Censimento e catalogo delle lucerne funerarie ebraiche di epoca tardo-romana conservate in Italia

The present study provides for the first time a survey and cataloging of Jewish funerary lamps of the late Roman period, mainly produced in North Africa, held in museums or other Italian institutions. The research has identified 93 Jewish lamps surveyed in 35 Italian locations, which have been divided according to the 38 iconographical motifs that appear in them. Sometimes the place of conservation of this lamps is not necessarily that of their discovery. For historical reasons, related to the presence of Jews between the 4th-6th centuries CE, these lamps have been found mostly in the southern regions and in the two major islands, Sicily and Sardinia. Obviously, those described in this study, are not all the Jewish funerary lamps discovered in the Italian peninsula, because a few, already known, for various reasons could not be examined, while others were sold in other European countries, in Israel and in the USA or to museums around the world. For each item the authors provide a record containing all the relevant details, such as: features, characteristics and typology, place in which they were discovered and where they are held, state of conservation, and bibliographic references.