Esporre la Scrittura. L'uso di testi biblici in epigrafi d'ambito pubblico fra Tarda Antichità e prima età bizantina (secoli IV-VIII)

From almost 800 Christian inscriptions bearing direct quotations of Biblical texts between the 4th and the 8th century AD collected in the corpus of the Biblia Epigraphica, more than a half is related to contexts of public use. By this expression one refers to those inscriptions which have as their first purpose - by their position, typology, quality, writing - the visibility and the readability of the widest possible audience: we will consider the “epigraphic adornment” (Ramsay) of public spaces and buildings, first of all - but not only - in churches and religious contexts.

Using a series of examples from both the West and the East of the orbis christianus antiquus, ranging from the end of the 4th century to the first decades of the 8th century, the aim of this paper is to illustrate the use and reception of Biblical texts from inscriptions made for an audience which deeply changes from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages and Early Byzantium.