The Oscan Tablet (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Tabula Osca) or Agnone Tablet is a bronze inscription written in the

Oscan Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian. Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including ...

alphabet that dates to the 3rd century BC. It was found near the town of

Agnone Agnone is a ''comune'' in the province of Isernia, in the Molise region of southern Italy, some northwest of Campobasso. Agnone is known for the manufacture of bells by the Marinelli Bell Foundry. The town of Agnone proper is complemented with ...

Molise it, Molisano (man) it, Molisana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Since 1873, the original has been kept in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. It is, along with the Tabula Bantina and the Abellano Boundary Stone from Avella, one of the most important inscriptions extant in the long extinct

Oscan language Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian. Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including the ...

Discovery

This small bronze tablet, attached to an iron chain, was discovered at Fonte di Romito, between

Capracotta Capracotta is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Isernia in the Italian region of Molise, located about northwest of Campobasso and about north of Isernia. It is the second highest municipality near the center of Italy at above s ...

and Agnone in 1848. It was purchased from the dealer Alessandro Castellani by the British Museum in 1873.

Inscription

Inscribed on both sides, the tablet chronicles a series of dedications to different deities or supernatural beings.''A Critical and Historical Introduction to the Ethnography of ancient Italy'', by John William Donaldson, London, John W. Parker and Son, 1852. The front side has 25 lines and describes the sacred place where religious ceremonies in honour of the goddess Ceres took place. It also explains that every year during the Floralia festival worshipers were expected to offer sacrifices to four different gods and that every other year a special ceremony was held at the sanctuary's altar. The other side of the tablet (with 23 lines) lists 17 different divinities that the local Samnite population were at any one stage devoted to. It also states that only those paying regular dues would be admitted to the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

References

{{reflist Ancient Greek and Roman objects in the British Museum Osco-Umbrian languages Inscriptions Archaeological discoveries in Italy 1848 archaeological discoveries

Discovery

Inscription

See also

References