Ricerc@Sapienza

The paper deals with some of the most frequent literary plays in late antique and Byzantine metric inscriptions. Examples of etymological wordplays on the name of the laudandus are discussed, as well as allitterations, assonances and similar sound-plays both in funerary and epideictic inscriptions (I.Chr.Mac. 60 = ICG 3070; SGO02/06/13 = 266 Samama; LSA 2636 = BE 2012.450; an inscription da Gortys; GR 117 Rhoby; SGO 11/01/01). A few cases of literary wordplays are taken into ac-count, such as rare poetical words reused by the authors with their exegesis (SEG56.824). One relevant exemple of acrostic is analysed (GR 98 Rhoby). Remarkably enough, wordplays are attested also in lower level texts (e.g, SGO 22/14/04 = IGLSXV 186, o IGLSyr 785 = TR 22 Rhoby). Since the content of metrical inscriptions was probably known through oral performance (an eloquent example is GR 106 Rhoby), it can be inferred that wordplays aimed at emphasizing crucial aspects of the text, with a semantic function, which was activated by the performative reading