Congratulations to Lorena on publishing an edited volume together with Javier Herrera Rando and Sofia Bianchi Mancini.

Abstract:

This volume explores religious inscriptions as a lens for analysing the sociocultural mechanisms behind multilingual and multicultural dynamics in the western and Mediterranean provinces of the Roman Empire. Employing a holistic approach, it combines historical, epigraphic, and archaeological methods to explore the intersection of language and religion. Structured in three parts, the first one addresses multilingual practices in the western provinces, where Roman and local traditions converge. It then examines central regions of the Empire, characterised by standardised yet flexible bilingualism. Finally, it turns to the eastern provinces and other places of encounter with Semitic religious traditions in the Empire. By integrating diverse perspectives (Epigraphy, Numismatics, Iconography or Linguistics) and case studies, the volume moves beyond the mere cataloguing of bilingual inscriptions or the typology of bilingual mechanisms to interrogating their cultural, social, and religious significance. This approach offers a valuable contribution to debates on bilingualism, applying its frameworks to the religious sphere and deepening our understanding of cultural interactions in antiquity.

Lorena Pérez Yarza, Javier Herrera Rando, Sofia Bianchi Mancini (eds.), [One Cult, Multiple Cultures: Multilingualism and Religion in Western Roman Inscriptions](Serie Diglossi@, Universités Nouvelle-Aquitaine éditions, 2025).