Editing Etruscan language (section)

==Epigraphy==
The corpus of Etruscan inscriptions is edited in the ''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Etruscarum]]'' (CIE) and ''Thesaurus Linguae Etruscae'' (TLE).<ref>Massimo Pallottino, Maristella Pandolfini Angeletti, ''Thesaurus linguae Etruscae'', Volume 1 (1978); review by A. J. Pfiffig in ''Gnomon'' 52.6 (1980), 561–563.
Supplements in 1984, 1991 and 1998. A 2nd revised edition by Enrico Benelli appeared in 2009; review by G. van Heems, [http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2010/2010-01-05.html Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2010.01.05] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022034430/http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2010/2010-01-05.html |date=2013-10-22 }}.</ref>

===Bilingual text===
[[File:Lamine d'oro in lingua etrusca e fenicia con dedica di un luogo sacro a pyrgi.jpg|thumb|The Pyrgi Tablets, sheets of gold with a bilingual treatise in Etruscan (center and right) and [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]], at the [[National Etruscan Museum|Etruscan Museum in Rome]]]]
The [[Pyrgi Tablets]] are a bilingual text in Etruscan and [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] engraved on three gold leaves, one for the Phoenician and two for the Etruscan. The Etruscan language portion has 16 lines and 37 words. The date is roughly 500 BC.{{sfn|Bonfante|Bonfante|2002|p=58}}

The tablets were found in 1964 by Massimo Pallottino during an excavation at the ancient Etruscan port of [[Pyrgi]], now [[Santa Severa]]. The only new Etruscan word that could be extracted from close analysis of the tablets was the word for 'three', {{Transliteration|ett|ci}}.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Robinson |first1=Andrew |title=Lost languages : the enigma of the world's undeciphered scripts |date=2002 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |publication-place=New York |isbn=0-07-135743-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780071357432/page/170 170]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780071357432}}</ref>

===Longer texts===
According to Rix and his collaborators, only two unified (though fragmentary) long texts are available in Etruscan:
* The ''[[Liber Linteus Zagrabiensis]]'', which was later used for mummy wrappings in [[Egypt]]. Roughly 1,200&nbsp;words of readable (but not fully translatable) text, mainly repetitious prayers probably comprising a kind of religious calendar, yielded about 50&nbsp;lexical items.{{sfn|Bonfante|Bonfante|2002|p=58}}
* The ''[[Tabula Capuana]]'' (the inscribed tile from [[Capua]]) has about 300&nbsp;readable words in 62&nbsp;lines, dating to the fifth century BC. It again seems to be a religious calendar.

