Etruscan Literacy in its Social Context

Etruscan Literacy in its Social Context edited by Ruth D. Whitehouse Etruscan Literacy in its Social Context University of London edited by Ruth D. Whitehouse VOLUME 18 ACCORDIA SPECIALIST STUDIES ON ITALY (Series Editors: Ruth D. Whitehouse) ACCORDIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON Published by Accordia Research Institute University of London c/o Institute of Archaeology Gordon Square London WC1H 0PY British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library Computer typeset by the Accordia Research Institute All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers Published 2020 © Accordia Research Institute, University of London Cover: Image: layout & design © Accordia Research Institute Crocefisso del Tufo cemetery at Orvieto, inscription over tomb entrance; photograph by Ruth Whitehouse ISBN 978 1 873415 37 5 Printed and bound in Great Britain This book is dedicated to the memory of John Wilkins (.. – ..) scholar of language, literacy and society of ancient Italy Contents Preface and Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations x Introduction Ruth D. Whitehouse 1 The Social Context of Proto-Literacy in Central Italy: the case of Poggio Civitate Anthony Tuck & Rex Wallace 9 Etruscan Inscriptions on Pottery Vessels: contexts and functions (8th–6th centuries BC) Jean Gran-Aymerich & Jean Hadas-Lebel 21 Potters’ Signatures: the relationship betweeen craftsmen and artefacts Valentina Belfiore & Lucilla Medori 41 Etruscan Vase Painters: literate or illiterate? Dimitris Paleothodoros 69 ‘Drawing’ Inscriptions: preliminary remarks on writing artisans in 7th century BC Faliscan territory Maria Cristina Biella 91 Engravers and Readers of Inscribed Etruscan Gems Laura Ambrosini 103 The Internationa Etruscan Sigla Project: an introduction Giovanna Bagnasco Gianni & Nancy T. de Grummond 113 Traces of Orality in Writing Daniele Maras 125 Writing Time and Space in Ancient Etruria Massimiliano Di Fazio 135 Writing Against the Image Larissa Bonfante 145 Between Etruscans and Phoenicians: the impiety of Thefarie Maurizio Harari 151 Evidence for Etruscan Archives: tracking the epigraphic habit in tombs, the sacred sphere, and at home Hilary Becker 159 Personal Names in Early Etruscan Inscriptions: an anthropological perspective Ruth D. Whitehouse 181 Addresses of contributors 195 Notes for authors 197 Preface and Acknowledgements The conference from which this volume arises was held at the Institute of Classical Studies (School of Advanced Studies), University of London in September 2010. Its aim was expressed in its name, preserved in the title of this volume: Etruscan Literacy in its Social Context. The conference itself took its name from a research project organised by myself and John Wilkins with Kathryn Lomas as Research Fellow and funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. This project, which ran from 2005 to 2009, was restricted to the earlier period of Etruscan writing (8th to 5th centuries BC). The aim of the conference was to draw on the interests and expertise of the larger Etruscology community to explore the social context of Etruscan writing on a broad chronological, geographical, and thematic basis. The current publication, intended to follow soon after the conference, has been sadly delayed by the illness and then death of John Wilkins, to whom the volume is dedicated. In the last year the scholarly community has also lost Larissa Bonfante, doyenne of Anglophone Etruscan studies and a good friend to Accordia. It is a melancholy privilege to include what may be her last published paper in this volume. My debt to John is immeasurable, in intellectual as well as personal terms. He introduced me, previously exlusively a prehistorian, to an exploration of ancient societies illuminated by the study of their writing, however fragmentary its survival and difficult its interpretation. Our joint interest in exploring how writing functioned in ancient society was behind two successive research projects and the conference published in this volume. I would like to thank Kathryn Lomas for her major contribution to the organisation of the conference and for all her hard work on the Etruscan Literacy Project. I am also grateful to Mike Edwards, former director of the Institute of Classical Studies, for hosting the conference at the ICS. I wish to record my gratitude to the contributors to the volume, who have responded to the delay in publication with patience and tolerance and whose understanding has helped me through a difficult process. Ruth D. Whitehouse London January 2020 ABBREVIATIONS Castellina 2011 CIE CII CSE ES ET Etrusker in Berlin 2010 Gli Etruschi 2015 Italia 2005 LIMC Rasenna 1986 Rediscovering Pompeii REE SE ST TLE2 Gran-Aymerich, J. & Domínguez-Arranz, A. (eds) 2011. La Castellina a sud di Civitavecchia, origini ed eredità. Origines protohistoriques et évolution d’un habitat étrusque. L’Erma di Bretschneider, Rome Corpus Inscriptionum Etruscarum Corpus Inscriptionum Italicarum Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum Gerhard, E., Klugmann, A. & Koerte G. 1840–1897. Etruskische Spiegel, I–V. Reimer, Berlin Rix H. (ed.) 1991. Etruskische Texte. Editio minor. Gunter Narr, Tübingen Etruskische Kunst in der Berliner Antikensammlung. Eine Einführung. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg Gli Etruschi maestri di scrittura. Società e cultura nell’Italia antica. Silvana editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo Colonna G., 2005. Italia ante Romanum imperium. Scritti di antichità etrusche, italiche e romane (1958-1998) Istituti editoriali e poligrafici internazionali, Pisa Lexicon Iconographicum Mitologiae Classicae Pallottino, M. et al. (eds) 1986. Rasenna: storia e civiltà degli Etruschi. Scheiwiller, Milan Franchi Dell’Orto, L., & Varone, A.,(eds) 1990. Rediscovering Pompeii Exhibition Catalogue (New York 12 July – 15 September 1990). L’ Erma di Bretschneider, Rome Rivista di epigrafia etrusca (in Studi Etruschi) Studi Etruschi Rix H. 2002. Sabellische Texte. Die Texte des Oskischen, Umbrischen und Südpikenischen. Winter, Heidelberg Pallottino, M. 1968. Testimonia linguae Etruscae. 2nd ed. La Nuova Italia, Florence Evidence for Etruscan Archives Tracking the epigraphic habit in tombs, the sacred sphere, and at home Hilary Becker THE EVIDENCE FROM THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND FUNERARY SPHERES There is much that we do not know about the functions of the élite Etruscan home. This paper examines epigraphic evidence that, when collected, seems to indicate that the élite Etruscan home was an important social and political locus that provided a venue for the storage of archives. These archives, reconstructed predominately from funerary inscriptions, mostly revolve around family histories that would have been recorded and maintained over time. However, there is also evidence that élite houses would have archived other types of information such as legal contracts – thus hinting at a public aspect to the Etruscan home. The structure of the Etruscan house can be reconstructed, at least partially, thanks to extant archaeological foundations or evidence from the funerary sphere (e.g. Prayon 1975). Even though funerary iconography, such as the frescoes of the Golini I tomb in Orvieto with its elaborate kitchen scene or the carved decorations from the Tomb of the Reliefs in Caere, gives us an idea of some of the contents and activities that belonged in the domestic sphere, there is still much to learn about the social functions of the Etruscan home. Various bodies of surrogate evidence offer possibilities for fleshing out some of the more ephemeral actions that occurred in the home (e.g. daily business, household rituals, etc.). While this study centres on the élite Etruscan home and its archival potential, it will also consider the sacred sphere in order to look for cognate traditions of recording and storing important information. Finally, considering how much written material of a public nature was potentially stored in non-civic space, whether in the home or in the sacral sphere, is also of interest. Indeed we know so little about Etruscan administration and state buildings and we do not know whether a state archive even existed. As it stands, the archaeological record has neither confirmed nor refuted the existence of a state archive building in an Etruscan city, a situation that is not surprising given our limited knowledge of Etruscan public architecture. Thus, given our state of understanding, we cannot make an affirmative argument for state archives, yet we can explore the role that domestic space played in the storage and preservation of records. 