Religious identity in the funerary inscriptions by Jews (and Christians) between 3rd and 7th cent. CE - Rome and Southern Italy

The aim of the paper is to analyze the gradual emergence of a specific epigraphic praxis adopted by Jews and Christians. This development, evidently, is strongly related to the continual process of selfdefinition which affects the Jews, in contact with Hellenistic and Roman culture; and only since the 2nd cent. C.E. also the Christians, whose communities are in closest relationship both with Jews and “Gentiles.” The changed role of Christians in the Roman Empire after Constantine, and later under Theodosius, lead us to analyze the use of the epigraphic medium by Jews and Christians also in connection with the changing relationships that the two communities have with the manifestations of the Empire.