MULTILINGUAL INTERTEXTUALITY AND THE NEGOTIATION OF IDENTITY IN LATIN BIOGRAPHY

This paper investigates the role of multilingual intertextuality in Latin biographical writing as a mode of creative communication within the linguistically diverse context of the Roman Empire. Traditionally approached as monolingual texts, Latin biographies are here reconsidered as strategically layered works that incorporate allusions, lexical borrowings, and narrative techniques from vernacular languages such as Greek, Punic, and Gaulish. These multilingual features engaged a polyglot readership and fostered cross-cultural resonance across imperial boundaries. Through close analysis of selected imperial biographies (e.g. Suetonius’ Vita Divi Augusti, Historia Augusta’s Vita Hadriani), alongside underexplored provincial vitae (e.g. the Vita Abercii, the Passio Sancti Perpetuae et Felicitatis), the study reveals a complex interplay of linguistic and cultural references that exceed Latin literary norms. This multilingual layering operated as a conscious rhetorical strategy to negotiate identity, authority, and belonging in an increasingly globalised empire. By combining insights from comparative literature, sociolinguistics, and narratology, the paper argues that Latin biographers were early agents of creative intercultural communication, employing language as a medium to construct inclusive narratives. In doing so, they both projected imperial ideals and acknowledged regional plurality. This perspective repositions Latin biography not as a purely Roman genre, but as a dynamic literary formembedded in the cultural negotiations of a multilingual empire.