Some additional longer texts are:
[[File:Sarcofago di arnth churcles, da norcia, tomba lattanzi, 300-270 ac ca., nenfro.JPG|thumb|250px|Sarcophagus of Arnth Churcles, a magistrate holding the title ''marunuch'' in [[Norchia]] (c. 300-270 BC), with the horizontal inscription between the lid and side [[relief]]<ref>Hillary Wills Becker, "Political Systems and Law," in ''The Etruscan World'', edited by [[Jean MacIntosh Turfa]] (Routledge, 2013), p. 355</ref>]]
* The inscription of 59 words on the [[Sarcophagus of Laris Pulenas]], also known as The Magistrate, dating from the third century BC, discovered in [[Tarquinia]], now residing in Museo Nazionale Archeologico (Tarquinia, Viterbo, Lazio, Italy).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/h/hart/x-1291613/07d115818 | title=Sarcophagus of Laris Pulenas, Known as "The Magistrate"; 3/4 view of proper left, Head }}</ref><ref>Roncalli, F. (1996)  "Laris Pulenas and Sisyphus: Mortals, Heroes and Demons in the Etruscan Underworld," ''Etruscan Studies'' vol. 3, article 3, pp. 45-64.</ref><ref>Cataldi, M. (1988) ''I sarcofagi etruschi delle famiglie Partunu, Camna e Pulena'', Roma.</ref>
* The lead foils of Punta della Vipera have about 40&nbsp;legible words having to do with ritual formulae. It is dated to about 500&nbsp;BC.<ref>Brief description and picture at [http://www.comune.santamarinella.rm.it/museo/html/inglese/a151.html ''The principle discoveries with Etruscan inscriptions''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703093518/http://www.comune.santamarinella.rm.it/museo/html/inglese/a151.html |date=2007-07-03 }}, article published by the Borough of [[Santa Marinella]] and the Archaeological Department of Southern Etruria of the Italian government.</ref>
* The [[Cippus Perusinus]], a stone slab (cippus) found at [[Perugia]], which probably functioned as a border marker, contains 46 lines and about 130&nbsp;words. The cippus is assumed to be a text dedicating a legal contract between the Etruscan families of Velthina (from Perugia) and Afuna (from Chiusi), regarding the sharing or use of a property, including water rights, upon which there was a tomb belonging to the noble Velthinas.<ref>Jean MacIntosh Turfa (13 November 2014). The Etruscan World. Routledge. pp. 363–. {{ISBN|978-1-134-05523-4}}.</ref>
* The [[Piacenza Liver]], a bronze model of a sheep's liver representing the sky, has the engraved names of the gods ruling different sections.
* The [[Tabula Cortonensis]], a bronze tablet from [[Cortona]], is believed to record a legal contract between Cusu family and Petru Scevas and his wife concerning a real estate settlement of some sort, with about 200&nbsp;words. Discovered in 1992, this new tablet contributed the word for 'lake', {{Transliteration|ett|tisś}}, but not much else.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=Andrew |title=Lost Languages: The enigma of the world's undeciphered scripts |year=2002 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |isbn=978-0-07-135743-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780071357432/page/181 181] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780071357432}}</ref>
* The Vicchio [[stele]], found in the 21st season of excavation at the Etruscan Sanctuary at [[Poggio Colla]], is believed to be connected with the cult of the goddess [[Uni (mythology)|Uni]], with about 120&nbsp;letters. Only discovered in 2016, it is still in the process of being deciphered.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.smu.edu/research/2016/08/24/one-of-the-most-significant-etruscan-discoveries-in-decades-names-female-goddess-uni/ |title=One of the most significant Etruscan discoveries in decades names female goddess Uni |department=SMU Research |website=blog.smu.edu |access-date=15 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Warden |first1=P. Gregory |title=The Vicchio Stele and Its Context |journal=Etruscan Studies |date=1 January 2016 |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=208–219 |doi=10.1515/etst-2016-0017 |s2cid=132587666 }}</ref> As an example of difficulties in reading this badly damaged monument, here is Maggiani's attempt at a transliteration and translation of a bit from the beginning of the third block of text (III, 1–3): (vacat) tinaś: θ(?)anuri: unial(?)/ ẹ ṿ ị: zal / ame (akil??) "for Tinia in the xxxx of Uni/xxxx(objects) two / must (akil ?) be..."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maggiani |first1=Adriano |title=The Vicchio Stele: The Inscription |journal=Etruscan Studies |date=1 January 2016 |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=220–224 |doi=10.1515/etst-2016-0018 |s2cid=191760189}}</ref><ref>Maggiani, A. and Gregory, P. G. ''Authority and display in sixth-century Etruria: The Vicchio stele'' Edinburgh 2020</ref>
* The badly damaged Saint Marinella lead sheet contains traces of 80 words, only half of which can be completely read with certainty, many of which can also be found in the [[Liber Linteus]]. It was discovered during the 1963–1964 excavations at a sanctuary near Saint Marinella near Pyrgi, now in the Villa Giulia Museum in Rome.{{sfn|Bonfante|1990|p=28}}
* The [[Lead Plaque of Magliano]] contains 73 words, including many names of deities. It seems to be a series of dedications to various gods and ancestors.<ref>van der Meer, B. "The Lead Plaque of Magliano" in: ''Interpretando l'antico. Scritti di archeologia offerti a Maria Bonghi Jovino''. Milano 2013 (Quaderni di Acme 134) pp. 323-341</ref>