160 HILARY BECKER Fig. 1 Reconstruction of the Elogia Tarquiniensia inscriptions, with a hypothesised base that might have held representations of the Spurinna ancestors. 1st century AD, Tarquinia (after Torelli 1975: tav. V) ELOGIA TARQUINIENSIA In the 1st century AD T. Vestricius Spurinna dedicated a set of inscribed marble slabs in Tarquinia to his ancestors, who each received an honorific inscription in Latin (Torelli 1975; 2017: 704–8) (Fig. 1). While the statues that once probably accompanied these inscriptions are no longer extant, the inscriptions, known as the Elogia Tarquiniensia, provide strong evidence for the collection and preservation of family histories over time. The extant portions of this inscription record the history of two or three generations of the Spurinna family, most of whom may have lived centuries before the lifetime of T. Vestricius Spurinna. Mario Torelli has reconstructed the inscriptions in the following manner (Torelli 1975: 56 – 92): the first extant family member to be featured is Velthur Spurinna, who was the son of Lars. Velthur was a praetor, presumably an Etruscan zilath, twice; during his first magistracy he led an army, while during the second he led another army into Sicily, a notable act because he was the first Etruscan commander to do so. The second inscription is poorly preserved but it deals with another Velthur Spurinna, the son of Velthur (presumably the Velthur mentioned in the first inscription). There are two letters reading pr which is taken to mean that this Velthur was also a praetor, but his accomplishments, which took at least five lines to enumerate, are not preserved. The third inscription commemorates an Aulus Spurinna, son of Velthur – thus he could be the son of either of the aforementioned men. Aulus Spurinna was praetor three times and was very active in Etruria and beyond – either driving out (or restoring?) king Orgolnius of Caere, helping out with a slave revolt in Arezzo, and capturing nine Latin towns. Torelli looked to see whether the activities conducted by the Spurinnae can be connected with events recorded by ancient historians and he believed that the Velthur Spurinna from the first inscription could be connected with the Athenian invasion of Syracuse (Torelli 1975: 59 – 66).1 This is because Thucydides records that some of the Etruscan cities spontaneously offered to join Athens’ cause which would date Velthur I’s actions to 414/413 EVIDENCE FOR ETRUSCAN ARCHIVES 161 BC (Thuc. 6.88.6). Torelli also believes that part of the elogium of Aulus is reflected in Livy, when the historian mentions that the people of Tarquinia ravished Roman territory adjacent to Etruria in 358 BC (Livy 7.12.5 – 6; Torelli 1975: 82 – 92). So if these connections are correct, these inscriptions describe historical events that date between the late 5th century BC and the mid 4th century BC. But as is recognised today, this history is not so neatly verifiable. Tim Cornell has rightly questioned whether the slabs have been reconstructed in the correct order and whether the members of this family are correctly assembled according to when each lived and their respective parentage (Cornell 1978). But more importantly, Cornell questions whether the events described in the elogia can necessarily be connected to surviving history – just because Thucydides informs us that Etruscans were present in Sicily in the late 5th century BC, is that necessarily the only time that the Etruscans could have ventured into Sicily (Cornell 1978: 170)? Even with such caution, whether or not Velthur Spurinna led his troops into Sicily in 414/413 BC or Aulus took nine towns in 358 BC, the import of these inscriptions is not diminished, for it is generally agreed that they refer to a much earlier and pre-Roman history. The inscriptions of the Elogia Tarquiniensia are important because they provide an example of the recording of matters of familial import across generations. In the case of each of the three men, each person is listed along with the name of his father, as well as his most important accomplishments and offices – thus the Latin term elogia is appropriate as it calls to mind the elogia employed on the Late Republican Tomb of the Cornelii Scipiones or on the summi viri of the Forum of Augustus (Coarelli 2007: 367 – 73; Zanker 1988: 210 – 15). The Spurinna family was one of the assimilating success stories of Romanised Tarquinia as they were part of the Roman governing class, but their family name was also prominent through much of Etruscan history – as the mid 6th century BC tessera hospitalis listing araz silqetenas spurianas, found in the Area Sacra di S. Omobono in Rome, attests (AA. VV. 1981: 134 C24). Valerius Maximus records the story of (presumably) yet another Spurinna, a man of exceptional beauty. No date is given for his story, only that it occurred before Etruria was given citizenship. Torelli speculates that this story, like those from the elogia, may have been drawn from the family archives of this gens (Torelli 2017: 708). In his book devoted to the Elogia Tarquiniensia, Torelli considers by what means these family histories may have been passed down across so many centuries to be recorded in the first century AD. He reasons that this information was recorded in a family archive and handed down and later utilised as direct source material for these inscriptions. Alternatively, Torelli reasons that this information was preserved in a family archive but came to be reworked a bit according to contemporary, antiquarian tastes that favored the history of individual gentes. Even if there was an intermediary that may have jazzed up (or reorganised) the information pertaining to the Spurinna family members, what is important is that this information was ever recorded in the first instance and that the family archives were the locus for that history. The careful collection of ancestral biographical information finds parallel in the Roman world. It was, of course, the Roman tablinum that housed records and accounts of deeds done by members of the Roman family.2 As Pliny the Elder explained: tabulina codicibus implebantur et monimentis rerum in magistratu gestarum the tablina were filled with ledgers of records and accounts of deeds done by office holders Pliny HN 35.2.7 The élite Etruscan house, like the patrician houses of the Romans, seems also to have been used as an archive for family information, and whether there was a dedicated space for such a function, like the Roman tablinum, we just do not know. Just as the tablinum offered a repository for family records in the Roman sphere, so too, such a function, wherever it occurred in the Etruscan family home, would help to maintain the memory of a gens beyond a few generations. 