Dr Laura Nastasi – Research Associate – Short Bio
My research analyses the sociocultural and sociolinguistic dynamics of Greece in the Roman period.
During my PhD at the University of Manchester, I investigated language contact between Latin and Greek through the study of Greek, Latin, and bilingual inscriptions from Roman-period Corinth (Greek and Latin in Roman Corinth: Language Use and Language Contact). This work is currently being revised and expanded into a monograph.
I am also interested in the materiality of inscriptions from Roman Greece and how it may reflect reciprocal influences between Greek and Roman epigraphic traditions. In particular, I examine the adoption of visual features characteristic of Latin inscriptions in Greek texts produced after the Roman conquest of Greece. I further analyse how these visual features were adapted, rather than simply imitated, possibly to enhance readability.
More broadly, my work explores how inscriptions can provide insights into the complexities of ancient societies.
The BSA has already played a key role in shaping my research trajectory since I was the Cary Student in 2025. I am pleased to rejoin the BSA community and to build on this collaboration as I advance my work on language contact and graphic cultures in Roman Greece.
Publications
Cenati C., Anevlavi V., Prochaska W., Nastasi L., Ladstätter S., 2025, ‘Inscriptions and their marble(s): some examples from Roman Corinth’, in S. Ladstätter, W. Prochaska, V. Anevlavi (eds), Asmosia XIII (proceedings of the 13th International Conference of the Association for the Study of Marble and Other Stones in Antiquity, Wien, 19–24 September 2022), Wien, Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut, 261–279.
Nastasi L., 2024, ‘An example of “Roman Greek” from Isthmia? Greek and Latin in contact’, in A. Alonso Déniz, J.V. Méndez Dosuna, E. Nieto Izquierdo, G. van Heems (eds), Contacts Linguistiques en Grèce Ancienne: Diachronie et Synchronie, Lyon, MOM éditions, 127–143.
In progress
Nastasi L., Bilingualism and Greco-Romanness in Roman-period Corinth (monograph).
Nastasi L., ‘IG IV 207 reconsidered: linguistic and epigraphic evidence’ (article).
Nastasi L., ‘Greco-Roman writing habits in Roman Corinth’ (article, forthcoming in the proceedings of Language and Cultural Interactions in the Roman World: the Impact of Inscriptions, University of Groningen).