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The Duenos inscription is one of the earliest known Old Latin texts, variously dated from the 7th to the 5th century BC. It is inscribed on the sides of a '' kernos'', in this case a trio of small globular vases adjoined by three clay struts. It was found by Heinrich Dressel in 1880 in the valley between Quirinale and Viminale (today Via Nazionale) in Rome. The ''kernos'' is part of the collection of the
Staatliche Museen The Berlin State Museums (german: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) are a group of institutions in Berlin, Germany, comprising seventeen museums in five clusters, several research institutes, libraries, and supporting facilities. They are overseen ...
in Berlin (inventory no. 30894,3). The inscription is written right to left in three units, without spaces to separate words. It is difficult to translate, as some letters are hard to distinguish, particularly since they cannot always be deduced by context. The absence of spaces causes additional difficulty in assigning the letters to the respective words.


Text and translations

There have been many proposed translations advanced by scholars since the discovery of the ''kernos''; by 1983, more than fifty different explanations of the meaning had been put forward. Due to the lack of a large body of archaic Latin, and the method by which
Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
abbreviated their inscriptions, scholars have not been able to produce a single translation that has been accepted by historians as accurate. Below is the transcription and one of many possible interpretations: :a. The direct unicase transcription :b. Direct transcription, in lowercase, with possible macrons and word breaks :c. A speculative interpretation and translation into Classical Latin :d. An English gloss (approximate translation/interpretation) of the Classical Latin rendering Line 1: :a. :b. ''iouesāt deivos qoi mēd mitāt, nei tēd endō cosmis vircō siēd'' :c. ''Jūrat deōs quī mē mittit, nī rgā tēcomis virgō sit'' :d. 'The person who sends me prays to the gods, lest the girl be not kind towards thee' Line 2: :a. :b. ''as(t) tēd noisi o(p)petoit esiāi pākā riuois'' :c. ''at tē'' .. uncertain ...''pācā rīvīs'' :d. 'without thee ..calm with heserivers' Line 3: :a. :b. ''duenos mēd fēced en mānōm (m)einom duenōi nē mēd malo(s) statōd'' :c. ''Bonus mē fēcit in manum ..bonō, nē mē malus lepitō' :d. 'A good man made me (in good intention?) for a good man; may I not be stolen by an evil man.' An interpretation set out by Warmington and Eichner, renders the complete translation as follows, though not with certainty: #It is sworn with the gods, whence I'm issued:
If a maiden does not smile at you, #nor is strongly attracted to you,
then soothe her with this fragrance! #Someone good has filled me for someone good and well-mannered,
and not shall I be obtained by someone bad.


Notes

''Duenos'' is an older form of Classical Latin ('good'), just as Classical ('war') is from Old Latin ''duellum''. Some scholars posit Duenos as a proper name, instead of merely an adjective.


Epigraphic note

The inscription (CIL I 2nd 2, 4) is scratched along the side of the body of three vases made of dark brown '' bucchero'', connected with each other by short cylindric arms. It is written from right to left spiralling downwards about times. The letters are written upside-down for a reader who looks at the inscription from a level position; this has been explained by Aldo Luigi Prosdocimi as due to the fact that the inscription was meant to be read from above, not from a sideways position. Some letters are written in an archaic fashion that appears influenced by the Greek alphabet. There are signs of corrections in the two or of and and in the of . Three distinct sections are individuated by spaces after and . There are neither spaces delimiting words nor signs of interpunction. The earliest interpunction to appear was syllabic. As it appeared only in the 7th century BC, the inscription should be more ancient. The inscription is made up by two distinct parts or sections, the second one beginning with the word . It was found in a votive deposit (''favissa''). It belongs to the kind known as "speaking inscriptions", widely in use in the Archaic period. Some scholars consider the object to be of good quality and reflecting the high social status of the owner. Others consider it common.


