The writing of the Etruscans: inscriptions from San Martino in Poggio

Description

The pottery sherds, which you see on the far right of the display case, date from the 3rd century B.C. If you sharpen your eyesight, you will notice that they bear inscriptions. These almost all fall under the so-called "speaking inscriptions" from the typical "I am of" formula with a possession function. The texts consist of a pronoun and an onomastic element, the Velasna gentile, referring to the wealthy landowning family that also lived in Frascole. But how did Etruscan writing work? The topic is very complex, but in the meantime we will try to shed some light on the question. The Etruscans developed their own alphabet through the influence of the Greek world, in what has been called the Orientalizing period. They were therefore the first population in Italy to introduce their own alphabetic system. it is possible that this was due to practical needs of a commercial nature, but also due to an unrelenting pressure of supply and demand for culture in the tendency of the nascent local aristocracies and presumably cult circles to embrace Eastern and Greek models and customs. We then know that the Etruscans did not write as we do, but rather in reverse: from right to left.