Una nuova lastra con menorah e gli epitaffi giudaici di Nuceria Alfaterna

Abstract

A new slab with menorah and the Jewish epitaphs of Nuceria Alfaterna

In the ancient city of Nuceria Alfaterna two Greek Jewish epitaphs were found in 1988, in the area of San Clemente, establishing the presence, hitherto unknown, of a Jewish community in this internal area of the Campania region. This article presents another find from the same necropolis not published to date: a large funerary slab engraved with a menorah, which was found in 1966, but, for reasons unknown, has remained unnoticed to this day. The discovery gives the opportunity to subject to closer study the two epitaphs already known and, above all, to better define their origin: two already known inscriptions are in fact reused pieces, leaving it uncertain as to whether the late antique necropolis in which they were found was a Jewish or Christian burial ground.