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Abstract
Jews who put up inscriptions were not usually trying to make a statement about their personal piety. They were, according to the nature of the inscription, commemorating a deceased relative or recording a contribution to their community. The ways in which they did so were often influenced more by their Greco-Roman surroundings than by a common Jewish tradition. Only a few inscriptions directly address an individual’s relationship with God. These will be examined first, and this article will then study some of the other ways in which piety was expressed: personal names; the wording of epitaphs; manumissions; donations to religious projects by individuals and families. All of these can reveal attitudes to religion and the divine.