The Tabula Cortonensis is a 2200-year-old, inscribed bronze tablet of Etruscanorigin, discovered in Cortona, Italy. It may record for posterity the details of an ancient legal transaction which took place in the ancient Tuscancity of Cortona, known to the Etruscans as Curtun. Its 40-line, two-sided inscription is the third longest inscription found in the Etruscan language, and the longest discovered in the 20th century. While the discovery was made in October 1992, the contents were not published until seven years later, in 1999. The delay was due to the tablet's having been brought to the police by someone who claimed to have found it at a construction site. When provided to the police, the tablet had been broken into seven fragments, with the original right bottom corner missing. Investigators believed that, if the existence of the tablet were not initially disclosed, it would have been easier to ascertain whether the tablet had really been found at that location and possibly locate the missing portion.
Interpretation
The tablet is thought by some scholars, notably Larissa Bonfante and Nancy de Grummond, to be a notarized record of the division of an inheritance or sale of real estate. Reference is made on the tablet to a vineyard, cultivated land, and an estate located in the territory of Lake Trasimeno. The lake lies east of Cortona in modern-day Western Umbria. In addition to the references to land, the tablet includes several references relating to table furnishings. The tablet includes words that appear to refer to plates and salt. Additionally, several words that appear on the tablet have been found inscribed on Etruscan plates, drinking cups, or wine jugs or jars.
Physical description
The tablet measures by, and is about between and thick. When discovered, the tablet had been broken into multiple pieces, of which only seven have been found. The missing portion is believed by Etruscanists to contain only names and not details of the estate.
Text
The text contains thirty-four known Etruscan words and an equal number of previously unattested Etruscan words. Moreover, a new alphabetic sign Ǝ is present on the tablet. This implies that, at least in the Etruscan dialect spoken in Cortona where this letter exclusively appears, the letter Ǝ marks a different sound from that of the letter E. The inscription dates ca. 200 B.C.
