Pyrgi Tablets: Difference between revisions

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Pallottino has claimed that the existence of this bilingual suggests an attempt by Carthage to support or impose a ruler (Tiberius Velianas) over Caere at a time when Etruscan sea power was waning and to be sure that this region, with strong cultural ties to Greek settlements to the south, stayed in the Etrusco-Carthaginian confederacy.<ref>Pallottino, M. The Etruscans. Trans. J. Cremona. Indiana UP, Bloomington and London. 1975. p. 90</ref> The exact nature of the rule of Tiberius Velianas has been the subject of much discussion. The Phoenician root MLK refers to sole power, often associated with a king. But the Etruscan text does not use the Etruscan word for 'king', {{Transliteration|ett|lauχum}}, instead presenting the term for 'magistrate', {{Transliteration|ett|zilac}} (perhaps modified by a word that may mean 'great'). This suggests that Tiberius Velianas may have been a tyrant of the kind found in some Greek cities of the time. Building a temple, claiming to have been addressed by a god, and creating or strengthening his connections with foreign powers may all have been ways that he sought to solidify and legitimate his own power.<ref>Smith, C. "The Pyrgi Tablets and the View From Rome" in ''Le Lamine di Pyrgi'' eds V. Bellelli and P. Xella, Verona, 2016. pp. 203–221</ref>

Another area that the Pyrgi Tablets seem to throw light on is that Carthage was indeed involved in central Italy at this point in history. Such involvement was suggested by mentions by [[Polybius]] of a treaty between Rome and Carthage at about the same time period (circa 500 BC), and by [[Herodotus]]'s accounts of Carthaginian involvement in the [[Battle of AlliaAlalia]] (though this was over a century later). But these isolated accounts did not have any contemporaneous texts from the area to support them until these tablets were unearthed and interpreted.<ref>Smith, C. "The Pyrgi Tablets and the View from Rome" in ''Le Lamine di Pyrgi'', eds. V. Bellelli and P. Xella, Verona, 2016. pp. 203–221</ref> Schmidtz originally claimed that the language pointed more toward an eastern Mediterranean form of Phoenician rather than to Punic/Carthaginian. But he has more recently reversed this view, and he even sees the possibility that the Carthaginians are directly referred to in the text.<ref>Schmidtz, Philip Ch. " ''Sempre Pyrgi'': A retraction and a Reassessment of the Phoenician Text" in ''Le lamine di Pyrgi: Nuovi studi sulle iscizione in etrusco e in fenicio nel cinquantenario della scoperta'' eds. Vincenzo Bellelli and Paolo Xella. Verona, 2016. pp. 33–43</ref>

The text is also important for our understanding of religion in central Italy around the year 500 BC. Specifically, it suggests that the commemoration of the death of [[Adonis]] was an important rite in Central Italy at least at this time (around 500 BC), that is if, as is generally assumed, the Phoenician phrase {{transl|sem|bym qbr ʼlm}} "on the day of the burial of the divinity" refers to this rite. This claim would be further strengthened if Schmidtz's recent claim can be accepted that the Phoenician phrase {{transl|sem|bmt n' bbt}} means "at the death of (the) Handsome (one) [=Adonis]."<ref>Schmidtz, Philip Ch. " ''Sempre Pyrgi'': A retraction and a Reassessment of the Phoenician Text" in ''Le lamine di Pyrgi: Nuovi studi sulle iscizione in etrusco e in fenicio nel cinquantenario della scoperta'' eds. Vincenzo Bellelli and Paolo Xella. Verona, 2016. pp. 33–43</ref> Together with evidence of the rite of [[Adonai]] in the [[Liber Linteus]] in the 7th column, there is a strong likelihood that the ritual was practiced in (at least) the southern part of Etruria from at least circa 500 BC through the second century BC (depending on one's dating of the Liber Linteus). Adonis himself does not seem to be directly mentioned in any of the extant language of either text.<ref>Liber Linteus Zagrabiensis. The Linen Book of Zagreb: A Comment on the Longest Etruscan Text. By L.B. VAN DER MEER. (Monographs on Antiquity.) Louvain: Peeters, 2007</ref>