Extract Roman Names from Inscriptions using AI

What you’ll get

A fast way to pull the names of real people out of ancient Roman inscriptions (the Latin text carved on tombs, altars, and monuments, what historians call “epigraphy”). AI can read this text and list the individuals named, including ordinary people, freed slaves, and slaves, not just emperors and officials. That is work that would normally take a classicist hours of manual reading per inscription.

Tools you need

• Claude or Gemini (freemium): the AI that reads the Latin and pulls out the names. Free tiers are plenty for this.
• EDCS and LIRE (free): two open databases of Latin inscriptions where you find the source texts.

Steps

1. Open an inscription database: go to the Epigraphic Database Clauss-Slaby (edcs.hist.uzh.ch/en) or Latin Inscriptions of the Roman Empire (LIRE). You should see a homepage where you can search or browse inscriptions.

2. Pick an inscription: search or browse, then copy the full Latin text of the one you want to study.

3. Open your AI: go to claude.ai or gemini.google.com and sign in. You should see the chat box.

4. Ask it to extract the names: paste the Latin text into this prompt:

   Here is an ancient Latin inscription. Extract every proper name of a person mentioned,
   including ordinary people, freedmen, and slaves where identifiable. List each name
   clearly, and note for each whether it looks like a personal name, a family name, or a
   place name.
   
   [paste the Latin inscription here]

   You should get a clear list of the people named in the text.

5. Review and refine: read the list. If a name looks wrong or one seems missing, ask a follow-up, for example “Are there other names that could refer to a person?” or “Why did you classify X as a name?”.

6. Optional, dig deeper: search the extracted names in another historical database like Trismegistos (trismegistos.org), or a general search, to learn more about those individuals.

Original source

Based on a Hacker News post by metiscus, who set out to map the ordinary people of the Roman Empire and, lacking ready-made lists, used Claude and Gemini to process over 500,000 Latin inscriptions from databases like EDCS.

Notes & variations

• A little Latin helps: even basic Latin lets you guide the AI and spot mistakes. You can also tell it exactly what you want (“only personal names, not place names”).
• Common pitfall: trusting the AI blindly on an ancient language. Always cross-check the names, especially for real research.
• Tip for better results: break very long inscriptions into smaller chunks so the AI handles each carefully, and specify the kind of names you are after.