Alphabet Key To History Of Mankind

Author(s): David Diringer
Publisher: Hutchinsons Scientific and Technical Publications

Page 504

ETRUSCAN AND ITALIC ALPHABETS 503 tions extant are the Agnone bronze tablet, of the middle third century B.C., containing a long list of local divinities; the Abella cippus of the first half of the second century B.C., containing an agreement for sacred purposes between the towns of Nola and Abella; the Bantia bronze tablet, of the second half of the second century B.C., containing the local laws; an inscription from Messina and some inscriptions from Capua, belonging to the middle of the third century B.C.
VINX
Fig. 227–Oscan inscriptions
The Oscan script (Fig. 226) was an offshoot of the Etruscan alphabet in its southern Campano-Etruscan sub-species. The direction of writing was, as in Etruscan, from right to left. It seems also that Oscan, like Etruscan, had no sign for d, and had to adopt a special sign for it modifying the letter r. On the other hand, unlike the Etruscans, the Oscans had special signs for b and g as distinguished from p and C, which shows that their script was partly formed under the influence of a non-Etruscan alphabet. For the peculiar forms of some letters see Fig. 226 and 227.
Umbrian Alphabet
The Umbri (whence the name of the modern Italian region of Umbria), in Greek Ombroi or Ombrikoi, were, according to tradition, a people who lived in Etruria and Umbria before the Etruscan invasion, but it is uncertain whether they spoke the same language as the non-Etruscan population who inhabited the same territory in historical times, that is from the sixth century B.C. onwards, in which period Umbrian was an Italic speech. It is the latter meaning which has now been generally applied to the term "Umbrian."