===Inscriptions on monuments===
[[File:Cerveteri,_necropoli_della_banditaccia,_via_sepolcrale_principale,_01.jpg|thumb|right|Tumulus on a street at Banditaccia, the main necropolis of [[Caere]]]]

The main material repository of [[Etruscan civilization]], from the modern perspective, is its tombs, all other public and private buildings having been dismantled and the stone reused centuries ago. The tombs are the main source of Etruscan portables, provenance unknown, in collections throughout the world. Their incalculable value has created a brisk black market in Etruscan ''objets d'art'' – and equally brisk law enforcement effort, as it is illegal to remove any objects from Etruscan tombs without authorization from the Italian government.

The magnitude of the task involved in cataloguing them means that the total number of tombs is unknown. They are of many types. Especially plentiful are the [[hypogeum|hypogeal]] or "underground" chambers or system of chambers cut into [[tuff]] and covered by a [[tumulus]]. The interior of these tombs represents a habitation of the living stocked with furniture and favorite objects. The walls may display painted [[mural]]s, the predecessor of wallpaper. Tombs identified as Etruscan date from the [[Villanovan]] period to about 100 BC, when presumably the cemeteries were abandoned in favor of Roman ones.<ref>Some Internet articles on the tombs in general are:<br>
''[http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/tombs.html Etruscan Tombs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513004147/http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/tombs.html |date=2007-05-13 }}'' at mysteriousetruscans.com.<br>
''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930115157/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,936863,00.html Scientific Tomb-Robbing]'', article in ''Time'', Monday, Feb. 25, 1957, displayed at time.com.<br>
''[https://web.archive.org/web/20081214075040/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,907013,00.html Hot from the Tomb: The Antiquities Racket]'', article in ''Time'', Monday, Mar. 26, 1973, displayed at time.com.</ref> Some of the major cemeteries are as follows:
* [[Caere]] or [[Cerveteri]], a [[UNESCO]] site.<ref name=cervtarq>Refer to [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1158 Etruscan Necropoleis of Cerveteri and Tarquinia], a World Heritage site.</ref> Three complete [[necropoleis]] with streets and squares. Many [[hypogeum|hypogea]] are concealed beneath [[tumulus|tumuli]] retained by walls; others are cut into cliffs. The Banditaccia necropolis contains more than 1,000 tumuli. Access is through a door.<ref>Some popular Internet sites giving photographs and details of the necropolis are:
[http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/caisra.html Cisra (Roman Caere / Modern Cerveteri)] at mysteriousetruscans.com.<br>
[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/_Periods/Roman/Archaic/Etruscan/_Texts/DENETR*/33.html Chapter XXXIII CERVETRI.a – AGYLLA or CAERE.], George Dennis at Bill Thayer's Website.<br>
[http://www.mapsack.com/item/9002 Aerial photo and map] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929221039/http://www.mapsack.com/item/9002 |date=2007-09-29 }} at mapsack.com.</ref>

* [[Tarquinia]], Tarquinii or Corneto, a [[UNESCO]] site:<ref name="cervtarq" /> Approximately 6,000 graves dating from the [[Villanovan]] (ninth and eighth centuries BC) distributed in ''[[necropoleis]]'', the main one being the Monterozzi [[hypogeum|hypogea]] of the sixth–fourth centuries BC. About 200 painted tombs display murals of various scenes with call-outs and descriptions in Etruscan. Elaborately carved sarcophagi of marble, [[alabaster]], and [[nenfro]] include identificatory and achievemental inscriptions. The [[Tomb of Orcus]] at the Scatolini necropolis depicts scenes of the [[Spurinnia gens|Spurinna]] family with call-outs.<ref>A history of the tombs at Tarquinia and links to descriptions of the most famous ones is given at [http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/tarchna.html] on mysteriousetruscans.com.</ref>
* Inner walls and doors of tombs and sarcophagi, including the [[Golini Tomb]] and the [[Tomb of Orcus]]
* [[The Orator]] is a bronze statue with a dedicatory inscription of about 13 words in Etruscan
* Engraved steles (tombstones)
* [[Ossuary|ossuaries]]

