Paideia classica e fede religiosa: annotazioni per uno studio del linguaggio dei carmi epigrafici tardoantichi

Epigrahical epigrams of Late antique East (III-VI centuries CE) are often difficult to be interpreted from a religious point of view, due to their classicizing and highly formalised language. When archaeological context or external signs (like crosses, for ex.) are lacking, or they do not give clear informations on religious faith, poetical language shows a certain opacity and ambiguity. As a result, scholars’ opinions about religion of the same text can be qui te different (and the epigram can be labelled as Jew, Pagan or Christian). Detailed and closer analysis demonstrates that a) classicizing language was often simply a way of showing culture, with social and political purposes, especially in case of epigrams celebrating governors and public administrators, and in poetical epitaphs; b) that poetical language could also discreetly carry signs of religious confession; c) that ambiguity was sometimes a way of answering to expectations of multicultural communities. Especially from the