Pieter van der Horst

“Here lies Regina, covered by such a tomb, which her husband set up as fitting to his love. After twice ten years, she spent with him one year, four months and eight days more. She will live again, return to the light again, for she can hope that she will rise to the life promised, as a real assurance, to the worth and the pious in that she has deserved to possess an abode in the hallowed land. This your piety has assured you, this your chaste life, this your love for your people, this your observance of the Law, your devotion to your wedlock, the glory of which was dear to you. For all these deeds your hope for the future is assured. In this your sorrowing husband seeks his comfort.”

This unique epitaph, the only Jewish funerary poem in Latin from Rome, is the most elaborate praise of a woman in Jewish funerary epigraphy. Focusing on central Jewish values, Regina’s husband glorifies her faithfulness, her piety, her love of the Jewish people and her observance of the Commandments. The epitaph is also noteworthy for its expression of belief in bodily resurrection.