The Etruscan World (Routledge Worlds)

• Hilary Becker –

Other Republican magistracies

Other positions are also attested beyond the varied degrees of zilath.^40 The marunch is a
magistracy fi rst attested in the monarchical period, in an inscription on the Tragliatella
cippus dated to the mid-sixth century bce and it remains in use amongst other republican
offi ces.^41 Like the zilathship (zilach), inscriptions commemorating a maru may add the
attributive description of spural or spurana, such as the magistrates Arnth Churcles of
Norchia and Larth Curunas from Tarquinia who both held the position of urban marunch.^42
The duties of a maru are not perfectly understood, but inscriptions over time suggest that
this position may have been collegial and may have involved both religious and civic
duties, and it is a position that Maggiani suggests may have had some of the duties of a
Roman aedilis and quaestor.^43 There is also a magistrate known as the purth (or purthne),
which seems to have been a high-ranking offi ce or charge that could be held concurrently
with that of zilath.^44 The aforementioned Larth Tute was not only a zilath eight times,
but he also was a purth.^45 There are various hypotheses as to what the purth was responsible
for, with one scholar likening the position to a “fi rst minister” (thus relying on a possibly
etymological connection to the Greek executive offi cers, the prutaneis) while another
suggests it could be a special appointment outside of the traditional cursus, akin to the
Roman censor.^46

Magisterial duties and the activities of the city-state

We have seen that there were different types of zilaths, of different rank and charge as
well as lower-ranking magistracies. The delimiting adjectives that further defi ned the
magistracy (e.g. eterau) surely served to distinguish and separate the zilath from lower
ranking magistrates and, in turn, would have served to prescribe their duties. We already
have seen that the zilaths of the major cities gave their names, eponymously, to the year.
And while this practice could be simply used for dating, as in the funereal examples listed
above, in other contexts a listing of the eponymous magistrate(s) might serve to add
authority to the object under consideration. In this case, one thinks of a bronze weight
from Caere that was dedicated to Turms (Mercury) during the zilathship (zilc) of La(r)th
Nulathe (Fig. 18.2).^47 On the sixth line of the inscription there are numerals (IIC= 286.5
grams) that indicate the object’s weight. This weight fi nds comparison with a similar
practice in the Roman world where the name of an aedilis (or later, that of the praefectus
urbi) upon an inscribed donative weight served to indicate that the weight had been
checked against an offi cial group of weights. There is also a bronze tablet from Tarquinia,
and while it is only partially legible, the preamble begins with the eponymous date
provided by two magistrates, before a discussion of some matter (a will?) relating to a
member of the Clevsina family.^48 This tablet had nail holes so that it could be affi xed to a
wall or post. In the case of this inscription, we do not know how directly the magistrates
were involved, but the Pyrgi plaques certainly show that an Etruscan magistrate could
post offi cial documents (in that case, of a predominately religious nature).
The actions of Thefarie Velianas certainly prompt us to think at what point different,
ostensibly political magistracies may have had religious duties as a part of their regular
munus. It is clear that the zilaths as well as other magistrates would have taken part in
ceremonial processions, using instruments such as the sella curulis and the fasces (Fig.
18.3). Other high-profi le activities, such as administering or even judging games might