162 HILARY BECKER A written tradition would have been needed especially for the preservation of the family history of the Spurinna family from the Elogia into the first century AD. It takes some imagination to believe that the records of the Spurinna family were preserved over such an extent of time by oral history alone (on oral tradition and memory, see Wiseman 2008: 15 – 18). Considering the transmission of the stories surrounding King Arthur, Christopher Gidlow suggests that “200 years is the maximum time one can reasonably expect oral tradition to survive without serious distortion” (Gidlow 2004: 69). This length of time is estimated by imagining an historian who interviews the oldest living person in the community, who in turn is asked to remember stories told to him by his elders when he was young. An example of this can be found in the works of Cicero, who wrote that Cato the Elder, as a boy, heard a story from his elders who, in turn, heard the story when they themselves were young (Cic. Sen. 13.1).3 This anecdote certainly demonstrates how oral history could preserve information handed down over multiple generations. While the many centuries of familial ‘memory’ represented by the Elogia Tarquiniensia is impressive, more evidence exists to support the idea of familial biographical information being recorded and retained over time. Specifically, inscriptions from painted tombs of the Hellenistic period offer many examples. Just as with the elogia, these inscriptions also show an interest in the élite individual, his family and the deeds accomplished in his lifetime. TOMB OF ORCUS I The tomb of Orcus is a hypogeum tomb at Tarquinia that was first built in the 4th century BC and expanded over the course of the next century to comprise two connected chambers and a passage between them, known as Orcus I, II, and III (Haynes 2000: 312 – 13). The oldest chamber, Orcus I, depicts various members of a family tree as they are reunited for a banquet in the underworld. Painted in a loculus in the rear wall, there is an inscription explaining that ‘Lei[ve] (or perhaps Lei[the]) built (thamce) the place/tomb/ loculus (munsle) for his ancestors (nacnvaia-si)’ (CIE 5357; Morandi Tarabella 2004: 319; Pallottino 1984: 512) (Fig. 2). The paintings themselves underscore the interest of the dedicant Lei[ve] in honoring his family. In addition, this inscription provides the year, according to the names of two office holders (who were perhaps zilaths), Larth Hulchnies and Marce Caliathe (Morandi Tarabella 2004: 243, no.1). This inscription is particularly interesting because of the magisterial date. This is information that would also be suitable for archives and perhaps might provide even stronger evidence for the transmission of this information from the family itself to the walls of the tomb to the family archive, or from the archive to the tomb. Fig. 2 The Tomb of Orcus I, Tarquinia. A banqueting scene attended by Leive (or perhaps Lei[the]) and by his parents Ravnthu Thefrinai and Larth Murinas. The inscription belonging to Leive is on the right (CIE 5357), while that of his father is on the left (CIE 5360). Second half of the 4th century BC (Steingräber 1986: 330 no. 244; image courtesy of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Rom) EVIDENCE FOR ETRUSCAN ARCHIVES 163 In the painting on the niche of the rear wall, Leive (at right) sits next to his parents Larth Murinas and Ravnthu Thefrinai (Fig. 2). Larth Murinas is labeled as a zilath mechl rasnal and purth (CIE 5360; TLE 87).4 Ravnthu is labeled as a grandmother, presumably of the two children at the foot of the couch. Two other relatives are depicted elsewhere on the rear wall of the tomb, Arnth Velchas and his wife Velia (CIE 5354–5; Morandi Tarabella 2004: 197, 320). In this one tomb, we see the names of the prominent members of the Murina and Velcha families. In addition to this, we see their wives, as well as the magisterial offices held (when appropriate). It is this very information, I maintain, that would have been collected and passed down in family homes. TOMB OF THE HESCANA The Tomba degli Hescana is a tomb of the late 4th century BC from Orvieto that also reveals an Etruscan interest in record-keeping. The tomb has 10 painted inscriptions, although not all of them are legible. This tomb celebrates the Hescana family as its members journey to the underworld. We see on the entrance wall of the tomb an individual labeled Laris Hescanas who appears on a chariot and is wearing a toga – both evocative of high rank (CIE 5110; Morandi Tarabella 2004: 235, Steingräber 1986: 280 no. 34; 2008: 185). A younger family member, Vel, embraces a friend on the right wall, and was a zilath. Elsewhere on the wall, there are ancestors processing towards the underworld: two women, a man, and three attendants. Winged demons are present amongst the various family members to indicate that the scene represents the Underworld. On the right side of the right wall, there is a female demon who appears to hold a scroll (Fig. 3). Facing her is an ancestor holding what looks to be a diptych and a stylus. On the rear wall there is another female demon who also bears a scroll and who appears to be leading the deceased towards an altar. The diptych held by the ancestor is blank but, as Domenico Cardella first proposed in his discussion of the tomb in 1893, it is thought to represent a record that the deceased would have presented to the demon of his accomplishments in life (Cardella 1893: 11).5 The scroll held by the female demons is of interest as well. A red figure amphora, now in the Museo Claudio Faina in Orvieto, depicts an underworld scene that sheds light on the female demon’s activities (de Grummond 2006a: 214 fig. X.5, 220 – 2). On this amphora demons lead the deceased, while on the right a female winged demon bears a scroll labeled Vanth. Vanth is the name of this demon, but if her name means ‘fate’, it is possible that, as Nancy de Grummond posited, this is what the contents of the scroll detailed. The entrance wall of the Golini I tomb shows a comparable scene, where there is a female demon who escorts Larth Leinies, on a chariot, and holds a similar scroll, presumably containing his destiny (de Grummond 2006a: 220; Steingräber 1986: 278 – 9) (Fig. 4). TOMB OF THE SHIELDS The Tomb of the Shields (c.350 – 300 BC, Tarquinia), another tomb that features magisterial processions, has 27 inscriptions in the various rooms of the tomb (Haynes 2000: 308 – 10; Steingräber 1986: 341 – 3). These inscriptions commemorate members of the Velcha family, as well as a few members of the Aprthna and Camna families. The central chamber of this tomb has scenes depicting various family members dining (such as the scene in figure 5. which shows Larth Velchas and his wife Velia Seithithi). An inscription painted on the right wall of the main chamber explains that Larth Velchas is the tomb founder and provides the names of his parents (Figs 5 – 6): zilchi vel[u]si hulchniesi larth velchas vel[thur]s aprth[nal]c c[la]n sacnisa thui [ecl]th suthith acazr During the praetorship of Vel Hulchnies, Larth Velchas, son of Velthur and of Aprthani, having made offerings here in this tomb, made [the grave] Bonfante & Bonfante 2002: 171 – 2 no. 55; CIE 5388; TLE 91 164 HILARY BECKER Fig. 3 Tomba degli Hescanas, Orvieto. A female demon, who appears to hold a scroll, faces an ancestor who holds a diptych and stylus. Late 4th century BC (Steingräber 1986: 280 no. 47) Fig. 4 The Golini I tomb, Orvieto. 