Site of the find

The vase was bought from an
antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic si ...
by Heinrich Dressel shortly after its find. It was discovered in 1880 by workers who were digging to lay the foundation of a building near the newly opened Via Nazionale, in the valley between the
Quirinal Hill The Quirinal Hill (; la, Collis Quirinalis; it, Quirinale ) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center. It is the location of the official residence of the Italian head of state, who resides in the Quirinal Palac ...
and the Viminal Hill. More precisely it was found on the south slope of the Quirinal, near the church of
San Vitale, Rome The Basilica of Sts. Vitalis, Valeris, Gervase and Protase ( it, Basilica di Santi Vitale e Compagni Martiri in Fovea, la, Ss. Vitalis, Valeriae, Gervasii et Protasii) is an ancient Catholic church in Rome, and is both a minor basilica and a ...
. Dressel was told the place was supposed to have been a burial site. Archaeologist
Filippo Coarelli Filippo Coarelli is an Italian archaeologist, Professor of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the University of Perugia. Born in Rome, Coarelli was a student of Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli. Coarelli is one of the foremost experts on Roman antiquiti ...
has advanced the hypothesis that the object might have been placed in the votive deposit of one of the temples of goddess Fortuna dedicated by king Servius Tullius, perhaps the one known as ''Fortuna Publica'' or '' Citerior'', i.e. located on the side of the Quirinal near to Rome. Her festival recurred on the ''nonae'' of April (April 5). However, June 11, the festival day of the Matralia, which was originally devoted to ''Mater Matuta'', was also the day of the ''Fortuna Virgo'', ritually associated with the passage of girls from adolescence into adulthood and married life. For another scholar, the site of the find was in Trastevere but near the valley between the Viminale and Quirinale.


Overview of the linguistic research

The antiquity of the document is generally acknowledged. The language shows archaic characters in morphology, phonetics and syntax. The absence of ''u'' after ''q'' would testify to its greater antiquity comparatively to the inscription of the ''cippus'' of the Forum, also known as Lapis Niger (CIL I 1).


