- Luciano Agostiniani –
deceased. There are, fi nally, the two gold foil plaques from Pyrgi (Cr 4.4–4.5) (Fig. 22.8),
which carry texts, respectively, of 36 and 15 words. Found in the sanctuary along with
a third sheet of gold, inscribed in Phoenician, they record, like the Phoenician text, the
dedication to Uni/Astarte of a temple by a local Etruscan ruler around 500 bc.
In general, the longer texts are written language productions in which the creative aspect
is prevalent. However, they do not lack repeated turns of phrase and various stereotypes. So,
for example, the descriptions of the various rituals of the “Liber linteus” repeat several times
the expression cisum pute tul θans hatec repinec, which we fi nd on pages III (lines 22–23), IV
(lines 3–4 and 16), IX (lines 4–5, 11–12 and 20). The same applies to the “Tablet of Capua”:
for example, iśvei tule ilucve apirase appears in section II, line 8 and again in section III, line 17.
Quite different is the case of the vast majority of shorter inscriptions. Some are
totally devoid of an articulated structure, as in the case of sigla and abbreviations
- presumably of proper names or words of some sort – or by the proper names
inscribed on an object to indicate (without formulating it linguistically) a relationship
between the object and the person designated by name. We may fi nd either simple
names, or onomastic formulas that are more or less complex. This is the most
common type of inscription in the case of tomb markers, urns and sarcophagi.
The following serve as examples:
(4) Cm 2.44 (Capua, graffi to on vase, fi fth century bc, fi rst half): cupe velieśa “Cupe,
(son) of Velie” (Fig. 22.9)
(5) Cl 1.393 (Chiusi, lid of cinerary urn, second century bc): peθna larceś remznal
“Pethna, (son) of Larce and of Remznei”
Figure 22.8 Gold plaque from Pyrgi, early fi fth century bc (Rome, Museo di Villa Giulia).