350–325 BC. Vanth, holding a scroll, escorts the deceased (Larth Leinies) to the Underworld. (cf. de Grummond 2006 X.17; watercolor after Pittura etrusca a Orvieto fig. 27) EVIDENCE FOR ETRUSCAN ARCHIVES 165 6a 6b 5 Fig. 5 From the Tomb of the Shields, Tarquinia, c.350–300 BC. A diptych carried by a winged demon indicates that Larth Velchas is the tomb founder Fig. 6a and b Details from Fig. 5 (CIE 5388) (Morandi 1995, Fig. 21/22 with details, after Mont. Inst. Suppl. 1891 Tavv. VI-VII) Just as we saw on the Tomb of Orcus I, the magisterial date is recorded in order to date Larth Velchas’ actions. This impression of the official nature of this inscription is strengthened by its placement, for it is found painted on a diptych that is held by a winged demon. The parents of Larth Velchas, who are labeled as Velthur Velchas and Ravnthu Aprthnai are depicted sitting together on stools; Ravnthu points her finger at her husband, in a gesture interpreted by Sybille Haynes as a didactic one, meant to point him out as a ‘venerable ancestor’ to their descendants, Vel and Arnth Velchas, who are painted and labeled on the adjacent wall (Haynes 2000: 309). There is also a partially preserved inscription that seems to refer to Larth Velchas – in it we learn that he was a zilath three times in Tarquinia (spura) and that he was three times the curator of the cechane.6 On the entrance wall, Larth Velchas appears again (identifiable thanks to an inscription) in a poorly preserved processional scene where he is accompanied by attendants and other individuals (who are presumably members of the reanimated family of Larth Velchas). The procession and the attendants recreate visibly the details of his cursus honorum from the inscription. TOMB OF THE ANINA The Tomba degli Anina at Tarquinia dates from the second half of the 3rd into the 2nd century BC and celebrated the lives of the eponymous family members (Pallottino 1964: 108 – 23; Steingräber 1986: 282 no. 40). Inscriptions, six of which are mostly legible, were painted upon the tomb walls and bear information about the deceased deposited in a nearby sarcophagus. Three brothers and their family members used the tomb. The first inscription identifies Arnth Aninas who was the son of Vel and Thanchvil Ati and died in his 39th year (Fig. 7). The next inscription is for Larth Aninas, his brother, who lived for 45 years. The third brother was Vel Aninas, who died in his 22nd year. Three other members round out this group and an age is given for each one. 166 HILARY BECKER Fig. 7 Tomba degli Anina, Tarquinia. Inscription of Arnth Aninas. Second half of the 3rd to the 2nd century BC (Pallottino 1964: tav. xxvii.1) (Photo by Ing. Carlo Merilli Lerici & Dott. Lucia Cagnaro Vanoni; used with the permission of l’Istituto Nazionbale di Studi Treschi ed Itaici) The inscriptions from this tomb list not only names and parentage, but also the age at death – a feature popular amongst Hellenistic burials from Tarquinia. Doing a quick count, Jean Turfa observed that roughly 30% of about 150 epitaphs known in this region record the age at death (Turfa 2006a: 83). The recording of an individual’s life span is just the kind of information that a family archive would have contained. In addition, as Jean Turfa suggests, the recording of age at death might imply that there were records in the archives listing the date of birth. WHY THESE INSCRIPTIONS? Having surveyed this range of funerary evidence, and before we look at other cognate practices, it is important to consider the reasons why these inscriptions are recorded in the first place. The inscriptions that have been surveyed are more than just simple labels, such as you might find above the entrances of each tomb at the Crocifisso del Tufo necropolis below Orvieto. The inscriptions surveyed above read more like the Roman tituli and, occasionally, elogia that labeled statues and notables like the summi viri. These inscriptions list names, as well as other information such as parentage, political and religious offices held and could even include, in the area of Tarquinia, the age at death. First, all of this biographical information helps augment the preservation of memory of the deceased. The funerary record can easily document the many ways in which Etruscans sought to reflect something about themselves in death, as building and preserving identity is a basic human need. Whether it is a Villanovan helmet atop a biconical urn or a simple name inscribed on the facade of a tomb these features would have served this memorialising function. But these biographical inscriptions can, of course, do more. The tombs were public places to some degree during the funerary procession – think of the funerary games held, or even participants commemorated in the Tomba delle Iscrizioni Graffite, which will be considered shortly. Such inscriptions would help the celebrants to remember the life and lineage of the deceased. In addition to that, many of these tombs were used over many generations. Each time the tomb was reopened or expanded, the inscriptions would serve a didactic function in reminding descendants of their ancestors and their lives. In addition, it can be observed that the very act of writing itself in the tomb is a somewhat defiant gesture –the dead may decompose but the writing will endure (and has, in fact, endured). EVIDENCE FOR ETRUSCAN ARCHIVES 167 Considering the practice of writing from another angle, we can also think about the diptych and unrolled scroll depicted in the Tomba degli Hescanas (Fig. 3). The Underworld seems to have been a literate culture that valued the written word. Aristocratic entrants carried a diptych or scroll, on which their personal details had been written, to aid their entrance to the underworld. In a study such as this, where different archival practices of all kinds are reviewed, it can be acknowledged, somewhat playfully, that at least in the Etruscan imagination, the Etruscan underworld surely would have needed some storage space behind its false doors in order to keep all the written records of life accomplishments that the Vanths collected. Whether this biographical information was painted on a diptych or labeled next to the individuals in different scenes, this group of inscriptions had two principal purposes. The first is the didactic and mnemonic purpose that it serves for the living. The second, especially because tombs are liminal spaces, is that these inscriptions could have served to identify the deceased in their next life. TOMB OF THE INSCRIPTIONS (TOMBA DELLE ISCRIZIONI GRAFFITE) The Tomba delle Iscrizioni Graffite does not celebrate family genealogies as do the many tombs from Tarquinia and elsewhere. Instead the inscriptions from this tomb are suggestive of another category of information that could have been part of a larger, written household record. This tomb was discovered at Caere in 1981 and has been dated on iconographic and architectural grounds to 530 – 520 BC (Belelli Marchesini 2007; Colonna 2006)(Figs 8 & 9). The main inscription from this tomb commemorates the ritual actions performed and/or sponsored by Ramatha Spesias to honor the death of her husband, Larice Veliinas. The idea of a woman sponsoring games for her husband may find parallel in the Tomb of the Monkey from Chiusi (5th century BC), where an élite woman is depicted who either watches the funeral games that she sponsored (presumably for her