First section

For the sake of convenience of interpretation, the text is usually divided into two sections, the first one containing the first two units and ending with . The two sections show a relative syntactic and semantic independence. Many attempts have been made at deciphering the text. In the 1950s the inscription had been interpreted mainly on the basis of (and in relation to) the supposed function of the vases, considered either as containers for a love philter or of beauty products: the text would then mockingly threaten the owner about his behaviour towards the vase itself or try to attract a potential buyer. This is the so-called erotic line of interpretation which found supporters until the eighties. During the 1960s
Georges Dumézil Georges Edmond Raoul Dumézil (4 March 189811 October 1986) was a French Philology, philologist, Linguistics, linguist, and religious studies scholar who specialized in comparative linguistics and comparative mythology, mythology. He was a profe ...
proposed a new line of thought in the interpreting of the text. He remarked the inconsistency of the previous interpretations both with the solemnity of the opening formula ("''Iovesat deivos qoi med mitat''": 'He swears for the gods who sends /delivers me') and with the site of the find. Dumézil's interpretation was: "If it happens that the girl is not nice to you/ has no easy relationship with you ("''nei ted endo cosmis virco sied''" = "''ne in te (=erga te) cosmis virgo sit''"), we shall have the obligation of bringing her and you into good harmony, accord, agreement ("''asted noisi ... pakari vois''"="''at sit nobis ... pacari vobis''"). The transmission of the object would be expressed by the words ''qoi med mitat''. The story mirrored in the text would thus depict a custom deeply rooted in Roman society that is described by Plautus in the scene of the
Menaechmi ''Menaechmi'', a Latin-language play, is often considered Plautus' greatest play. The title is sometimes translated as ''The Brothers Menaechmus'' or ''The Two Menaechmuses''. The ''Menaechmi'' is a comedy about mistaken identity, involving a ...
in which the ''tutor'' of the ''virgo'' or his representatives formally give a suretyship about her attitude towards a man. Dumézil's interpretation though was fraught with linguistic problems. Apart from the value of the before , which he considered meaningless or an error of the incisor, the only possible meaning of ''ope'' in Latin is 'by the power or force of', and it governs a word in the genitive case. Thence the only governing word could be the group : this would then be an exception to the rule of the genitive of the themes in ''-a'', which does not end in ''-as'' as expected, an archaism perhaps in Dumézil's view. would then denote the means by which the ''nois(i)'', 'we', would have the authority of establishing peace between the 'vois' 'you' (the couple) of the main relationship justifying the delivery of the vase. Dumézil thinks of the involvement of more than one ''tutor'' for each party in order to explain the two plurals ''nois(i)'' and ''vois''. Lastly the ending presents difficulties. It might derive from an archaic ''-e-s-la'' as proposed by H. Osthoff in the formation of Latin abstract names with an assimilation of the liquid into an ''i''. Another possibility would be to interpret the suffix ''-ela'' as ''-e-la'', i.e. as a female derivation of an ancient neuter ''-el'' attested in Hittite. This would entail admitting the incisor made two errors. Antonino Pagliaro understood the word as an adjective from noun ''tutela'', ''ope tuteria'', i.e. ''ope tutoria'' in classical Latin: the word would thence be an attribute in the ablative. Dumézil's contribution and the location of the find gave researchers grounds to pursue their work of interpretation in the same direction, i.e. of its significance as a token of legal obligation. The efforts have centred on deciphering of the last segment of the first section, . As already mentioned above, the cult of ''Fortuna Virgo'', celebrated on the day of the Matralia, was related to the role of girls who became married women. The passage saw girls as completely passive subjects both during the archaic period and great part of the republican: the matrimonial exchange was conducted, as far as legally relevant profiles were concerned, by the subjects who had ''potestas'' on the woman and by the future husband (or he/those who had ''potestas'' over him). This is testified by the fact the ''virgo'' had no right of pronouncing the ''nupta verba''. The passage which presents the greatest difficulties is the central group of letters in the string . Proposed interpretations include: ''iubet'' orders for ; ''futuitioni'' sexual intercourse for , the cut / or / so that would be the only recognisable Latin word. Dumézil attributes a peculiar semantic value to the syllabic group : a moral instrument that is nothing else than a form of the power the males of a family group (father, tutors) exercised on a girl, i.e. a variant or alteration of the word ''tutelae'', similar to ''tu(i)tela''. Since this interpretation has been proposed no critic has been able to disprove it. Authoritative scholars on the grounds of the lexeme ''toitesiai'' have proposed a theonym (Coarelli), a feminine proper name Tuteria (Peruzzi, Bolelli), or even a ''gentilicium'', the gens Titur(n)ia (Simon and Elboj) mentioned by Cicero. In the 1990s, two further contributions have discussed once again the interpretation of the second part of the first grapheme, particularly morpheme ''toitesiai''. Even though doubts have been cast over its correspondence with the technical Roman legal word ''tutela'', Dumézil's intuition of recognising in the destination of the vase a juridical function, namely a matrimonial ''sponsio'', was accepted and taken on. G. Pennisi reconstructs the text as follows: "''Iovesat deivos qoi med mitat: nei ted cosmis virgo sied ast ednoisi opetoi pakari vois. Duenos med feced en manom einom duenoi ne med malos tatod''". Segment is deciphered recurring to Homeric έεδνα in the meaning of nuptial gifts and the speaking token would be a marriage compact or promise by a young man in love to a girl to whom the vase is presented as a gift. The inscription would thence exhibit an oath structure consisting in an archaic form of ''
coemptio Manus ( ; ) was an Ancient Roman type of marriage,Jane F. Gardner, ''Women in Roman Law and Society'', First Midland Book Edition, 1991, 11 of which there were two forms: ''cum manu'' and ''sine manu''. In a ''cum manu'' marriage, the wife was p ...
'': "Swears for the gods he who buys me": ''mitat = *emitat'' (the future bridegroom would be speaking in the third person). Then passing to the second person the compact would be set out in the second line by the offering of the nuptial gifts as a guarantee. The third line would complete the legal formula of the compact (''Duenos / ne med malos tatod''). Leo Peppe has proposed to interpret the inscription as a primitive form of matrimonial ''coemptio'' different from that presented in
Gaius Gaius, sometimes spelled ''Gajus'', Kaius, Cajus, Caius, was a common Latin praenomen; see Gaius (praenomen). People * Gaius (jurist) (), Roman jurist *Gaius Acilius *Gaius Antonius * Gaius Antonius Hybrida *Gaius Asinius Gallus * Gaius Asiniu ...
, consisting in a cumulative acceptance that included both the legal aspects concerning the transmission of the dotal assets and the religious ones inherent in the matrimonial cults and rites. F. Marco Simon and G. Fontana Elboj (autopsy) confirmed the interpretation of the previous proposals that see in the vase the symbol of a marriage compact. The authors ground their interpretation on the segment instead of . They therefore identified a root ''*o-it'' (composed by prefix ''*o'' and lexeme ''*i-'', cf. Latin ''eo'') related to classic Latin ''utor'', and suffix ''-esios/a'' (cf. ''Valesios'' of the
Lapis Satricanus The Lapis Satricanus ("Stone of Satricum"), is a yellow stone found in the ruins of the ancient town of Satricum, near Borgo Montello (), a village of southern Lazio, dated late 6th to early 5th centuries BC. It was found in 1977 during excavations ...
and ''Leucesie'' of the
carmen Saliare The ''Carmen Saliare'' is a fragment of archaic Latin, which played a part in the rituals performed by the Salii (Salian priests, a.k.a. "leaping priests") of Ancient Rome. There are 35 extant fragments of the ''Carmen Saliare'', which can be ...
). The substantive ''oitesiai'' would be thus related to the semantic field of ''utor'' i.e. the concept of ''utilitas''. Therefore, the text should be divided as: ''asted noisi; opet otesiai pakari vois''. ''Opet'' would be an articulatory fusion between the dative ''opi'' and conjunction ''et''. The whole text should thus be understood as: ''Ni erga te virgo comis sit, asted nobis; (iurat) opi et utilitati pangi vois'', 'if the girl is not to your taste/agreeable to you, let her go back to us; (he swears) to give you guarantee about your disturb and your interest'. The segment ''oitesiai'' could be also understood as ''utensilium'' referred to the vase itself as a token of suretyship or '' usus'' in the technical legal sense of Roman marriage as a way of providing a guarantee. The last two hypotheses are, however, considered unacceptable by the authors on the grounds that no genitive marker is to be found in the segment ''oitesiai''. The proposed interpretation would find support in its strict analogy with a passage of Terentius's
Hecyra ''Hecyra'' (''The Mother-in-Law'') is a comedic Latin play by the early Roman playwright Terence. The story concerns a young man, Pamphilus, who has a girlfriend, the courtesan Bacchis, but is forced by his father to marry a neighbour's daughter ...
(vv. 136–151), in which a story similar to that supposedly recorded on the vase is described. The text would thus be the undertaking of an obligation concerning the eventuality that the girl go back to her family of origin, should she be not liked by the bridegroom (''asted endo cosmis virco sied, asted noisi''). Even after the last two contributions related above, Sacchi acknowledges that all attempts at interpreting the segment remain conjectural. Dumézil's hypothesis of a protoform of ''tutela'', though attractive and plausible, remains unconfirmed.


