The Cippus Abellanus is a stone slab inscribed in the

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 ...

. It is one of the most important examples of the

along with the Tabula Bantina. The Cippus Abellanus is part of the collection of the in Nola, Italy.

Discovery

The Cippus Abellanus was discovered on the site of the ancient town of Abella (now

Avella Avella is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, southern Italy. Etymology Could be related to the Indo-European root ''*h₂ebōl, *h₂ebl'' (apple), meaning "place where apple-orchards originated" (read below). Histo ...

) in 1745, being used as a base for a door.

Description

The Cippus Abellanus is 192 cm high by 55 cm wide and 27cm thick. The engraved letters are 3.5 cm high on average.The date for entries is estimated at the end of the 11th century BCe between -216 and -150. These inscriptions use the

Etruscan alphabet The Etruscan alphabet was the alphabet used by the Etruscans, an ancient civilization of central and northern Italy, to write their language, from about 700 BC to sometime around 100 AD. The Etruscan alphabet derives from the Euboean alphabet ...

. Cippus Abellanus is an agreement marking the limits between the cities of Abella and

Nola Nola is a town and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy. It lies on the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines. It is traditionally credited as the diocese that introduced bells to Christian worship ...

around a temple dedicated to

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adopt ...

, authored by Q. Fabius Labienus in 183 BC. In

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 ...

, the word cippus (equivalent of the Greek stêlê) most often designates a post in the form of a pole on which appears information relating to the limits of a territory or its extent (this territory is indicated by the words slaagid-slagím and was recently associated with a still living

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name o ...

. The Cippus Abellanus only partially corresponds to this description because it is not cylindrical or cubic in shape, but flat with two engraved faces (like the Cippus Perusinus).

Text

;Side A ;Side B

Notes and references

{{authority control Osco-Umbrian languages Inscriptions