Stranieri d’Oriente nella collezione epigrafica greca di San Paolo Fuori le Mura

Foreigners from the East in the Greek epigraphic collection of San Paolo fuori Le Mura

The collection of Greek inscriptions in the Basilica of San Paolo Fuori Le Mura provides an important contribution to the study of the presence of foreigners in Rome between the 2nd and 4th centuries. The inscriptions in this article show the ethnic groups:Syriac, Greek, Galatian and Egyptian. The inscriptions of each group are characterised by peculiarities: in the epitaphs of the Galatians, the origin is recalled by the expression apò choriou followed by the toponym of the village to which they belonged; in the epitaphs of the Egyptians, the origin is indicated by the formula apò komes; in the inscriptions of the Syriacs, the district of the region of origin is also specified, indicated by the term ὅρος. There are two other ethnicities identified in the texts: Gougoutes (ICUR II 4434) qualifying an Armenian, and Anatolikos (ICUR II 5688) designating membership of the Eastern Diocese.