Juridical note on the matrimonial ''sponsio''

Although there are still obscure points in the interpretation of line two, it is generally accepted that the text contains the formula of an oath. On the archaic oath and its juridical value there is large agreement among scholars. It looks also probable that the object should have a religious implication: an instrument permeated by religious ritualism, as the oath could well be employed in legal practice at the time of the object, as seems supported by linguistic analysis. The usage of the oath in archaic times as an instrument of private civil law could have been widespread, even though the issue has not yet been thoroughly analysed. Even though in the inscription there is no segment directly reminiscent of the dialogic formula of the ''sponsio'', i.e. "''spondes tu ...?''", "''spondeo!''", internal and external evidence allow the assumption of the enactment of a matrimonial ''sponsio''. Such a usage of oaths is attested in later literary sources. Besides the trace of a ''sponsio'' as the legal function of the object, Dumézil would also see that of providing a piece evidence, i.e. a probatory attitude. Servius in his commentary to the ''Aeneid'' writes that, before the introduction of the matrimonial tablets, in Latium the parties used to exchange tokens of pledge (''symbola'') on which they stated as a promise that they agreed to the marriage and nominated guarantors (''sponsores''). To the same time of the regal period is ascribed the introduction of the Greek use of double scriptures, ''tesserae''. The sponsio is one of the most ancient forms of verbal undertaking of obligation and its religious nature is acknowledged, as well as its connection with betrothal. The ancient sources are in agreement that the archaic ''sponsalia'' had a religious nature. Brent Vine's study which focuses on the linguistic analysis of the word of the first sentence and of the segment of the third lends support to such an interpretation: he argues that ''mitat'' would be a form of a frequentative verb ''mitare'' based on a past participle in -''to'' of an IE root ''*meɨ̯'', with the meaning of 'exchange'. Semantically this frequentative should be considered factitive, thence arriving at a verb that would mean 'to cause to be given in exchange', hence 'to give (in exchange)'. Vine's analysis of the segment fits the hypothesis of an exchange of ''symbola'' equally well. He argues that a word could be isolated on the grounds of the single spelling of geminates which is considered normal by linguists for the archaic period. This he proposes to understand as reflecting a substantivised ''*méi̯-no-'', meaning 'something given in exchange, gift' from the same root ''*mei̯ '' as in . This form would be a -''no'' substantive, a widely attested formation and may be presupposed by Latin ''mūnus, mūneris'' 'duty, service, office, offering', from immediate antecedent ''*mói̯-n-es-''. The appearance of ''mitat'' and '' inom'' show a semantic contiguity and may constitute a figura etymologica. This alliterative form would be analogous to the Old Latin phrase ''donum do'', ''donum'' being formed exactly in the same way as supposed for '' inom'' (''*déh3-no-''). ''*Meinom mito'' would have existed beside ''donum do'', both referring to similar but culturally distinct behaviours, the first one perhaps "specifically involving exchange/reciprocity". The document raises also the question of the kind of the marriage in question, and specifically of whether it was with or without '' manus''. Dumézil supported the thesis of a marriage without loss the independent status of the woman (''sine capitis deminutio''). In the last case it should be admitted that in archaic times a form of marriage existed in which the ''sponsio'' was directly linked to the ''nuptiae'', independently from the initial constitution of the ''manus''. The ''sponsalia'' would then be the occasion upon which the legal subjects defined the compacts concerning the juridical and economic aspects of the marriage: the dowry, the future legal status of the woman who could be put under the ''potestas/tutela'' of one or more persons, the compensations for a passage of status of the woman and the guarantees for breach of promise. Two strata were perhaps present as testified by the expression ''more atque iure'' of Gellius. Then the object in question could well have been deposited in a temple upon the occasion of a marriage ritual as a probatory document of an engagement undertaken not by the girl but by her ''sponsor''. The compact would be also a legal guarantee of the rights of the future bridegroom.


