Scrittura e cultura epigrafica nell'Etruria orientalizzante. Appunti di metodo sulle origini della scrittura etrusca e sui primi passi dell'epigrafia

The discovery of some Etruscan sigla belonging to the late 8th century BC has shown that the introduction of alphabetic writing in the Etruscan world was much older than previously thought. The Etruscans, like the Greeks some decades before them, probably created their own aphabet for purposes which had nothing to do with epigraphy; in both cases, inscriptions appeared about half a century later. It has been widely acknowledged that the invention of Etruscan epigraphy c. 700 BC was closely connected to a ritualized system of gift-exchange binding together individuals and families belonging to the local elites. The inscriptions usually recorded the name of the first donor, which gave the objects their value as status indicators. The diffusion of inscribed objects in the first half of the 7th century suggests that not all elites were involved in this circulation, revealing the presence of possibly rival groups, that distinguished themselves through the adoption of different types of funerary behavior. The Etruscan elites were probably much more complex and dynamic than is usually thought, although they claimed the opposite, presenting themselves as timeless and never-changing.