01-06-2013, 02:04 AM
Quote:I had a quick look through the inscriptions that mention Maurus as a name though, and the vast majority of them come from North Africa, Numidia and Hispania Baetica, with a few in Rome that look like freed slaves.
This is what I expected (I was going by the literary evidence in my statements on Maurus before), since it seems it was a common Roman practice, especially for slaves, to name people after their origin. Funny anecdote: My Latin textbook in school back then had a main character called Lydia, a female slave from - Lydia. :cheer:
As for Machamaeus, or Makamaios as he appears in the Greek text of Zosimus, his name may be more unusual, he is the only one with that name in the PLRE e.g.
But actually, I don't see much Barbarian in his name, at least it almost certainly is not of Germanic origin...
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