Abstract
The third lecture will focus on the question of aesthetic values, attempting to disregard a qualitative, classicist perspective in favor of the " variable-geometry paradigm " of the " democratization of culture ". The traditional hermeneutic model that contrasts high and low, in a qualitative sense, will be challenged in favor of a point of view that sees the low as the bearer of new aesthetic values. Two aspects of Late Antique culture will be particularly addressed : a) theemergence of Christian poetry in classical meters and its linguistic innovations ; b) " imperfect "inscriptions, i.e. those that do not conform to the classical canons. Instead of considering them as " bad inscriptions " and a sign of ignorance and/or decadence, they will be re-evaluated as examples of everyday poetry in late Roman society and as bearers of a social and identity function.
