Cippus Perusinus

The Cippus Perusinus is a stone tablet (cippus) discovered on the hill of San Marco, near Perugia, Italy, in 1822. The tablet bears 46 lines of incised Etruscan text, about 130 words. The cippus, which seems to have been a border stone, appears to display a text dedicating a legal contract between the Etruscan families of Velthina (from Perugia) and Afuna (from Chiusi), regarding the sharing or use, including water rights, of a property upon which there was a tomb belonging to the noble Velthinas.[1][2][3]

Cippus Perusinus
The Cippus of Perugia, 3rd or 2nd century BCE
Side view

The date of the inscription is considered to be 3rd or 2nd century BC. The Cippus is conserved in the National Archeological Museum of Perugia.[1]

Original text
Text transcription

Formatted according to latest theory by F. Roncalli for the original lines, distorted when they were copied onto this stone.[4] There are no capital letters in the original, but known and certain names are capitalized below. Lines in parentheses are those of the actual cippus. Word spacing is mostly hypothetical.

Front:

(1) eurat . tanna . Larezul /(2) ame vaχr lautn .
Velθinaś e/(3)śtla Afunas slel eθ ca ru/
(4) tezan fuśle ri tesnśteiś /(5) raśneś ipa ama
hen naper /(6) XII ( twelve ) Velθina θuraś araś pe/(7)raśc
emulm lescul zu ci en/(8)es ci epl tularu/
(9) Aulesi Velθinas Arznal cl/(10)ensi . θii . θil
ścuna . cenu e/(11)plc felic Larθalś Afuneś/
(13!) falaś χiem fuśle Velθina /(12!)clen θun χulθe/
(14) hinθa cape municlet masu / (15) naper śran czl
θii falaśt V/(16)elθina hut naper pen ezś/
(17) masu acnina . clel . Afuna Vel/(18)θina mler
zinia inte mame/(19)r cnl Velθina zia śatene/
(20) tesne eca Velθina θuraś θ/(21)aura helu
tesne raśne cei /(22) tesnś teiś raśneś
χimθ śp/(23)el θuta ścuna Afuna mena /(24) hen
naper ci cnl hare utuśe /...

Side:

(25)...Velθina ś/(26)atena
zuc/(27)i enesci. i/(28)pa. śpelane/(29)θi. fulumχ/(30)va.
śpelθi. /(31) reneθi. eśt/(32)ac Velθina /(34) acilune.
turune. śc/(35)une. zea. zuc/(36)i. enesci. aθ/(37)umicś.
Afu/(38)naś. penθn/(39)a. ama. Velθ/(40)ina. Afun(a) /(41)
θuruni. ein /(42) zeri una. cl/(43)a. θil. θunχ/(44)ulθl.
iχ. ca /(45) ceχa. ziχuχ/(46)e

Notes

The last word in the text, ziχuχe means 'was written.'[5]

In line 10, θi-i and θi-l are respectively dative/instrumental and genitive for "water," and according to Facchetti (and approved by Wylin) the form cenu means "(is) obtained." Wylin translates the phrase (9-11) Aulesi Velθinas Arznal clensi/ θii θil ścuna cenu e/pl-c feli-c Larθal-ś Afun-e as "‘With respect to the water of Aule Velthina, son of Arznei, the use (ścuna) of water is obtained bothepl and feli by Larth Afuna." And Wylin points out that the tricolon in lines 33-34 acilune. turune. ścune probably corresponds to the Latin legal phrase facere, dare, praestare "to do, to give, and to make good," a phrase used with respect to personal obligations rather than legal rights."[2][6][7]

Some phrases identified and partly translated by van Heems include: (1-2) eurat tanna larezul ame --"Larezul is the arbitrator tanna (of what follows?)"; (2-3) vaχr lautn Velθinaś eśtla Afunas slel eθ caru -- "An agreement of the Velthina tribe with that of Afuna, by his own (accord) was concluded (car-u ?)"; (3-5) tezan fuśle-ri tesnś-teiś raśneś -- "Complying (tezan ?) to the ordinances (fuśle-ri ?) from the public/Etruscan law"; (5-7) ipa ama hen naper XII Velθina-θur-aś araś peraś-c -- "that 12 hen (arable?) acres of Velthinas shall be dedicated and pera -ed." (18-21) inte mamer cnl Velθina zia śatene tesne, eca Velθina θuraś θaura helu --"To the (tomb) which Velthina zi-ed on the mamer according to the satena law, this has been hel -ed as the tomb of Velthina". In lines 29-30, the form fulumχva mirrors pulumχva in the Pyrgi Tablets and (in the singular?) pulum in the inscription on the Golini Tomb. (36-46)aθumicś Afunaś. penθna. ama. Velθina. Afuna θuruni. ein zeriuna. cla. θil. θunχulθl. iχ. ca ceχa. ziχuχe -- "The cippus of Afuna is aθumicś. Velthina (and) Afuna together (θuruni ?) shall not zerina (violate?) the accord concernting the water (rights), as this is written above."[8]

Notes
  1. "National Archaeological Museum of Perugia - The Cippus of Perugia". Archived from the original on 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  2. "The first Chapter of the Cortona inscription" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-13.
  3. Jean MacIntosh Turfa (13 November 2014). The Etruscan World. Routledge. pp. 363–. ISBN 978-1-134-05523-4.
  4. Hillary Becker "Evidence for Etruscan Archives: Tracking the epigraphic habit in tombs,the sacred sphere, and at home" in Etruscan Literacy in its Social Context ed. Ruth Whitehouse, Accordia Research Institute, London, 2020. p. 172-4. https://air.unimi.it/bitstream/2434/722285/2/BagnascoGianni%202020-deGrummond.pdf
  5. Bonfante, L. Reading the Past: Etruscan. UCalPress. !990. p12
  6. Facchetti, Giulio M. Frammenti di diritto privato etrusco. Firenze. 2000
  7. "Definition of PRAESTARE". The Law Dictionary. 12 July 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  8. Gilles van Heems, "Per uno studio sintattico del Cippo di Perugia: struttura frastica e fraseologica di un 'testo lungo'" in Mélanges de l'École française de Rome - Antiquité 133.1, 2021, pp. 23-38. https://doi.org/10.4000/mefra.11136. https://journals.openedition.org/mefra/11136 Open Access

References
  • Materials for the study of the Etruscan Language prepared by Murray Fowler and Richard George Wolfe
  • Bonfante, Giuliano; Bonfante, Larissa (2002). The Etruscan Language: an Introduction. Manchester, University of Manchester Press. ISBN 0-7190-5540-7.
  • Cristofani, Mauro; et al. (1984). Gli Etruschi: una nuova immagine. Firenze, Giunti Martello.
  • Cristofani, Mauro (1979). The Etruscans: A New Investigation (Echoes of the ancient world). Orbis Pub. ISBN 0-85613-259-4.
  • Grünwedel, A. (1922) Tusca. 1. Die Agramer mumienbinden. 2. Die inschrift des cippus von Perugia. 3. Die Pulena-rolle. 4. Das bleitäfelchen von Magliano. 5. Die leber von Piacenza. 6. Golini-grab I. 7. Die inschrift von Capua. Leipzig : K. W. Hiersemann
  • Rix, Helmut (1985) "Sul testo del 'cippo di Perugia'" in Studi Etruschi 53 [1987], pp. 161-170.
  • Rix, Helmut (1991). Etruskische Texte. G. Narr. ISBN 3-8233-4240-1. 2 vols.
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