What Is the Tabula Cortonensis?:
The Tabula Cortonensis is a bronze plaque with Etruscan writing on it probably from around 200 B.C. Since we know little about the Etruscan language, this tablet is prized for providing words of Etruscan previously unknown.
Archaeological Status of the Tabula Cortonensis:
Ghiottini, an Italian workman, presented this Etruscan Tablet to authorities in 1992. The circumstances in which it was found are unclear and the location in which he claimed to have found it and other bronze items have proven false. Ironically, since he turned in the tablet, Ghiottini was charged with its theft.
Survival:
It is thought that the tablet was cut up into 8 pieces in antiquity. One of the eight, thought to consist of names, is missing. The tablet is well preserved.
Date of the Etruscan Tablet:
It is thought the Etruscan Tablet was written about 200 B.C. in Cortona. It was written in a Northern variety of the Etruscan alphabet.
Physical Description of the Tabula Cortonensis:
The Tabula Cortonensis is a bronze plaque 2-3 mm thick. 28.5 cm wide x 45.8 cm long. There 32 horizontal lines of text, each about 30 letters long on the front and 8 on the upper back. There is a riveted handle to hold it up. The missing piece was only written on the front.
Interpretation:
Interpretation of the tablet is unclear. De Simone thinks the tablet deals with funerary rituals and Agostiani/Nicosia thinks it's a legal document "recording the conveyance of land 'in the territory of Lake Trasimene.'" Rex Wallace calls De Simone the only voice dissenting from the opinion that it's a legal document.
Sources:
Classical Review 51 (2): 278-279 2001 "A New Etruscan text L. Agostiani, F. Nicosia: Tabula Cortonensis," by F.R. Serra Ridgway.
Also see Rex Wallace's Review in Bryn Mawr Classics Review, 2003.11.11.
