ABSTRACT
Originally the funerary inscription consisted only of the name of the dead, carved or otherwise recorded, because it was thought that reading the name aloud as was the custom in antiquity would allow the dead to live again, keeping his or her memory alive. The life, the virtues of the dead, the ways of death, and the facts of life that are presented in Christian epitaphs can also be read on the tombstones of many "pagan" that is, Classical men and women. The dead tell little or nothing at all about their afterlife; on the contrary, they always look back nostalgically and regretfully at their earthly life, especially in the case of expectations dashed by a sudden death. When it comes to untimely deaths, as has been already pointed out, numerous epitaphs are dedicated to the young who died too soon, at marriageable ages or even earlier.
