The Rapino Bronze is a third-century BC Marrucinian–Oscan dialect inscription but composed using the Latin alphabet. It was discovered in the early 19th century in a cemetery about a mile southeast of Rapino.
In his doctoral thesis, “The
Sabellian Languages,” Rex E. Wallace provided the
The
Bronze of Rapino
This
inscription was found about a mile southeast of Rapino, approximately ten miles
south of Teate, in what was apparently a graveyard of an ancient town (Conway
1897:253). The inscription was rather carelessly engraved in an early Latin
alphabet. Coins which were found in neighboring graves point to a date
somewhere in the vicinity of 250 B.C.
(Vetter
218):
aisos
pacris total
maroucai
lixs
asignas
ferenter
auiatas
toutai
maroucai
ioues
patres
ocres tarin
cris
iouias agine
iafc
esuc agine asum
babu
apoleenis feret
regen[ai]
peai cerie iouia
pacris.eituam
amaten
s
uenalinam.ni ta[.]a nipis.pedi suam
'(May) the
gods (be) propitious. (A) regulation(s) for the Marrucinian community. The
sacrificial flesh, judged propitious for the Marrucinian community by the
oracle of Jove the father and of the Tarincrine mount, is brought forth. Babu
(apoleenis) accepts the flesh from this oracle in order to burn (?) it
for pia cerie iouia regina. May it be propitious. They have collected
(?) the money received from the sale (of portions unused in sacrifice ?). Let
no one touch any but his own.' (Rex E. Wallace, "The
Sabellian Languages" [PhD dissertation; The Ohio State University,
1984], 101)
Such is an interesting parallel to texts such as Papyrus Amherst 63 (4th c. BC) that was written in Hieratic but the underlying language was Aramaic.
