Metrical inscriptions in late antiquity: what difference did christianity make?

In the so-called ‘resurgence’ of poetry in Late Antiquity verse inscriptions played a significant role. They eloquently show how widespread was the taste for poetic compositions among the different levels of Late Roman society, pointing also out the social importance of classical paideia. Despite the condemnation of some rigorists, who considered the passion for poetry useless and even dangerous, Christian verse inscriptions entered very early the ‘epigraphic display’ of Late Antique cities. The present paper aims at investigating what difference they made in terms of style, language and communicative functions, questioning also if we can properly speak of a Christian verse epigraphy.