===Inscriptions on portable objects===

====Votives====
{{See also|votive offering}}
[[File:British Museum Etruscan bronze dedication to Culsans.jpg|thumb|Bronze plaque (300–100 BC) with dedication to [[Culsans]]]]
One example of an early (pre-fifth century BC) votive inscription is on a bucchero oinochoe (wine vase): ''ṃiṇi mulvaṇịce venalia ṡlarinaṡ. en mipi kapi ṃi(r) ṇuṇai'' = "Venalia Ṡlarinaṡ gave me. Do not touch me (?), I (am) ''nunai'' (an offering?)." This seems to be a rare case from this early period of a female (Venalia) dedicating the votive.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Amann |first1=Petra |title=Women and Votive Inscriptions in Etruscan Epigraphy |journal=Etruscan Studies |date=5 November 2019 |volume=22 |issue=1–2 |pages=39–64 |doi=10.1515/etst-2019-0003 |s2cid=208140836 }}</ref>

====Mirrors====
{{More|Bronze mirror}}
A ''speculum'' is a circular or oval hand-mirror used predominantly by Etruscan women. {{Lang|la|Speculum}} is Latin; the Etruscan word is {{Transliteration|ett|malena}} or {{Transliteration|ett|malstria}}. Specula were cast in bronze as one piece or with a tang into which a wooden, bone, or [[ivory]] handle fitted. The reflecting surface was created by polishing the flat side. A higher percentage of [[tin]] in the mirror improved its ability to reflect. The other side was convex and featured [[Intaglio (jewellery)|intaglio]] or [[cameo (carving)|cameo]] scenes from mythology. The piece was generally ornate.<ref>For pictures and a description refer to the ''[http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/art/mirrors.html Etruscan Mirrors]'' article at mysteriousetruscans.com.</ref>

About 2,300 specula are known from collections all over the world. As they were popular plunderables, the provenance of only a minority is known. An estimated time window is 530–100 BC.<ref>For the dates, more pictures and descriptions, see the ''[http://www.oberlin.edu/amam/Etruscan.htm Hand Mirror with the Judgment of Paris]'' article published online by the Allen Memorial Art Museum of [[Oberlin College]].</ref> Most probably came from tombs.

Many bear inscriptions naming the persons depicted in the scenes, so they are often called picture bilinguals. In 1979, [[Massimo Pallottino]], then president of the ''Istituto di Studi Etruschi ed Italici'' initiated the Committee of the ''Corpus Speculorum Etruscanorum'', which resolved to publish all the specula and set editorial standards for doing so. Since then, the committee has grown, acquiring local committees and representatives from most institutions owning Etruscan mirror collections. Each collection is published in its own fascicle by diverse Etruscan scholars.<ref>Representative examples can be found in the U.S. Epigraphy Project site of [[Brown University]]: [http://usepigraphy.brown.edu/view.php?textID=OH.Tol.TMA.L.1980.1340] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070512185430/http://usepigraphy.brown.edu/view.php?textID=OH.Tol.TMA.L.1980.1340|date=2007-05-12}}, [http://usepigraphy.brown.edu/view.php?textID=NY.NY.MMA.L.96.18.16] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060904033701/http://usepigraphy.brown.edu/view.php?textID=NY.NY.MMA.L.96.18.16|date=2006-09-04}}</ref>

====Cistae====
A cista is a bronze container of circular, ovoid, or more rarely rectangular shape used by women for the storage of sundries. They are ornate, often with feet and lids to which figurines may be attached. The internal and external surfaces bear carefully crafted scenes usually from mythology, usually intaglio, or rarely part intaglio, part [[cameo (carving)|cameo]].

