The Lead Plaque of Magliano (or Lead Plate of Magliano or Lead Disk; CIE 5237), which contains 73 words in the Etruscan language, seems to be a dedicatory text, including as it does many names of mostly underworld deities. [1] It was found in 1882, and dates to the mid 5th century BC. [2] It is now housed in the National Archaeological Museum in Florence. [3]
The plaque weighs 191 grams and is curved in the shape of a lens. Its diameter is 7 cm at its narrowest point and 8 cm at its widest point. Only a few written monuments of Etruscan have survived on metal plates. The arrangement of the text is just as unusual as the shape and texture of the disk. The slab is inscribed with spiral Etruscan letters on both sides, reminiscent of the Phaistos Disc. The creation of the artifact is dated to around 450 BC. The lead plate was found in February 1882 in a field 2 km southeast of Magliano in the Albegna river valley, near the former monastery of Santa Maria in Borraccia. [4] [5]
The text seems to be a series of dedications to various gods and ancestors (in bold below): Cautha, "the gods of this place," Maris Menita ("Maris the Maker"), and "the ancestors" (af-r- or "forefathers" < ap "father") on side A; Thanr and Calus, Śuri, Tinin the area of Lur, and (?) in the area of Lur, on side B. Other information includes where the dedications (sacrifices? offerings?) are to take place (casthia, lac, fal-za, chim "the place of offering (or of slaughter)," leśca; all in locative -th(-i)), how often (avil-s "annually" on side A, "every four years"? on side B), with what (musl = "honey wine"? and thu-n "firstling"? also on side B), who is to perform them ("priest" cepen "of the village of the year" tuthiu avils--so "annually appointed village priest"), and on whose behalf ("for the deceased of the Murina [family]," "for/on behalf of the beloved ancestors" afrs . naces—on side A; "on behalf of tnuca"?, "for [honoring] the deceased" (nesl)--on side B). Much of the rest is obscure, with the main verb "dedicate" apparently regularly elided. [6]
With over 70 individual words, the text differs significantly from the thousands of short Etruscan grave inscriptions. It is among the longest in the Etruscan language. The text is written on both sides (referred to here as side A and side B), from right to left, as is usual in Etruscan texts. The text is also unusual in that it spirals inward, to be read clockwise from the outside to the inside. Most words are separated by a period. [7]
From van der Meer, except where noted. [8]
Side A
For Cautha, the annually [appointed] village [priest will dedicate] 80 ez. In addition, [dedications must be made] in the place of offering (chim-th- according to Rix; [9] van der Meer translates "slaughtering place"; or "at the altar"?), at [the stream] Casthia, [where it empties] into the lake, [during] Hev- [period] annually. [And a dedication must be made] in the sacred alcove (?literally "in a/the small holy place" fal-za-thi) [that is] the memorial (man) for the deceased (neśl) of the Murina [family]."
For the gods which [are the protective spirits?] of this place, the magistrature (marni) [and] the village [priest(-s?)] must make (mene) [a dedication?] and take care of [it] (?mlach-the literally "make (it) beautiful"), monthly (tiu); in addition [dedications must be made?] in the place of offering, at [the stream] Casthia, [where it empties] into the lake.
For Maris Menita (="the Maker"), for the ancestors, also this [previously mentioned] annually [appointed] village-priest (avil-s-ch eca cepen tuthiu, literally "and of the year this priest of the village") [must make a dedication] in the ciala, [and] in addition in the place of offering, ["and in"?, or "namely"?] the ichu house (thuch); You who are overseers of these rituals, heś- (="attend to"?) [and] consecrate [them]! This [is the] announcement: 'Be [present], [and] carry out the dedications (ar)!'
Side B
O beautiful [deities] of Thanr and of Calus, ecni must be done (?) [every] 4 years; I [am the lead plaque] of [the god] Maris the Maker and of Lur. This [is the set of instructions] for the village [priest], for [honoring] the deceased (nesl).
The monument [of the deceased] rivax (="must be commemorated"?), in addition, in the leśca on behalf of (or "by" or "during [the period of]") Tnuca.
For Suri the god, [perform] these [rituals] on the ides (?ev-) of every month (?tiuras, literally "of months") [with] honey wine [?muls-le], [as is] proper (? mlach, literally "beautiful"), during the feast.
For Tin in the area of Lur, you who oversee the rituals must offer (huvi?) a firstling (thu-n, literally "a first thing").
In the area of Lur, [make a dedication] for the beloved ancestors themselves (sa-s afr-s nace-s, literally "self for the ancestors beloved").
