The Oscan Tablet (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

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 and South Picene. Oscan was spoken by a number of t ...

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

Agnone Agnone ( Neapolitan: ''Agnèune'') 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 ...

Molise Molise ( , ; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise together with Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effective until 1970, makes Molise the newest region in Ital ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Since 1873, the original has been kept in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. It is, along with the Tabula Bantina and the Abellano Boundary Stone from

Avella Avella is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, southern Italy. It is renowned for the cultivation of hazelnuts, whose specific name ''(Corylus avellana)'' derives precisely from this territory. Etymology Could be relat ...

, 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 and South Picene. Oscan was spoken by a number of t ...

Discovery

This small

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

tablet, attached to an iron chain, was discovered at Fonte di Romito, between Capracotta 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 The Floralia was a Roman festival, festival of Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion in honor of the Flora (mythology), goddess Flora, held on 27 April during the Roman Republic, Republican era, or 28 April in the Julian calendar. The ...

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 space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

References

{{British Museum 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