The Tabula Cortonensis
The Tabula Cortonensis was unveiled to the public on June 30, 1999, as an exceptionally important archaeological treasure that could make great strides in deciphering the Etruscan language. It is a bronze foil on which is inscribed one of the longest inscriptions left by this ancient and mysterious civilization. The find, datable between the late 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C., is broken into eight fragments, one of which has not yet been found. The text, written on both sides of the tablet, is 40 lines long. The writing work must have been entrusted to two different scribes, which is shown by the marked difference in the stroke of some parts of the piece. The content of the lamina is certainly enigmatic, as is the whole Etruscan language. Suffice it to say that we know perfectly well how this people pronounced the sounds (the alphabet is Greek type), but we know almost nothing about the meaning of the words. "We were able to understand the subject of the inscription," explains Luciano Agostiniani, professor of glottology at the University of Perugia. "It is about a transaction between two families, the gens Petru Scevas and the gens Cusu, in the presence of witnesses and an authority. This is why the attack is emphatic." Indeed, the first lines read Under the magistracy of Larth Cusu son of Titinei and Laris Salini son of Aule... "But despite this promising beginning the subject of the contract remains unfortunately unknown," the expletive continues, "In fact, of the sixty lexical units in the writing, twenty-seven are new words, never found in other inscriptions."
Adding to the linguistic enigma is the mystery of the discovery. According to the official version, the find is said to be the result of the good fortune of a carpenter working on a construction site, who reportedly presented himself to the Carabinieri claiming the hefty reward provided for those who find ancient artifacts. "This man is lying. We have dug in the place he indicated, but nothing has emerged to corroborate his version," says Francesco Nicosia, central inspector of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage. "We have only one certainty: the area was that of Cortona. Knowing precisely where the find was recovered is extremely important, however, because it could allow us to discover other priceless treasures. The Tabula, in fact, may have been deposited along with many others in some sort of archive. Finding them would enable us to have a wealth of valuable data about that people and their language."