Most of the gods mentioned are associated with the underworld, including Cautha (often mentioned with Suri), Calus (a god of wolves, sometimes used as an epithet of Tin(ia)), Suri, and Lur (though Pittau considers this last to be connected to Latin laurus "laurel" and hence to Apollo). [10] According to van der Meer, Lur's name may be related to Latin luridus "pale," possibly in contrast with Suri "black." The name also occurs in the Liber Linteus (5.22) paired with a less well known deity Zer: cisum θesane uslanec mlaχe luri zeric-- "Also [make] a three-fold (cisum') [libation?] in the morning (θesan-e) and during the noon [hour] (uslan-e-c) to the beautiful (mlaχe)Lur and to Zer. In line 6.18 of the same text, the name takes the form Lurni. [11]
The word tin on side B is assumed here to be a form of the theonym Tinia, the Jupiter-like head of the Etruscan pantheon, but it could also mean "day." Also on side B, the deity Thanr is usually associated with divine births and with the goddess of desire Turan. [12] [13] But here she appears amongst mostly underworld deities, suggesting she is both a goddess of birth and of death. [14]
The form lachth (twice on side A) also occurs in the Tabula Capuana along with a variant lachuth, both in line 26. There, it also seems to be a place for an offering (nuthe-ri) that must be made, and where gifts (turxais) are brought (eschathce). The meaning van der Meer gives for lach- there is "basin." The form with a -u- stem strongly suggests connection with Italic *laku- "basin; lake," so it may be the latter meaning that applies here, as van der Meer suggests, especially if he is also right in suggesting that casth- which immediately precedes it is also a body of water, perhaps a river or stream. [15]
The name Suri occurs also in the third line of the Tabula Capuana. The word teis generally means "these" as, for example in line 10.16 of the Liber Linteus, other forms of tei- occurring in 2.11, 2.13 and at 9.17. The term ev- may be connected to the term esv- in the Liber Linteus (4.15, 4.20) (and, as iśv-, at the beginning of the second and third sections of the Tabula Capuana), which van der Meer tentatively translates as "the ides." [16]
The sequence mi menicac marca lurcac apparently includes abbreviations of the terms maris and menita from side A. [17] The term Maris on side A refers to a set of deities represented on mirrors as babies, but little else is known of their function. [18] [19] Note that mar appears to be used as an abbreviation for or alternate form of maris on the Liver of Piacenza (numbers 30 and 39), just as it appears (with abbreviate meni-ta) on side B. Pittau, on the other hand, considers it a name for Cupid/Eros. [20]
The word ar at the end of side A can mean simply 'make,' but also 'dedicate/carry out a dedication' as it probably is here, as seen in line 6 of the Cippus Perusinus: ipa ama hen naper XII Velθina-θur-aś araś -- "that 12 hen (arable?) acres of Velthinas shall be dedicated". [21] The family name Murina on side A is well known, since inscriptions indicate that members lived in Tarquinia, Volsinii, the Siena region, Chiusi, and Perugia. [22]
Etruscan was the language of the Etruscan civilization in the ancient region of Etruria, in Etruria Padana and Etruria Campana in what is now Italy. Etruscan influenced Latin but was eventually completely superseded by it. The Etruscans left around 13,000 inscriptions that have been found so far, only a small minority of which are of significant length; some bilingual inscriptions with texts also in Latin, Greek, or Phoenician; and a few dozen purported loanwords. Attested from 700 BC to AD 50, the relation of Etruscan to other languages has been a source of long-running speculation and study, with it mostly being referred to as one of the Tyrsenian languages, at times as an isolate, and a number of other less well-known hypotheses.
Etruscan religion comprises a set of stories, beliefs, and religious practices of the Etruscan civilization, heavily influenced by the mythology of ancient Greece, and sharing similarities with concurrent Roman mythology and religion. As the Etruscan civilization was gradually assimilated into the Roman Republic from the 4th century BC, the Etruscan religion and mythology were partially incorporated into ancient Roman culture, following the Roman tendency to absorb some of the local gods and customs of conquered lands. The first attestations of an Etruscan religion can be traced back to the Villanovan culture.
The Pyrgi Tablets are three golden plates inscribed with a bilingual Phoenician–Etruscan dedicatory text. They are the oldest historical source documents from Italy, predating Roman hegemony, and are rare examples of texts in these languages. They were discovered in 1964 during a series of excavations at the site of ancient Pyrgi, on the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy in Latium (Lazio). The text records the foundation of a temple and its dedication to the Phoenician goddess Astarte, who is identified with the Etruscan supreme goddess Uni in the Etruscan text. The temple's construction is attributed to Thefarie Velianas, ruler of the nearby city of Caere.
The Liber Linteus Zagrabiensis is the longest Etruscan text and the only extant linen book, dated to the 3rd century BC, making it arguably the oldest extant European book. Much of it is untranslated because of the lack of knowledge about the Etruscan language, though the words and phrases which can be understood indicate that the text is most likely a ritual calendar. Miles Beckwith states with regard to this text that "in the last thirty or forty years, our understanding of Etruscan has increased substantially," and L. B. van der Meer has published a word-by-word analysis of the entire text.
