- chapter 18: Political systems and law –
PROPERTY AND THE LEGAL SPHEREBoundary markers like those referred to in the prophecy were indeed used to mark private
property such as the two cippi from Bettona that mark the boundaries of the Larnas family
within a necropolis.^81 Another cippus found in Castiglione del Lago, reads tular alfi l;^82
the familial name Alfi al is attested in the territory of Chiusi and Perugia.^83 All of these
markers date from the fourth and third centuries bce.
Another boundary marker, the Cippus of Perugia, itself a functional boundary stone,
provides rare insight into boundaries, property, and Etruscan law. The Cippus of Perugia
records an adjudicated agreement concerning the use of private land. The contract was
struck between the families of Larth Afuna and Aule Velthina and allows Larth Afuna
to draw water from the property of Velthina (a legal servitude analogous to the Roman
aquae haustus).^84 The inscription also deals with the apportionment to Larth Afuna of
land within the necropolis that was owned by Aule Velthina. The Tabula Cortonensis also
provides valuable information about land ownership and legal provisions, as well as the
opportunity to speculate about the political world behind these contracts.^85 This bronze
tablet has a handle that would have allowed it to be posted and serves as a contract
between Petru Scevas and Arntlei, his wife, and the Cusu family. The fact that a woman
plays a part in a legal matter, and potentially owned property herself, is itself worthy of
note. In this contract the Cusu family owns agricultural property and may be receiving it
back from Petru Scevas, who may have rented it.
These documents have some aspects in common, and thus give insight into the workings
of Etruscan legal processes. The fi rst is that they both provide precise measurements for
the land under discussion. The second is that both contracts are offi cially witnessed, as in
the case of the Perugia Cippus where the witness ([t]eurat) was Larth Rezus. The Tabula
Cortonensis not only has as many as two groups of witnesses that certify the arrangement,
but also names Larth Cucrina Lausisa, zilath mechl rasnal who served as a witness.^86 The
text is even dated on the reverse side with the inclusion of the names of the local zilaths,
Larth Cusus and Laris Salini. The convergence of both the eponymous zilaths and the
zilath mechl rasnal supports the idea of the distinction between a zilath who is in charge of
a city or town and one who presides over the entire territory, in this case, Cortona. This
inscription also gives us a rare view into Etruscan political life and magisterial activities
because we can see that the zilath mechl rasnal was involved in this legal proceeding and
may have had some juridical authority.
In the case of the Cippus of Perugia, on the basis of a close study of the inscription,
Francesco Roncalli has concluded that the surviving inscription does not represent the
initial iteration of the text, but is rather a copy, a conclusion reached on the basis of the
awkward spacing of text.^87 This observation of Roncalli lends credence to an argument
that inscriptions of this type were not singular, in that copies were made of them, thus
underscoring the offi cial nature of these records. Even stronger evidence for this can
be found within the inscription of the Tabula Cortonensis that specifi cally mentions that
other copies of the agreement should be stored in the home of the Cusu family, as well as
the homes of four men (all of whom have elite names and are presumably to be counted
among the local principes).^88 It is possible, then, that a copy of the text preserved on the
Cippus of Perugia was also written on a less durable medium and stored for reference.
What is interesting about this storage is that, at least in the case of the Tabula, it is
clear that an agreement important enough to have offi cial involvement is not stored in