Abstract
The second conference will examine one of the most distinctive and still undervalued features of Late Antique culture, namely the role of orality in disseminating culture and defining values. Through a selection of examples from all over the Mediterranean world, we will show how inscriptions entered into dialogue with the cultural instances conveyed by high literature, also assuming the role of disseminators of Greek culture, establishing a permanent dialogue with high literature, also conveyed by the oral dissemination of performance. Acknowledging the centrality of the performative moment also implies taking into account the conventions that underpin the messages conveyed, as well as the reactions of the audience. In other words, the relationship between rhetoric and reality is fundamental to any assessment of late Roman culture.