The second section

The most relevant issue for the interpretation of the document in Sacchi's view is the meaning the lexical couple . The meaning of ''Duenos'' has been often considered to be the name of the craftsman who made the object. Such an interpretation meets with the difficulty of how to explain the second occurrence of the word and with the problem of how to interpret , since if ''Duenos'' is a name identifying a person and qualifying him as 'good' then it would be difficult to understand the use of ''manom'' in the same sense of 'good'. It should be easier to understand ''manom'' as ''manum'' ('hand'), i.e. reading: "Duenos made me with his own hands". Sacchi, following Palmer and Colonna, proposes to interpret the couple as conveying a specifically technical religious and legal meaning as is testified in ancient sources. ''Duenos'' has given classic Latin ''bonus'', 'good', but originally the adjective had certainly religious and sacral implications: in the oldest sacral formulae it had a more technical acception and the repetition had other implications than just
eurythmy Eurythmy is an expressive movement art originated by Rudolf Steiner in conjunction with his wife, Marie, in the early 20th century. Primarily a performance art, it is also used in education, especially in Waldorf schools, and – as p ...
. Colonna refers to the formula ''optumus duonorum'' of the mid republic which was a qualificative formula with sacral implication reserved to the upper classes. Correspondences are the opposition of the epithets ''Optimus'' and ''Maximus'' of Capitoline Jupiter, the early Faliscan ''Titia'' inscription "''Eco quton euotenosio titias duenom duenas. Salu ..oltene''" interpreted as 'good among the good', the epitaph of Lucius Cornelius Scipio, the consul of 259 BC, ''duonoro optumo .. viro ' in which clearly the adjective ''duonus'' is not the synonym of ''optumus'', that as derived from ''ops'', plenty, has different semantic connotations. Colonna also reminds that "in the
Carmen Saliare The ''Carmen Saliare'' is a fragment of archaic Latin, which played a part in the rituals performed by the Salii (Salian priests, a.k.a. "leaping priests") of Ancient Rome. There are 35 extant fragments of the ''Carmen Saliare'', which can be ...
(similarly to the Duenos vase) ''bonus'' (''duonus'') and ''manus'' occur together, both referred to the same character, the god ''Cerus'', fact that makes their synonymity implausible". In order to further clarify the use of the adjective in the text, Sacchi makes reference also to a well-known passage of Cicero's ''De Legibus'' II 9, 22: ''Deorum Manium iura sancta sunto. (B)onos leto datos divos habento ...''. Here too as in the above two instances "one can remark the opposition between ''Manium'', that, as shown in Paulus exc. Festi, originally meant 'the good ones' and the qualificative (B)onos = Duenos as referred to the deified dead (= ''divos''). Cicero here relates a pontifical prescription of high antiquity consciously preserving the original wise of expression and lexic". In other words, one could argue that it is not meant that the ''dii
Manes In ancient Roman religion, the ''Manes'' (, , ) or ''Di Manes'' are chthonic deities sometimes thought to represent souls of deceased loved ones. They were associated with the '' Lares'', '' Lemures,'' '' Genii'', and ''Di Penates'' as deities ( ...
'' become 'good' in the ethic sense, but rather that the dead consecrated to death according to the pontifical prescriptions (''leto datos'') do become gods (= ''divos''). The epithet ''duenos'' would then design that which has been given in homage, consecrated correctly according to the pontifical ritual. Sacchi opines that in the case of the Duenos inscription the speaker is acting according to the religious legal ritual, presumably enacting a private ''consecratio'': the formula of the dedication is then a case of private ''dedicatio dis'', dedication to the gods. The epithet ''duenos'' should therefore be interpreted as used in its original technical sense. The restitution of the text should thus be: "A party acting in the way sanctioned by religious law made/consecrated me for a good end. That no harm/fraud be done to me and to one who is a party (equally) religiously sanctioned by the gods". The vase is a speaking token that after the celebration of the ritual consecrates the content of the action, of which it is "the form in its probatory function and the matter as a constituent element". Vine quotes German authors who still follow the erotic thread of interpretation. They think of the vase as a container for beauty products and interpret the last phrase as 'let no evil person steal me'. " would be a form of a Latin verb ''*stare'' that failed to survive for its ''homonymie fâcheuse'' nfortunate_homonymy.html" ;"title="homonym.html" ;"title="nfortunate homonym">nfortunate homonymy">homonym.html" ;"title="nfortunate homonym">nfortunate homonymywith the ordinary verb for 'stand, as found in Hittite ''tāyezzi'' 'steals', Vedic ''stená-stāyú'' 'thief'. Both Sacchi and Vine remark the striking parallelism between the formula of the Duenos inscription: and the inscription on a pedestal (probably of a votive statue) from Tibur: . Vine finds in it support for his interpreting of as meaning ''munus''.