husband) or, alternatively, she herself is the deceased (Steingräber 1986: 273 – 4, no. 25) (Fig. 10). In any case, the inscription from Caere sheds light upon the possibility of a woman hosting a funerary celebration, because the inscription specifically states that Ramatha’s actions were carried out according to the prescriptions of Laris Armasiinas (Fig. 9): Ramatha Spesias scha[ni]ce thui slalthi/ ich Laris Armas[ii]nas putusa zich/ipa Ve[l]iinaisi uthrice Laricesi/ Zuchuna Ramatha Spesias performed a ritual action here, in the (tomb) of the family. As Laris Armasiinas prescribes, she __(uthrice)______s to Larice Veliinas (Colonna 2006)[where uthrice is understood as the past tense of a verb, whose meaning is unknown] We might infer that a male was needed to legitimise the ritual proceedings or as an official recorder or something of that nature, but it is interesting to note that the presence of this portion of the inscription makes it clear that she is not acting alone. In addition to these two participants, there are 14 other inscriptions in this tomb (three of which are not legible). These inscriptions list 14 other people, all of whom are male; ten of these men have a first name and a gentilician name, whereas the other four have only a first name. These inscriptions are not all written in the same hand and vary in their height (Colonna 2006: 450; 2007: 13). It seems that these inscriptions are the names of the witnesses who attended the event, and in Colonna’s eyes, were friends of (Colonna suggests a consortium for) the deceased (Colonna 2006: 449; 2007: 13). Such witnesses find parallel in another, more formal Etruscan inscription, that of the Tabula Cortonensis, where the witnesses may have helped to certify the contract (Becker 2010: 140). Another interesting aspect about this tomb is that the inscriptions were not painted on the wall. Rather, they were scratched lightly into the surface of the tomb wall itself which was covered only in a thin clay layer. These seem to be inscriptions created to honor the very moment and place of the celebration. The use of the word thui, meaning ‘here’, confirms 168 HILARY BECKER Fig. 8 Tomba delle Iscrizioni Graffite, Caere, 530–520 BC. The central inscription, written above the main door, concerns Ramatha Spesias (detail shown below in Fig. 9). Male figures and scattered signatures also decorate the walls (after Colonna 2006: fig. 16) 10 0 Fig. 9 Tomba delle Iscrizioni Graffite, Caere, 530–520 BC. Detail of central inscription written above main door (cf. Fig. 8) 20 30cm (after Colonna 2006: fig. 23) Fig. 10 Tomb of the Monkey, Chiusi. 5th century BC. An élite woman (a widow honoring her husband? – or the deceased?) watches the funeral celebrations under an umbrella (D’Agostino 1993: tav. VI) EVIDENCE FOR ETRUSCAN ARCHIVES 169 this impression – this is an inscription created for the tomb. As comparanda, we might recall that one of the inscriptions from the Tomb of the Shields highlights that Larth Velcha made offerings ‘here’ (in the tomb) – the place where it happened is of ritual interest in itself in both cases. At first glance the use of thui in this inscription may seem to be an ad hoc commemoration of a specific event, and yet we may wonder whether something more is at stake. First, those attending are almost all élites – indeed, the recipient of the tomb and ceremony is Larice Veliinas, a man who could be the father of king Thefarie Velianas, famous from the Pyrgi plaques (Colonna 2006: 439 – 40). So what these men (and this woman) do is important and this celebration with its attendees may well have been worth keeping track of amongst other family records, much like the guest book used at modern day weddings and funerals. An ancient parallel to this practice can be found within the Midas Mound (dated to c.740 BC) outside Gordion, Turkey, a large tumulus (53m high; diameter c.300m) that might have been the tomb of Midas’ father, Gordias (Liebhart & Brixhe 2010; Sams 2009: 141– 3; Young 1981). Four Phrygian inscriptions were found on one of the large, wooden beams supporting the tumulus, bearing the names of four men.7 The beam was inscribed before it was installed, and it would have been one of the first to be set in place after the burial (Liebhart & Brixhe 2010: 143–4). The name of one of these men, Sitsidos, was also found inscribed on a piece of wax impressed on the rim of a bronze bowl from this tomb, and he and the other three are thought to have been participants in the funerary banquet of the deceased. Sitsidos and the other signatories may well be the Phrygian equivalent of the Etruscan witnesses (or even a consortium of friends) that bore witness to the funerary celebrations of Larice Veliinas. In both cases, these celebrants felt the need to record their presence. A final thought on the Tomba delle Iscrizioni Graffite centers around the presence and actions of Laris Armasiinas. The verb used in conjunction with Laris is zich, concerning writing or prescribing. As pointed out by Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante, this verb can be used self-consciously, emphasising the nature of the writing itself (Bonfante & Bonfante 2002: 114 – 15). We see this on the Cippus of Perugia that concludes with the words, cecha zikhukhe ‘as this sentence has been written down, prescribed’ (Bonfante & Bonfante 2002: 115. Facchetti 2005: 51. Wallace 2008: 71 no. 6.5a), as well as the Tabula Cortonensis, which includes the phrase cen zic zichuche ‘this text was written’ (Bonfante & Bonfante 2002: 181, 183; Maggiani 2001: 107; Wallace 2008: 207, 213). Similar phrases referring to the process of writing are also found in extant religious texts, such as the Capua Tile (Bonfante & Bonfante 2002: 115) and the Liber Linteus.8 Since this formula is found in the Tomba delle Iscrizioni Graffite, does this make the information recorded so self-consciously (in that the act of writing itself is referred to) all the more likely to have been preserved in another medium? This is a question that cannot be definitively answered either way but perhaps it serves to point out yet another category of information that a family archive might preserve. LARIS PULENAS The sarcophagus of Laris Pulenas offers another opportunity to observe the recording (and celebration) of an individual’s familial descent as well as record-keeping across generations (Fig. 11). Laris Pulenas, a priest who died in the second half of the 3rd century BC, holds a scroll with an inscription that indicates that he wrote a liber haruspicinus and administered the cult of Catha and Pacha (Bacchus) for the people of Tarquinia (Heurgon 1964: 235 – 6; Jannot 2005: 128 – 9). His father was Larce, his grandfathers were Larth and Velthur. His great-grandfather was Laris Pule the Greek, who is thought by Jacques Heurgon also to have been a priest, because his name echoes that of Polles, the famous Greek seer (Heurgon 1964: 235 – 6; TLE 131). Laris Pulenas is able to draw upon a family history that dates back multiple generations. Listed all together, these names also provide an interesting family history. The scroll upon which these names were written suggests strongly a source document itself – a rolled list of names kept in the house. 