chapter 18 : Political systems and lawF ig u re 18 .6 Etruscan roads radiating from Veii and Faliscan centers during the seventh to sixth
centuries bce. Potter 19 7 9 , Fig. 2 1.The territory of Veii had a network of more than 25 km of cuniculi, a comprehensive
scheme that is indicative of centrally organized construction.50 Over time, roads and
cuniculi would require maintenance, thus a central organizing office could have best
assigned individual tasks over such a large area. Only one inscription gives a hint of the
administration that might have existed and it was found on a small road branching off
from Via degli Inferi in Caere’s Banditaccia necropolis. The inscription, cut into the side
of the road, announces that it was carried out under the marunship of Larth Lapicanes.51
Here, we see the magistracy of marunch operating in the orbit of public works. Maggiani
likens this position to the similarly titled Umbrian magistrates known as marones “who
often oversee the execution of buildings and public monuments” .52
Another aspect that these magistrates share is the fact that we know about them in
the first place. There are 72 extant magisterial inscriptions (with 47 of those coming
from Tarquinia and its larger territory alone).53 In addition there are tomb paintings and
many sarcophagi that depict the magistrates who may be identified by means of their
costume, attendants and symbols of office. For example the sarcophagus of Ramtha Visnai
was intended for her and only mentions her husband, Arnth Tetnies, in the course of her
identification (arntheal tetn{i}es puia).54 And while it makes sense that Arnth Tetnies’
(^0) 10 km