The Tabula Capuana, is an ancient terracotta slab, 50 by 60 cm, with a long inscribed text in Etruscan, dated to around 470 BCE, apparently a ritual calendar. About 390 words are legible, making it the second-most extensive surviving Etruscan text. The longest is the linen book (Liber Linteus), also a ritual calendar, used in ancient Egypt for mummy wrappings, now at Zagreb. The Tabula Capuana is located in the Altes Museum, Berlin.
Calu is an epithet of the Etruscan chthonic fire god Śuri as god of the underworld, roughly equivalent to the Greek god Hades ; moroeover, as with Hades, this god-name was also used as a synonym for the underworld itself.
The Tabula Cortonensis is a 2200-year-old, inscribed bronze tablet in the Etruscan language, discovered in Cortona, Italy. It may record for posterity the details of an ancient legal transaction which took place in the ancient Tuscan city of Cortona, known to the Etruscans as Curtun. Its 40-line, 200-word, two-sided inscription is the third longest inscription found in the Etruscan language, after the Liber Linteus Zagrabiensis and the Tabula Capuana, and the longest discovered in the 20th century.
The Cippus Perusinus is a stone tablet (cippus) discovered on the hill of San Marco, in Perugia, Italy, in 1822. The tablet bears 46 lines of incised Etruscan text, about 130 words. The cippus, which seems to have been a border stone, appears to display a text dedicating a legal contract between the Etruscan families of Velthina and Afuna, regarding the sharing or use, including water rights, of a property upon which there was a tomb belonging to the noble Velthinas.
Lammert Bouke van der Meer is a Dutch classicist and classical archaeologist specialized in Etruscology. He studied classics and archaeology at the University of Groningen, and received his Ph.D. from the same university in 1978 with a dissertation entitled Etruscan urns from Volterra. Studies on mythological representations, I-II. Van der Meer is retired associate professor of Classical Archaeology at Leiden University.
The Liver of Piacenza is an Etruscan artifact found in a field on September 26, 1877, near Gossolengo, in the province of Piacenza, Italy, now kept in the Municipal Museum of Piacenza, in the Palazzo Farnese.
Catha is a female Etruscan lunar or solar deity, who may also be connected to childbirth, and has a connection to the underworld. Catha is also the goddess of the south sanctuary at Pyrgi, Italy.
Culsans (Culśanś) is an Etruscan deity, known from four inscriptions and a variety of iconographical material which includes coins, statuettes, and a sarcophagus. Culśanś is usually rendered as a male deity with two faces and at least two statuettes depicting him have been found in close association with city gates. These characteristics suggest that he was a protector of gateways, who could watch over the gate with two pairs of eyes.
Lur is an Etruscan underworld deity with little known history. Lur does not have many depictions but the ones that have been found show the deity as a male. He has been noted to be associated with a prophetic nature, while also bearing oracular and martial characteristics. He has been linked to another deity by the name of Laran, which, it has been suggested, is where Lur derives his name from. The context of the name has been associated with darkness and the underworld. A fifth century vase found near a sanctuary in San Giovenale bears an inscription that translates: "I am Lurs, that of Laran." Another inscription has been found with the spelling lartla, noting relations to a Lar, which gives a label to Lur that describes features of protection. The name may be related to Latin luridus "pale".
Maria Bonghi Jovino is an Italian archaeologist. Bonghi Jovino was Professor of Etruscology and Italic Archaeology at the University of Milan.
Apulu, also syncopated as Aplu, is an epithet of the Etruscan fire god Śuri as chthonic sky god, roughly equivalent to the Greco-Roman god Apollo. Their names are associated on Pyrgi inscriptions too. The name Apulu or Aplu did not come directly from Greece but via a Latin center, probably Palestrina.
Śuri, Latinized as Soranus, was an ancient Etruscan infernal, volcanic and solar fire god, also venerated by other Italic peoples – among them Capenates, Faliscans, Latins and Sabines – and later adopted into ancient Roman religion.
Manth, latinized as Mantus, is an epithet of the Etruscan chthonic fire god Śuri as god of the underworld; this name was primarily used in the Po Valley, as described by Servius, but a dedication to the god manθ from the Archaic period was found in a sanctuary in Pontecagnano, Southern Italy. His name is thought to be the origin of Mantua, the birthplace of Virgil.
A cordoned bucket or cordoned situla is a type of Iron Age ribbed, cylindrical bronze bucket. Examples have been found across Europe, though especially in Italy, Istria, and Slovenia. Cordoned buckets date to between the 8th and 4th centuries BC, within the Hallstatt and early La Tène cultures. The earliest were produced within central-northern Europe, spreading quickly outwards. Cordoned buckets were probably used by elites in wine service.
