This volume contains eight chapters that were first presented at the 2008 Cambridge Craven Seminar Sikelía: Cultural and Linguistic Interaction in Ancient Sicily, as well as four other chapters that were specially commissioned. It is a pleasure to thank all those who helped me in the organization of the Craven Seminar: the Cambridge Classics Faculty, the Craven Fund, Pembroke College, my colleagues in the ‘E Caucus’ (James Clackson, Geoff Horrocks, Torsten Meissner, Oliver Simkin, Pippa Steele and Rupert Thompson), as well as Richard Hunter and Robin Osborne, who chaired two of the seminar sessions. The idea of working on the languages of ancient Sicily had been on my agenda since 2005, and I am grateful to St John's College Oxford for electing me to the Woodhouse Junior Research Fellowship in Classics, which enabled me to pursue this research interest.

Throughout the gestation of this volume I have been lucky in receiving various forms of assistance from contributors, colleagues and friends alike. I am indebted in particular to Albio Cesare Cassio, Valentina Copat, Kalle Korhonen, Susana Mimbrera, Oliver Simkin, Andreas Willi and Jo Willmott for being both so helpful and patient. I owe a particular debt to James Clackson: he has been a fantastic conference co-organizer, an attentive reader and a wonderful support all the way along – without his guidance this volume would have been much longer in the making. I should also like to record my thanks to Michael Sharp, Christina Sarigiannidou and Malcolm Todd at Cambridge University Press for putting their editorial expertise at my disposal.

The volume took its final form in Venice. I thank Professor Ettore Cingano, my colleagues at the Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici of Venice University and the staff at the Biblioteca di Area Umanistica for providing such a nice environment in which to deal with the last stages of this long-standing project. Sergio Knipe, a bilingual Venetian, gave invaluable linguistic assistance, moral support and cheerfulness – for all of which he deserves my endless gratitude.