170 HILARY BECKER Fig. 11a Sarcophagus of Laris Pulenas, Tarquinia, 250–200 BC (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Tarquinia) Fig. 11b Detail of the scroll on the Sarcophagus of Laris Pulenas, Tarquinia, 250–200 BC Using Laris Pulenas as a springboard, it would be worthwhile to consider briefly the nature of written knowledge in the religious sphere as this evidence shares some commonality with the written tradition within the élite Etruscan house, a subject that will be addressed again below. Above all, both categories reflect a tradition of the collection and archiving of knowledge, thus obviating a need for a state archive for at least those documents. ETRUSCA DISCIPLINA The so-called Etrusca disciplina, the hallowed tradition of religious knowledge in Etruria, was based on the steady accumulation of ritual lore, natural observances and the like, which was recorded, preserved, and passed down by Etruscan elders. Religious knowledge was traditionally passed down amongst élite Etruscans, thus Laris Pulenas and his family were EVIDENCE FOR ETRUSCAN ARCHIVES 171 a part of a larger trend (de Grummond 2006b: 34). The emperor Claudius referred to élite families maintaining this tradition (Tac. Ann. 11.15) and Cicero writes that Aulus Caecina learned about Etruscan religion from his father (Cic. Fam. 6.6.3). The sarcophagus of Laris Pulenas may show this continuity as well. The familial tradition was an important part of the maintenance of Etruscan religious knowledge. We know that Etruscan priests were regular archivists of portents and the accumulated knowledge represented by the Etrusca disciplina shows this, too. The Brontoscopic calendar no doubt represents the accumulation of many observations over the years about what would happen on a given date if lightning happened to strike (Turfa 2006b; 2012). Interestingly, the Brontoscopic calendar has its observations specifically calibrated for Rome (Turfa 2006b: 190) – presumably Brontoscopic calendars elsewhere might have to make their own collections of evidence or, at least, adjustments. The Liber Linteus states in its liturgical calendar of rituals and festivals that it is also written explicitly for one location (van der Meer 2007; 2009). The text reads, sacnicleri cilthl spureri methlumeric enas, ‘for the sacred fraternity/priesthood (sacnica) of the citadel (cilth), for the city state (spura) and for the city (methlum) of ena (of whomsoever)’ (van der Meer 2009: 217–18). Based on certain features (nomenclature and vocabulary used) it seems that this text was written in North Etruria (van der Meer 2009: 217). Latin authors also give an indication of the regionality of knowledge and that it was preserved in the individual major cities. When Latin élite sons are sent to learn Etruscan religious traditions, they are sent to the individual peoples of Etruria (singulis Etruriae populis) (Cic. Div. 1.41.92; Val. Max. 1.1). Additionally Censorinus records that the ritual books of the Etruscans teach divisions of time in each individual city (in una quaque civitate) (Censorinus DN 17.5). Above all, the impression is clear that information was collected and stored in sanctuaries in many different places in Etruria and handed down over generations. There is also evidence that Etruscans had calendars that were less religious in nature. Ingrid Edlund-Berry explored such evidence looking at the terms like the Latin word Ides, which Macrobius thought was derived from the Etruscan language (Edlund-Berry 1992: 332; Macrob. Sat. 1.15.14). The ritual calendars, and other, more secular calendars would have also had great utility for civic and diplomatic functions beyond the religious sphere. So while priests maintain them, and at least in some cases they were displayed publicly, such calendars would have also helped with daily affairs. My interest is that calendars are an institution that I believe had a public function and yet the state did not necessarily have to maintain them or even display them. In addition to documents related to religious knowledge, portents, and even the calendar, it is also possible that Etruscan sacred sites collected other types of written information. For example, it is possible that inventories of dedications were recorded. Additionally, if sanctuaries owned property, and it is only a suggestion that they could have, perhaps contracts of a legal nature were stored or posted within the sacred precinct. An example for this can be found in Magna Graecia, where an inscription from Heraclea from the early 3rd century BC discusses the land owned by the temple of Dionysus and that of Athena. The land would be rented out and the payment for that land would be given in barley (Ampolo 1992: 20). Documents of a more political nature could also be posted in a temple precinct in central Italy. Tim Cornell cites the example of the Sabines, who according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, posted pillars in their temples that discussed the conditions of their surrender to the Romans (Cornell 1991: 27; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3.33.1). Livy recorded that senatus consulta as well as plebiscites were stored in the Temple of Ceres in Rome in the early Republic, the reason being so that the accessibility of these laws would make it more difficult to tamper with them.9 We might also include the Pyrgi plaques in this category, for while they do commemorate the building of a temple, they also commemorate that Uni-Astarte gave assistance to Thefarie Velianas, presumably in a battle or by advancing his political fortunes (Bonfante & Bonfante 2002: 64 – 8; Haynes 2000: 176). The bilingual nature of the plaques served to enhance Phoenician and Caeretan social and political interconnections. 172 HILARY BECKER Sacred sites in Etruria and Rome could archive a range of information, not all of which was wholly sacral in nature and some of which would have had civic import. In response to the question ‘where is information stored in Etruria?’, the answer is that some information that was public could have been maintained by the sacral sphere. This does not inform us whether there was a state archive or not – we can only posit that the state archive was not necessarily required for such materials. This line of thinking naturally asks us to consider again the aristocratic Etruscan home as archival space and the types of materials it might have accommodated. The élite Etruscan home has already been considered as storage place for family names, ages, marriage information and offices held. But the Etruscan sanctuary provides a helpful comparandum for considering the potential storage capacity of the home because, in the Etruscan religious sphere, we see a tradition of the storage of written materials that was passed down in families (much as would happen at home). Additionally, the sacred sphere potentially collected written materials of a much wider purview than we might expect a modern church to have, comprising materials of a political, legislative or social nature. This, in turn, prompts us to look at houses once more and to consider what other categories of materials might have been collected within domestic space. LEGAL CONTRACTS The most persuasive evidence for other types of documents stored in the Etruscan home comes from the legal sphere. The Tabula Cortonensis is a legal document, datable to the late 3rd to early 2nd century BC, that deals with private property, which was arbitrated by witnesses (Agostiniani & Nicosia 2000; Bonfante & Bonfante 2002: 178 – 81, 183 no. 65; Facchetti 2000: 59 – 88; Maggiani 2001; Wallace 2008: 197 – 213). The decision centered around the aristocratic Cusu family and Petru Scevas and his wife. Two groups of witnesses or listeners helped to certify the document, along with Larth Cucrina Lausisa, zilath mechl rasnal (‘a chief magistrate of the territory of Cortona’) (Maggiani 2001: 107; Wallace 2008: 206, 210, 212 – 13). The document