Writing home in Rome: the epigraphy of diaspora communities in Southern Trastevere

Over 2,000 Greek inscriptions are known from the urban area of ancient Rome, yet the study of these inscriptions has been divided between several distinct corpora on the basis of their perceived cultural context (Inscriptiones Graecae Urbis Romae, 1705 inscriptions in total; Jewish Inscriptions of Western Europe, vol. II, 629 inscriptions), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae, approximately 400 inscriptions dated before 400 CE). The current bibliographic segregation has long obscured any comprehensive or quantitative analysis of the material and has also perpetuated a false sense of ancient cultural divisions and physical separation within the city’s topography. Rather than being isolated units, these inscriptions existed alongside one another within the same city, at the same time. Moreover, when their known location information is mapped out with ArcGIS as part of a larger project devoted to mapping all Greek inscriptions from Rome, it becomes clear that these inscriptions were present within the very same neighborhoods and show evidence of interacting not only with each but also the broader epigraphic trends of Rome. This paper examines a constellation of Greek inscriptions found at the southern edge of the Trastevere in Rome to demonstrate the existence of multiple, distinct diaspora communities that coexisted in close proximity to each in the second century CE and to show the critical need for a more culturally inclusive and topographically organized approach to study of epigraphy.

The Temple to Bel and Palmyrene Gods, the Sanctuary to Jupiter Heliopolitanus and Phoenician Gods, and the Monteverde Jewish catacomb all existed within one square kilometer of each other in the southern Transtiberim region, yet their inscriptions have not been comprehensively analyzed together due to their religious and epigraphic diversity (Abrecht 2020; briefly Elder 2020; on the first two sanctuaries, Fowlkes 2012; Terpstra 2019). For all three sites, understanding of the archaeological context of their inscriptions is hindered by the limited documentation (or lack thereof) provided by the multiple excavations that were conducted in the area in the 19th and early 20th centuries. To add further complication, none of the sites can be revisited for additional study, either due to reburying or collapse in the case of the catacomb. Yet, the inscriptions themselves, when analyzed together with the archaeological documentation, provide insight into both the general location of these sites in the Transtiberim region and also the settings in which their inscriptions were displayed. This evidence elucidates not only the physical context of the inscriptions but also the lives of the people who set them up. Despite their evident differences, the Temple to Bel, the Sanctuary to Jupiter Heliopolitanus, and the Monteverde catacomb were each operated by communities of individuals from the Eastern Mediterranean who created and sustained these sites over generations and consciously maintained their native religious practices, languages, and even epigraphic habits in the face of a dominant Roman culture within the urban capital.