Cosmis

Sacchi rejects the interpretation of ''cosmis'' as ''agreeable'' in the first section that is traditionally accepted in the scholarly literature, on the grounds of considerations of history of the language and semantics. He proposes to interpret the term as referring to the peculiar style of hairdressing of brides, known as ''seni crines'' which would find support in Festus: "''Comptus id est ornatus ... qui apud nos comis: et comae dicuntur capilli cum aliqua cura compositi''", '''Comptus'', that is adorned, ... what we call ''comis''; and ''comae'' is named the hair dressed with a certain care'. In the inscription the use of this word would be an explicit allusion to the fact that the girl shall be ready to marry. Festus gives it as a most ancient custom for marriage ceremonies. An analogous usage of the word ''comis'' is to be found in Gellius while relating the custom of ''flaminica dialis'' on the occasion of the
Argei The rituals of the Argei were archaic religious observances in ancient Rome that took place on March 16 and March 17, and again on May 14 or May 15. By the time of Augustus, the meaning of these rituals had become obscure even to those who practi ...
.


Earlier specimens of Old Latin

The Praenestine fibula is generally thought to be the earliest surviving evidence of the Latin language, dating to the 7th century BC, but has been alleged by
Margherita Guarducci Margherita Guarducci (20 December 1902, in Florence – 2 September 1999, in Rome) was an Italian archaeologist, classical scholar, and epigrapher. She was a major figure in several crucial moments of the 20th century academic community. A studen ...
to have been a well-informed hoax; however, the evidence is only circumstantial and there are no clear indications pointing to a forgery. Ultimately, these claims have been disproven, as a new analysis performed in 2011 declared it to be genuine "beyond any reasonable doubt". The Lapis Niger inscription is another example of Old Latin dated to the period of Rome's monarchy, although scholars have had difficulty in their attempts to interpret the meaning of the texts in their surviving fragments."Le ''juges auspicium'' et les incongruités du teureau attalé de Mugdala" in ''Nouvelle Clio'' 5 1953 p. 249-266; "Sur l'inscription du Lapis niger" in ''Revue d'études latins'' 36 1958 p. 109–111 and 37 1959 p. 102.


References


Further reading


"Die -Inschrift"
: transcription and interpretation of the inscription * Larissa Bonfante, "Etruscan Life and Afterlife: A Handbook of Etruscan Studies", Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1986 * Arthur Gordon, "Notes on the Duenos-Vase Inscription in Berlin", ''California Studies in Classical Antiquity'', Vol. 8, 1975, pp. 53–7
(available online)
* Arthur E. Gordon, ''Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983
Google Books preview
. * {{Authority control 1st millennium BC in Italy 7th-century BC works 6th-century BC works 5th-century BC works 1880 archaeological discoveries Ancient city of Rome Ancient Roman pottery Antikensammlung Berlin Archaeological discoveries in Italy Earliest known manuscripts by language Latin inscriptions Roman archaeology