ends on an official note, dating itself according to the two magistrates in office that year, thus it is clearly a document of a legal and public nature, even if it involves private individuals. What stands out most about this legal document is that there are explicit instructions on how this document is to be stored – and that is in a private home or homes and not in a state maintained archive. While the reading of some words in the inscription remains controversial, section V is generally agreed by Maggiani and Facchetti to read ‘This text which was written on a tablet sazle (perhaps meaning made of bronze or wood) was placed in the house of the Cusu family’ (Facchetti 2005: 62; Maggiani 2001: 107; Wallace 2008: 213). The text then says, ‘of that (?) having been done the deposit according to the rite (?) in the house it stays’. The final section of the tablet reinforces the prescriptive nature concerning the archiving of this text, stating that the text is to be stored in four different places, and while the interpretation of the precise formula varies among scholars (due to the many words in the text that are singular or rare), the tablet is to be placed in the homes of four men: Velche Cusu, son of Aule, Velthur Titlni, son of Velthur, and Lart Celatina, son of Apnei, and Laris Celatina, son of Pitlnei (Facchetti 2005: 62; Wallace 2008: 213; Wylin 2003). Rex Wallace has suggested that the Cusu home has a copy of the original legal agreement and that copies were made in the presence of the witnesses listed on the documents, which then came to be stored in four houses (Wallace 2008: 212 – 13). Another extant legal document, the Cippus of Perugia (Figs 12a and b, 13), unfortunately does not offer such explicit evidence for family storage and yet it may give us insight that the storage tradition mentioned on the Tabula Cortonensis is not exceptional. The cippus is an inscribed boundary marker found near Perugia that can be dated to the 3rd/2nd centuries BC. This inscription features the families of Larth Afuna and Aule Velthina, and is an agreement concerning the use of land (Becker 2010; 2013: 363–4; Bonfante & Bonfante 2002: 176 – 8 no. 64; Facchetti 2000: 9 – 58; Wylin 2003). Francesco Roncalli believes that anomalies in the EVIDENCE FOR ETRUSCAN ARCHIVES 173 positioning of the words of the inscription reveal that the cippus is not the first draft but a copy (Roncalli 1985: 81; 1985 [1987]). There are two notable segments of the inscription that have gaps – line 8 stops midway while line 12 begins in the middle, leaving large open spaces. If the characters of this inscription are written out differently (using a computer) in order to obviate the gaps, so that they comprise about 31 characters per line (instead of the average of 20 as it appears on the front side of the cippus), the sudden gaps inside of paragraphs disappear, and all lines run, except for the final line of the text, to the end of the line (Fig. 13). In addition, Roncalli noted that this reconstructed text finds new symmetries (e.g. terms like tesne now appear at the beginning of the newly arranged lines, and the term satena/satene now appears at the end of two lines) (Roncalli 1985 [1987]: 169). Roncalli uses an average of 31 letter per line in his reconstruction. This length is comparable to the length per line of the Liber Linteus, a contemporary text, from the same region, written upon linen (Roncalli 1985 [1987]: 167). The cippus itself was probably placed at the site of the adjudicated land in question but the possible existence of other copies suggests that one or both of these families might have kept a linen version at home – just as might have occurred with the Tabula Cortonensis. ARCHIVES AT HOME Copies of documents like the Tabula Cortonensis, and perhaps even the hypothesised original of the Cippus of Perugia text, could be kept within the élite Etruscan home, at least, in these cases, by the Hellenistic period. Thus the record-keeping that occurred within the Etruscan house comprised more than just the collection of family histories. While the Roman household and its tablinum provides a parallel that can be used to understand the collection of family genealogies within the Etruscan home, so, too, Roman record-keeping practices offer valuable insight into the ways that a complex state entity such as Rome could use the written word for official purposes without necessarily requiring a public records office. Just like Roman sacred space, so, too, the homes of Roman élites were an important archival institution in early Rome and even into the late Republic. Very often during the Republican period, social élites guided the recording of information, in addition to storing and preserving it. This information could be kept in private homes, and yet this would not prevent its ‘public’ availability. For example, in the Late Republic, public records (tabulae publicae) were not stored in the senate house, but were kept in private homes (Cic. Sull. 15.42; Culham 1984: 19; Culham 1989: 104).10 Dionysius of Halicarnassus describes ‘censorial commentaries’ that were passed on from father to son and treated reverently (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1.73.1). And while the subject matters are quite distinct, these commentaries were kept in the home and the responsibility for their care was passed down from generation to generation much like élite Etruscan priests maintained religious knowledge and records within their families and communities. What is important about these documents is that even while they are stored privately, they were available publicly. To this point, testimony from Dionysius of Halicarnassus, as well as Varro, indicates that researchers could go into public homes to access archives (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 12.22.4; Varro Ling. 6.86). Phyllis Culham explains: The powerful families at the center of the oligarchy we call the Republic would certainly not have needed a senatorial or central archive to conduct their daily business, whether public or private. The focal point of loyalty, conflict, and negotiation was the household. Culham 1989: 104 The center of this tradition was the Roman tablinum. The Tabula Cortonensis indicates that the Etruscan home was storing more than just family archives. Having briefly considered how the Roman tablinum served a variety of record-keeping functions, it prompts us to consider whether the élite Etruscan home might also have collected and maintained a wide range of personal and public documents. 174 HILARY BECKER Fig. 12a The Cippus of Perugia. 