La riscoperta dell’epigrafia ebraica in Italia meridionale fra XVII e XVIII secolo

From the last quarter of 17th century onwards, besides the widespread interest for Latin and Greek epigraphs, among Italian scholars and erudite people it started also a new attention for inscriptions written in Semitic languages. Especially those in Hebrew, many of which could be seen in the Basilicata area, around Venosa, ancient Venusia, and elsewhere. From 3rd up to 9th century, Venosa had been the seat of a considerable Jewish community, and the main mark of its presence was indeed a bulk of epitaphs in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, found in the local catacombs, as well a number of texts in Hebrew dated to the first half of the 9th century. In this article there are presented ‒ for the first time in detail ‒ the earliest sources dealing with the Hebrew epitaphs of the High Middle Ages: not found in situ, being the old cemetery never recovered, but re-employed in various places in the area around the Trinity Church, as well scattered in the nearby territories of Lavello and Matera. Among the sources here presented and discussed, the testimonies of Giovanni Battista Pacichelli, Natale Maria Cimaglia, Domenico Tata, Michele Arcangelo Lupoli.