DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5009#0396
THE PALJEOGBAPEY OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 309
dedicated, or the name of the person who made an offering of it,
and this inscription is almost always written on a part of the body
of the figure. Inscriptions of this latter kind are formula? frequently
found repeated on monuments. The most usual are the following :
MI : CANA lias given me (on the most ancient monuments) ; TECB,
for the Greek <#>?«, ^ placed, lias dedicated; TUEUCE, TUECE,
lias given, lias dedicated, the most common formula; PHLEEES, gift,
consscration. SUTHI, SUTHIL from Scoria, for the safety of or
for. Some names of divinities have been also recognised in these
inscriptions, the names of which will be found in the portion on
the mythology of sculpture. Other inscriptions, not funereal, are
connected with the domestic customs of the Etruscans: they wrote
on the principal door of their house AESE VEESE, which was an
invocation against fire, these two words meaning, according to
Sextus, averie ignem, In the fields, cippi bore these words: MAEE
HUEIE, to Mars Terminalis. On altars, candelebra, &c, we find
engraved the nomen and prenomen of the person who offered them
to the gods with or without the formula MI CAXA. The names of
magistrates, families, places, religious colleges, have been recog-
nised in the votive inscriptions. The inscription on the statue of
bronze of the orator in the Florentine Gallery, informs us that it
was erected in honour of Aulus Metellus, son of Yelius, by a lady
of the family of Vesius.
Etruscan funereal inscriptions arc the most numerous. They are
found, inscribed or engraved, on isolated stones, on cinerary urns,
on has reliefs painted or sculptured, on small columns, on bricks or
plaques of metal, on tombs, sepulchral chambers, or buried in the
ground. Sometimes the letters engraved on stone have been after-
wards coloured red. The inscriptions on urns bearing bas reliefs
have rarely any connection with the subject of the sculpture; for
the same sculptured figures are repeated on several ums, each of
which bears a different inscription. It is simply relative to the
deceased of whom it contains the nomen and prenomen ; a cognomen
is sometimes, but very rarely, found. The name of the father is
I given, and that of the mother after that of the father, following a
custom evidently derived from the East, as it was not practised by
the Greeks and Eomans. The singular custom of tracing descent
by the maternal lino was peculiar to the Lycians. This custom
was retained even under Eoman domination, for some sarcophagi
bear similar epitaphs in Latin, with natus affixed to the mother's
name in the genitive or ablative. To the woman's name was added
the name of her husband or of the family to which she was allied.
A funereal inscription was sometimes terminated by the indication
2 15
dedicated, or the name of the person who made an offering of it,
and this inscription is almost always written on a part of the body
of the figure. Inscriptions of this latter kind are formula? frequently
found repeated on monuments. The most usual are the following :
MI : CANA lias given me (on the most ancient monuments) ; TECB,
for the Greek <#>?«, ^ placed, lias dedicated; TUEUCE, TUECE,
lias given, lias dedicated, the most common formula; PHLEEES, gift,
consscration. SUTHI, SUTHIL from Scoria, for the safety of or
for. Some names of divinities have been also recognised in these
inscriptions, the names of which will be found in the portion on
the mythology of sculpture. Other inscriptions, not funereal, are
connected with the domestic customs of the Etruscans: they wrote
on the principal door of their house AESE VEESE, which was an
invocation against fire, these two words meaning, according to
Sextus, averie ignem, In the fields, cippi bore these words: MAEE
HUEIE, to Mars Terminalis. On altars, candelebra, &c, we find
engraved the nomen and prenomen of the person who offered them
to the gods with or without the formula MI CAXA. The names of
magistrates, families, places, religious colleges, have been recog-
nised in the votive inscriptions. The inscription on the statue of
bronze of the orator in the Florentine Gallery, informs us that it
was erected in honour of Aulus Metellus, son of Yelius, by a lady
of the family of Vesius.
Etruscan funereal inscriptions arc the most numerous. They are
found, inscribed or engraved, on isolated stones, on cinerary urns,
on has reliefs painted or sculptured, on small columns, on bricks or
plaques of metal, on tombs, sepulchral chambers, or buried in the
ground. Sometimes the letters engraved on stone have been after-
wards coloured red. The inscriptions on urns bearing bas reliefs
have rarely any connection with the subject of the sculpture; for
the same sculptured figures are repeated on several ums, each of
which bears a different inscription. It is simply relative to the
deceased of whom it contains the nomen and prenomen ; a cognomen
is sometimes, but very rarely, found. The name of the father is
I given, and that of the mother after that of the father, following a
custom evidently derived from the East, as it was not practised by
the Greeks and Eomans. The singular custom of tracing descent
by the maternal lino was peculiar to the Lycians. This custom
was retained even under Eoman domination, for some sarcophagi
bear similar epitaphs in Latin, with natus affixed to the mother's
name in the genitive or ablative. To the woman's name was added
the name of her husband or of the family to which she was allied.
A funereal inscription was sometimes terminated by the indication
2 15