DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0346
242 CASTEL D'ASSO. [chap. xv.
Note II.—Inscriptions.
The inscriptions at Castel d'Asso are the following, which I give in
Eoman letters :—On a tomh on the left of the small glen, " Arnthal
Ceises."
On one at the mouth of this glen on the same side is " Ecasuth ..."
which is hut the commencement of the inscription.
On a tomh on the opposite side of the glen, ".....rinate
. . . lvies" . Orioli (Ann. Inst. 1833, pp. 31-2) reads it " Urinates
. . . lvies" . . The initial of the first word was very prohahly U,
as the name Urinate occurs in other inscriptions—the sarcophagus from
Bomarzo, for instance, now in the British Museum. See page 222.
Near this is a tomh, part of whose cornice has fallen. On the frag-
ment yet standing, you read "Ecasu;" and on the prostrate mass is
the rest of the inscription, " inesl. Titnle," so that the inscription, when
entire, read thus:
ai^riNM3V\lOV/A(^)a
On a tomh in the great valley is " inesl," which is hut a fragment.
On a fallen mass Orioli read " . . . . uthin . sl . . . "
Orioli (ap. Ingh. iv. p. 218. Ann. Instit. 1833, pp. 34, 52) says
he read on two tombs these numerals, IIAXX and IIIIIIIAXX, which
he at first took to intimate the number of dead interred in the respective
sepulchres, yet found it not to correspond with the number of the
sarcophagi, or rock-hewn couches; he afterwards thought it might signify
the measure of the sacred space in front of the tomb.
The recurrence of Ecasuthinesl shows it to be a formula. It is
found also on other sites, and has given rise to much conjecture. Lanzi
(II. pp. 481, 494) derived Sbthi from owijp/a, in which he is followed
by Vermiglioli (Iscriz. Perug. I. p. 133) and Campanari (Urna d' Arunte),
who deduced the formula from fina and trwrrip. One antiquary (Bibliot.
Ital. Magg. 1817) sought it in the Latin—hie subtus inest. Another
spoken of as the " Maestro di color che sanno," in Etruscan interpreta-
tion, whom I at once recognise to be Professor Migliarini of Florence,
also seeks a Latin analogy—ecce situs, or hie situs est (Bull. Inst. 1847,
p. 86). The " Ulster king-at-arms," (Etruria Celtica, I. p. 38) finds it
to be choice Erse, and to signify " eternal houses of death! " What-
ever it mean, it can hardly be a proper name, as has been conjectured
(Bull. Inst. 1847, p. 83). Beyond this, we must own with Orioli (Ann.
Inst. 1833, p. 52), that " we know nothing about it, and our wisest plan
is to confess our ignorance."
Note II.—Inscriptions.
The inscriptions at Castel d'Asso are the following, which I give in
Eoman letters :—On a tomh on the left of the small glen, " Arnthal
Ceises."
On one at the mouth of this glen on the same side is " Ecasuth ..."
which is hut the commencement of the inscription.
On a tomh on the opposite side of the glen, ".....rinate
. . . lvies" . Orioli (Ann. Inst. 1833, pp. 31-2) reads it " Urinates
. . . lvies" . . The initial of the first word was very prohahly U,
as the name Urinate occurs in other inscriptions—the sarcophagus from
Bomarzo, for instance, now in the British Museum. See page 222.
Near this is a tomh, part of whose cornice has fallen. On the frag-
ment yet standing, you read "Ecasu;" and on the prostrate mass is
the rest of the inscription, " inesl. Titnle," so that the inscription, when
entire, read thus:
ai^riNM3V\lOV/A(^)a
On a tomh in the great valley is " inesl," which is hut a fragment.
On a fallen mass Orioli read " . . . . uthin . sl . . . "
Orioli (ap. Ingh. iv. p. 218. Ann. Instit. 1833, pp. 34, 52) says
he read on two tombs these numerals, IIAXX and IIIIIIIAXX, which
he at first took to intimate the number of dead interred in the respective
sepulchres, yet found it not to correspond with the number of the
sarcophagi, or rock-hewn couches; he afterwards thought it might signify
the measure of the sacred space in front of the tomb.
The recurrence of Ecasuthinesl shows it to be a formula. It is
found also on other sites, and has given rise to much conjecture. Lanzi
(II. pp. 481, 494) derived Sbthi from owijp/a, in which he is followed
by Vermiglioli (Iscriz. Perug. I. p. 133) and Campanari (Urna d' Arunte),
who deduced the formula from fina and trwrrip. One antiquary (Bibliot.
Ital. Magg. 1817) sought it in the Latin—hie subtus inest. Another
spoken of as the " Maestro di color che sanno," in Etruscan interpreta-
tion, whom I at once recognise to be Professor Migliarini of Florence,
also seeks a Latin analogy—ecce situs, or hie situs est (Bull. Inst. 1847,
p. 86). The " Ulster king-at-arms," (Etruria Celtica, I. p. 38) finds it
to be choice Erse, and to signify " eternal houses of death! " What-
ever it mean, it can hardly be a proper name, as has been conjectured
(Bull. Inst. 1847, p. 83). Beyond this, we must own with Orioli (Ann.
Inst. 1833, p. 52), that " we know nothing about it, and our wisest plan
is to confess our ignorance."