3rd– 2nd centuries BC (German Archaeological Institutute, Rome) EVIDENCE FOR ETRUSCAN ARCHIVES 175 Fig. 12b Line drawing of the Cippus of Perugia (Roncalli 1985: 78) Fig. 13 The text of the Cippus of the Perugia rearranged by computer-assisted word placement. The direction of writing has been altered to left to right, to facilitate understanding of the flow of the text (Roncalli 1985 [1987]: fig. 2; used with the permission of L’Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi ed Italici) 176 HILARY BECKER Fig. 14 Sarcophagus from Chiusi showing a scribe recording prize winners. The scribe sits on a tribunal with two magistrates (identified by their curved staffs); the wineskins to be given as prizes lie below the tribunal. Now in Palermo. From the second quarter of the 5th century BC (Colonna 1976: fig. 1) In addition to legal documents, other types of documents of a public nature might have been stored in the house. These might have included magisterial records and accounts of prizes awarded, such as what the scribe, depicted on a Clusine sarcophagus, appears to be recording (Fig. 14). Household accounts could also have been retained in the home, in addition to matters of personal business, such as business with dependents. The mechanics of just how records of public value were sorted out amongst élites is not clear; on the Tabula Cortonensis, one of the members of the family involved in the adjudication received a copy of the document, but it is not clear by what methods the other men and their households were chosen. Were documents regularly stored in certain élite homes across generations for easy accessibility? Or were records that were generated under a certain official, records such as city-state transactions or even a list of victors from a town-sponsored game, kept in his household and that of his descendants? Above all, the social ramifications of the storage of at least some information of public import by élites are worth exploring, because this tradition would have served to augment the social status of the élites involved. That the home also stored records important to members of the larger community, such as the Tabula Cortonensis, underscored that élite man’s role as a go-to person for authoritative information. In those circumstances, the private home is a public resource, controlled by that family. Additionally, the archiving of information related to the family (including names, offices held, life spans, and maybe even information about one’s funeral celebration) served an important social function for that élite family. That an élite person, such as Laris Pulenas or a member of the Murina family from the Tomb of Orcus I, was aware of their family history and its extent would have distinguished them amongst their peers and dependents. In addition to the public, social prominence that the maintenance of such information could facilitate, it is also important to remember what the preservation of such memory could do for the identity of a gens. Thus the storage of documents in a home would have reinforced the identity of each member of an Etruscan gens; the many Hellenistic period tomb paintings that recreate and celebrate an individual’s family tree informs us that this would have been important. EVIDENCE FOR ETRUSCAN ARCHIVES 177 Above all we see the home as an important resource and one that has a public and even political function within the Etruscan world. We may know little about the mechanics of the Etruscan home, but this role is in line with the social function of the élite Etruscan house that can be gleaned from other traditions in the Etruscan society. The house would have hosted élites for institutions like banquets. During the Archaic period, the house would have also been used for hospitality, an institution supported by the tesserae hospitales, and no doubt traditions such as hospitality continued into later periods. Gift exchange, an institution that took place in the Orientalising and Classical periods also, would have underscored the public role of the élite Etruscan house, for the exchange probably took place within the house, and then these prestige objects, which could have inscriptions to declare their pedigree, would most probably have been placed in areas visible to household visitors. This paper has considered different categories of evidence for the archival storage capacity of the Etruscan home. In the course of this, inscriptions from Hellenistic period tombs, an Etruscan monument from the Roman period, as well as two legal documents have been considered. This paper has also reviewed briefly what is known about the transmission of knowledge and written material in the Etruscan religious sphere, as a comparison for the domestic sphere. What is known about the religious and domestic spheres together indicates that a good amount of information was stored within non-civic buildings. Were there ever state archives in Hellenistic Etruria (or earlier)? This must remain an open question. Despite the lacunae that remain in our understanding of the archival capabilities of the Etruscan home, it is nonetheless a worthwhile advance not only to collate but also to analyse the evidentiary bodies for this practice, and thus to realise more about the social and political mechanisms at work within Etruria. NOTES 1 2 3 4 5 6 Note, however, that Torelli at the time was hoping to connect the expedition of Velthur Spurinna with the occupant of the Tomb of Orcus I at Tarquinia. Originally, the tomb (datable to the second half of the 4th century) was thought to belong to the Spurina family based on a partially preserved inscription (-)urinas (CIE 5360; TLE 87). The individual in this inscription is listed as a zilath mechl rasnal, which Torelli defined as praetor populorum Etruriae, that is a chief magistrate in charge of the Etruscan people. Torelli observed that Thucydides recorded that when the Etruscans went to fight in the Sicilian invasion, multiple cities participated (Thuc. 6.88.6). With that in mind, Torelli believed that Velthur Spurinna could very well have been a zilath mechl rasnal and have led multiple cities, thus connecting him to the Tomb of Orcus and Thucydides (Cornell 1978:170–1; Torelli 1975: 59–60). However another inscription has since been found in the Tomb of Orcus I by Morandi, identifying the full family name of the tomb as Murina (Haynes 2000: 312; Morandi & Colonna 1997). Thus the connection cannot be made between the family listed on the elogia and the Tomb of Orcus I. It should also be noted that the title zilath mechl rasnal, discussed above, is better translated as a chief magistrate of the city-state (Becker 2013: 255; Maggiani 2000: 238). Pliny the Elder, Vitruvius and other authors used the term tabulinum as equivalent to tablinum. I thank Molly Pasco-Pranger for pointing out this example to me. The function of a purth is a question still debated today; their magisterial orbit may have been comparable to a dictator, a censor, or a first censor (Bonfante & Bonfante 2002: 111; d’Aversa 1994: 42; Heurgon 1957: 76–7, 84–5; 1964: 51; Maggiani 2000: 237). In a comparable manner, the sarcophagus of Setre Cneuna, now in the Museo Guarnacci in Volterra, depicts the deceased reclining and holding a ditypch that states his name and age (CIE 70; ET Vt 1.106, Museo Guarnacci no. 334). The meaning of the term cecha is debated – it may refer to a ceremony and/or describe what kind of zilath the term applied to (e.g. a supra-state zilath? or a priest or a zilath in charge of ceremonies?) (Bonfante & Bonfante 2002: 215; CIE 5385; Cristofani 1999: 161; d’Aversa 1994: 10; Maggiani 2000: 240; Morandi Tabella 2004: 180). 178 HILARY BECKER Liebhart & Brixhe 2010; Sams 2009: 141–3. I am grateful to Jean Turfa, Richard Liebhart and the late Ken Sams for bringing this to my attention. 8 These phrases include zichunce (‘he wrote’ (or) ‘ordered to be written’) on the Capua Tile and zichne and zichri cn (‘let this be written down’) on the Liber Linteus (Bonfante & Bonfante 2002: 115; Turfa 2008). 9 Liv. 3.55.13; Culham 1984: table 1, 20–21. But there were also senatus consulta stored in the aerarium/tabularium: Plut. Cat. Min. 17; Cic. Leg. 3.20. 10 Cicero’s comments on the tabulae publicae are pertinent. Accused of falsifying records, Cicero points out how the information was collected carefully in the senate and by men of integrity. Cicero points out that the standard practice would have been to keep these documents at home but he instead will circulate them, as a proof of their (and his own) integrity. 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