Cistae date from the [[Roman Republic]] of the fourth and third centuries BC in Etruscan contexts. They may bear various short inscriptions concerning the manufacturer or owner or subject matter. The writing may be Latin, Etruscan, or both. Excavations at [[Palestrina|Praeneste]], an Etruscan city which became Roman, turned up about 118 cistae, one of which has been termed "the Praeneste cista" or "the Ficoroni cista" by art analysts, with special reference to the one manufactured by Novios Plutius and given by Dindia Macolnia to her daughter, as the archaic Latin inscription says. All of them are more accurately termed "the Praenestine cistae".<ref>Paggi, Maddalena. "The Praenestine Cistae" (October 2004), New York: The [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], in [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/prae/hd_prae.htm Timeline of Art History].</ref>

====Rings and ringstones====
Among the most plunderable portables from the Etruscan tombs of [[Etruria]] are the finely engraved gemstones set in patterned gold to form circular or ovoid pieces intended to go on finger rings. Around one centimeter in size, they are dated to the Etruscan apogee from the second half of the sixth to the first centuries BC. The two main theories of manufacture are native Etruscan<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Gem#Etruscan_Gems |display=Gem § ''Etruscan Gems'' |volume=11 |page=566 |first1=Alexander Stuart |last1=Murray |first2=Arthur Hamilton |last2=Smith}}</ref> and Greek.<ref>[http://www.cvaonline.org/Gems/Styles/Etruscan2/Script/MythFrameset.htm Beazley Archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527005211/http://www.cvaonline.org/Gems/Styles/Etruscan2/Script/MythFrameset.htm |date=2011-05-27 }}.</ref> The materials are mainly dark red [[carnelian]], with [[agate]] and [[sard]] entering usage from the third to the first centuries BC, along with purely gold finger rings with a hollow engraved [[bezel setting]]. The engravings, mainly cameo, but sometimes intaglio, depict [[Dung beetle|scarabs]] at first and then scenes from Greek mythology, often with heroic personages called out in Etruscan. The gold setting of the bezel bears a border design, such as cabling.

====Coins====
Etruscan-minted coins can be dated between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC. Use of the 'Chalcidian' standard, based on the silver unit of 5.8&nbsp;grams, indicates that this custom, like the alphabet, came from Greece. Roman coinage later supplanted Etruscan, but the basic Roman coin, the ''[[sesterce]]'', is believed to have been based on the 2.5-denomination Etruscan coin.<ref>[http://www.snible.org/coins/hn/etruria.html Ancient Coins of Etruria].</ref> Etruscan coins have turned up in caches or individually in tombs and in excavations seemingly at random, and concentrated, of course, in [[Etruria]].

Etruscan coins were in gold, silver, and bronze, the gold and silver usually having been struck on one side only. The coins often bore a denomination, sometimes a minting authority name, and a cameo motif. Gold denominations were in units of silver; silver, in units of bronze. Full or abbreviated names are mainly Pupluna ([[Populonia]]), Vatl or Veltuna ([[Vetulonia]]), Velathri ([[Volaterrae]]), Velzu or Velznani (Volsinii) and Cha for Chamars ([[Camars]]). Insignia are mainly heads of mythological characters or depictions of mythological beasts arranged in a symbolic motif: [[Apollo]], [[Zeus]], [[Culsans]], [[Athena]], [[Hermes]], [[griffin]], [[gorgon]], male [[sphinx]], [[hippocamp]], bull, snake, eagle, or other creatures which had symbolic significance.

===Functional categories===
Wallace et al. include the following categories, based on the uses to which they were put, on their site: abecedaria (alphabets), artisans' texts, boundary markers, construction texts, dedications, didaskalia (instructional texts), funerary texts, legal texts, other/unclear texts, prohibitions, proprietary texts (indicating ownership), religious texts, tesserae hospitales (tokens that establish "the claim of the bearer to hospitality when travelling"<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.6302 |chapter=Tessera |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics |year=2016 |last1=Mattingly |first1=Harold |last2=Rathbone |first2=Dominic W. |isbn=978-0-19-938113-5}}</ref>).<ref>Rex Wallace, Michael Shamgochian and James Patterson (eds.), Etruscan Texts Project, http://etp.classics.umass.edu https://web.archive.org/web/20060912073432/http://etp.classics.umass.edu/</ref>