- Jean Gran-Aymerich –
THE ETRUSCAN INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE
MEDITERRANEAN REGION: EVIDENCE FOR
LONG-RANGE TRAVEL AND CULTURAL TRANSFERSThe most exceptional of the known Etruscan texts was discovered very far from Etruria.
This is the liber linteus, used to wrap an Egyptian mummy now in Zagreb (see Chapter
22). We do not know all the circumstances leading to the relocation of this object to
Egypt, but it is reasonable to believe that this text accompanied an Etruscan, most likely
a priest, in his long peregrinations to the land of the Pharaohs. Amongst the texts traced
to Etruria we might also count the ivory plaque from Carthage, which, without doubt,
provided safe conduct or some manner of tessera hospitalis. Another, similar document of
more recent chronology is the inscribed bronze disc discovered in Gouraya, Algeria. The
short inscription from Ampurias that appears upon a bronze feline paw would have been
inscribed during the casting process in Etruria and is a very particular piece outside of
Etruria. The Etruscan pottery exported might present marks and inscriptions related
to commercial uses or manufacture, and certain pieces might have been inscribed in
Etruria before export, as is proven by the presence of inscribed vases in the Grand Ribaud
F shipwreck or by certain common wares found at Marseille whose inscriptions were
rendered before fi ring.
Amidst all this, one must admit that the majority of Etruscan table wares and common
wares with graffi ti would have been inscribed at the sites where the fragments themselves
were discovered, even though it is not possible to determine this with any certainty. Such
documents have been identifi ed in Greece and in southern Gaul.
Greece has furnished a widely dispersed and varied array of Etruscan objects with
inscriptions. In the pan-Hellenic sanctuaries, where Etruscan objects and Villanova-style
bronzes are frequent, we are quite familiar with the Greek inscriptions on Etruscan helmets
dedicated by the Syracusans after the Battle of Cumae.^113 The Athenian agora has brought
to light two Etruscan inscriptions upon bucchero vases,^114 while the majority of inscribed
documents, and Etruscan vases, have been found in port sanctuaries or mercantile cities.
At Corinth, bucchero kantharoi were found in the Potters’ Quarter and other bucchero
vases formed part of the discarded merchandise in the courtyard of a Trader’s House on
the Lechaion Road.^115 The bucchero kantharos from the sanctuary of Aphaia on Aegina,
which bears the mutilated name of an Etruscan, has furnished the clearest epigraphic
evidence of such a presence in a sanctuary outside of Etruria.^116 Concerning the sanctuary
at Perachora, the engraved sealstone of a ring now in New York, which depicts the death
of Ajax and bears the name of a “mercante etrusco” (Naniva) has been authenticated and
recognized as Etruscan.^117 From the same sanctuary comes the inscription of a Corinthian
- Nearchos – who incised his name upon a bucchero kantharos.^118
For the north-western Mediterranean, the Etruscan inscriptions from Marseille, Saint-
Blaise, Lattes, Ensérune, Pech-Maho and Ampurias open a fruitful avenue of research.
This ensemble is rich and complex, and provides new perspectives through attentive
readings of the graffi ti coming from the habitation excavations.^119 Nevertheless, the most
exceptional of the texts coming from southern France remains the lead sheet discovered
at Pech-Maho in Languedoc, which bears an engraved letter, presumably commercial;
epigraphic and philological analysis confi rm its redaction in a “colonial” context.^120 The
inscription engraved upon an amphora from Marseille, found in a sort of banquet hall
according to L. F. Gantès, director of the excavations of the building complex at Collège