Negustori de produse din lână în inscripţiile latineşti

The study proposes a prosopographical analysis of the available Latin epigraphical sources. That refers to an important category of Roman merchants: the textile merchants, selected according to one raw material – wool – and the quantitative representation of occupational titles. The methodological algorithm used for the research complies with the formalities of a prosopographical examination. Different aspects have been taken into account, such as: the variations of occupational terms and the information which they convey concerning the variety of merchandise they were selling, the scale of their trade and their commercial networks. As for the individuals, their family ties, regional mobility, judicial status, trade placement, official titles and ties with the military milieu have been x-rayed, as much as possible. Besides the spatial and chronological approach, the various types of sources that came into analysis were also tackled, considering the categories of their addressees and the purpose for which they were written, so that we could verify their representativity and credibility.