistic, and epigraphic—perspective to uncover local voices. The results and arguments draw on the importance of context, local communities, and r…
Slavery on the Northern Frontier
A Roman stylus tablet discovered at Vindolanda in 2014 preserves the partial text of a deed-of-sale for an enslaved person, only the second such document from Britain. This article presents the results of multiple techniques used to reveal the almost illegible text and proposes a restoration of the format of the document and its lost content, based on more complete examples from Italy and around the Empire. We examine the late first-century archa…
Epigraphy and Literacy in the Iberian Peninsula
This article pays homage to the international cooperation and interdisciplinarity that have characterised the first 50 years of the Palaeohispanic congresses. It presents some of the highlights and lessons learnt from working on the epigraphy and writing equipment of the Iberian peninsula in the context of a recent project, LatinNow, which explored Latinization, local languages, and literacies. We acknowledge the gap between ‘historical grand nar…
Cursing and curse tablets in the Roman West
I Captivated by cursesI curse Tretia Maria and her life and mind and memory and liver, lungs, guts, words, thoughts, memory so she cannot speak about secret things 1 RIB I 7
History (17 works) · Linguistics (12 works) · Linguistics and language evolution (10 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Archaeology (9 works) · Classics (9 works) · Art (8 works) · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Ancient history (6 works)