Alpine Celtic Mezzovico Stela (499 BCE)
Text read right to left. This text was written in response to the 499 drought. This Alpine Celtic letter style is a mix of Etruscan and Aegean. Photo from Lexicon Leponticum (Text VA-27) with letter assignments by Olmsted.
Mezzovico Stele Translation
(Jan 27, 2023) The Po river valley came under the control of a Celtic tribe known by the Romans as the "Insubres" around 600 BCE. They sacked Rome in 390 BCE. Yet they were conquered by Rome in the battle of Clastidium (modern Casteggio) in 222 BCE but gained a brief period of freedom when Carthaginian general Hannibal invaded Italy in the Second Punic War (218–201 bc). The Insubres were finally subdued by Rome in 196 BCE and gradually lost their identity in the rise of municipal communities. They were granted Latin rights in 89 BCE and full Roman citizenship 40 years later.
This stele was found during construction in March 1984. It is now at the Museo Civico e Archeologico in Locarno, Switzerland.
Translation in Akkadian (Celtic Text 2)
(read right to left. Capital letters on object. Small letters are inferred Inner vowels)- Ku WA N'u Mu :
- Pu A Lu A :
- Ya E Bu, Ya AL UYa
In English
- Due to the misery affecting the fertility-fluids :
- Openings are going without that.
- Is nothing being nourished? Is not Alu miserable?
References
Lexicon Leponticum. Online at: https://lexlep.univie.ac.at/wiki/TI%C2%B727.1
Translation Resources Used
All texts translated to the scholar's standard.
Lexicon Used
Olmsted, D.D (January 1, 2022) Mediterranean Akkadian Lexicon 3rd Edition – 2022. DOI Permanent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/nbb6-wg16. Online at: https://www.academia.edu/66851810/Mediterranean_Akkadian_Lexicon_3rd_Edition_2022Letter Charts Used
Central Mediterranean Iron Age Letters