A Dipinto from the so-called “Chapel of St Paul"(Caesarea Maritima): a Reading and Interpretation (ZPE 196). (original) (raw)
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A Second-Century Christian Inscription from the Via Latina
Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2011
The article discusses an inscription from the suburbs of Rome, known as NCE 156. Fifty years ago, Margherita Guarducci argued on paleographic grounds that it dates to the second century, making it among the very earliest Christian inscriptions known, earlier than than the Abercius stone, often considered to be the earliest Christian inscription in existence. Her arguments are reconsidered and strengthened in light of later publications and discoveries. The core of the article, however, is devoted to demonstrating the presence of a deep and complicated relationship with the language of Greek funeral poetry, a connection that has completely escaped scholarly notice. As a result, it is clear that the inscription is a funeral epitaph, not a "baptismal inscription" as has been claimed in some studies. Moreover, the writer of the text deliberately subverted many of the conventions of Greek funeral poetry and expected the audience for the poem to appreciate this. The poem and the people who wrote, commissioned, and displayed it may thus be situated fairly highly on the spectrum of literary and cultural sophistication. While the circumstances of discovery do not allow us to place the inscription in a precise archaeological context, it is possible that it derives from the grounds of a villa, around the Third Mile of the Via Latina, where a community of Valentinian Christians may have been located.
International Journal of The Classical Tradition, 2000
This article looks at the history of collecting early Christian inscriptions from Rome and its relationship to the study and presentation of classical epigraphy. The epigraphic collection gathered by Marco Antonio Boldetti at the church of S. Maria, in Trastevere exemplifies the increasing visibility of Christian inscriptions both in academic writing and in the actual walls of churches around the city. Yet, the motivations for collecting and the mechanisms for displaying the early Christian inscriptions were fundamentally conditioned by their perceived value not only as historical documents, but also religious objects.