B.’s book provides a lesson of how a thematic museum catalogue should be written. Not only do the entries present all the necessary information relating to the relevant objects – including acquisition data, conservation and bibliography – but the long analytical parts of the entries investigate each item in-depth in its relevance for Etruscan epigraphy and language. Additionally, commentary sections on specific arguments relating to either single objects or groups further expand the contents of this volume. As a result, the catalogue performs its function as a register of the inscribed objects of pre-Roman Italy at the Louvre, recording precious data often from unpublished archive sources, and at the same time provides a critical study of the inscriptions.
An introductory chapter examines the formation of the pre-Roman epigraphic collection of the Louvre and surveys previous scholarship in detail, which significantly includes almost exclusively nineteenth- and early twentieth-century works. As a matter of fact, although the collections of the Louvre are well known and attract millions of visitors every year, in the past, pre-Roman inscriptions have only been studied and published either individually or on occasion of the publication of corpora. The latter was the case with the inscriptions included in the second supplementary volume to the Corpus Inscriptionum Italicarum by A. Fabretti (1874) and, later, in the Corpus Inscriptionum Etruscarum, whose fascicule relating to North Etruria appeared in 1902. Thematic corpora were dedicated to the inscribed vases of the Louvre by M. Lejeune in 1958 (whose incompleteness is blamed by B. as a lost opportunity) and to the Etruscan ash urns by M.-F. Briguet and B. in 2002.
Some special studies followed the visits of distinguished scholars, who examined the epigraphic collection with a view to publication, as with G.C. Conestabile, who published part of the extant material in his Second spicilegium de quelques monuments écrits, ou épigraphes des Étrusques (1863), and O.A. Danielsson, whose precious and unpublished notes have recently been made available in a volume by C. and Ö. Wikander (2003).
B.’s volume, therefore, is the first comprehensive work dedicated to the whole collection of pre-Roman inscriptions in the Louvre. (The expression ‘étrusques et italiques’ in the title might be misleading, when considering that the catalogue also features two Latin inscriptions, nos 84, 122; a Greek inscription and a trademark, nos 73, 120; and a Messapian signature, no. 119.)
The catalogue is arranged in order of types of inscriptions and their supports, starting with the Etruscan texts, which represent the vast majority of the collection. The largest section is devoted to funerary inscriptions, including ash urns (nos 1–35) and sarcophagi (nos 36–7) from Chiusi and Volterra, two cippi (nos 38–9) and a group of rare cinerary amphorae from Caere (nos 40–5). Clearly, in this section, onomastic data have the lion's share. In this regard, B.’s thorough revision of the texts, carried out with the help of Danielsson's notes and documents from the museum archive, often results in corrections of the acknowledged readings and new interpretations.
A number of objects bearing the inscription śuθina, ‘belonging to the tomb’, were found in funerary contexts too (nos 46–62). Although belonging to a type relatively common in Volsinii from the fourth century b.c.e. onwards, several śuθina-objects of the Louvre, including some Attic vases of the early fifth century b.c.e., follow the graphic tradition of Caere (with a 3 shaped tsade; nos 47–60 and 62), thus pointing to an early introduction of this epigraphic tradition in this city.
The second section relates to property inscriptions and is divided into texts including the first person pronoun mi – so-called ‘speaking inscriptions’ (nos 63–74) – and simple name formulas (nos 75–84), at times abbreviated (nos 85–98).
A third section presents miscellaneous inscriptions recording gift exchange (no. 99), the content of twin flasks (nos 100–1: namely ruta, ‘rue’, and cuprum, ‘henna’), captions of engraved mirrors (nos 102–8) and workshop sigla (nos 109–15). Curiously, the miscellaneous section includes the non-Etruscan inscriptions too, relating respectively to two central Italic votive texts (nos 116–17), an Oscan bronze lot (no. 118) and a Messapian signature on a mould (no. 119).
There are three appendices dedicated to inscriptions formerly misinterpreted as Etruscan (nos 120–3), fakes (nos 124–30), as well as nineteen sigla and trademarks that were excluded from the list as presumably neither Etruscan nor Italic.
This arrangement of the catalogue is functional as it allows the reader to examine each category of inscriptions in its entirety. However, in the case of objects out of their context, such as those preserved in a museum, doubts may arise on the criteria of attribution. It is curious, for instance, that texts of consecration to Charun and Phersipnai (nos 81–2), both Etruscan deities of the Underworld, are included among property inscriptions, by virtue of their simple structure, while the isolated gentilicium uta (nos 89–90; see G. Meiser [ed.], Etruskische Texte [20142], no. Cr 3.9) is considered an abbreviation, and the words aθti (no. 123; see D.F. Maras, Il dono votivo. Gli dei e il sacro nelle iscrizioni etrusche di culto [2009], p. 337 no. 1) and rat (p. 369 no. 16; see C. Cornelio Cassai, S. Giannini, L. Malnati [edd.], Spina. Scavi nell'abitato della città etrusca 2007–2009 [2013], pp. 157–8 nos 9–11) are rejected as non-Etruscan.
Not all the texts included in Appendix 2 are forgeries beyond doubt. As a matter of fact, the name urϕe (or urϕea) on mirror no. 125 seems authentic, and the word kvsnailise on the famous white-on-red pyxis no. 124 still has the best odds of corresponding to the original text, even though retouched by nineteenth-century restorers (G. Colonna, ‘Firme di artisti in Etruria’, in G.M. Della Fina [ed.], Artisti, committenti e fruitori in Etruria tra VIII e V secolo a.C. [2014], pp. 52–3).
Thematic additions are inserted as an introduction to Chapter 3, dedicated to the funerary cippi from Caere (nos 38–9); as a note on the provenance of the amphorae nos 40–5; and as follow-ups to the entries relating to the Orientalising vessels marked with the name Karkana (nos 63–5) and to a Hellenistic askos bearing the stamp Atrane (no. 109). In all these cases, the added paragraphs tackle issues relating to inscriptions that belong to a broader context along with other texts not present in the museum.
Among the highlights of the collection that are emphasised by B. are: the Orientalising cup of Laucie Mezentie (no. 70), whose owner's name evokes the legendary enemy of Aeneas; the golden fibula of Castelluccio, gift of a Mamurke Tursikina (no. 99), whose name is the earliest attestation of the name of the Etruscans themselves (<*turs-ko-); the bronze tablet of Civita d'Antino (no. 117), an outstanding document for Italic magistracies.
Novelties, discovered in the deposits of the museum, are the inscriptions of the gens Ap(i)cu in Caere (no. 62), one of which in early Latin (no. 84), and, above all, the bucchero pyxis with the inscription versipinaia (no. 82). This corresponds most probably to the Archaic form of the name of Phersipnai, the Etruscan Persephone (possibly contaminated with Etr. verse, ‘fire’?), and provides evidence for the introduction of Greek divine names already in the seventh century b.c.e.
B.’s book offers a comprehensive study of the whole epigraphic collection of pre-Roman Italy in the Louvre, along with archive sources and bibliography, and an accurate apparatus of photographs and drawings. The overall quality of the drawings is excellent, although in some cases they do not correspond to what is visible in the photographs: for instance, nos 104, 121 and p. 368 no. 11 (on this gem one more letter is visible between Hercules’ legs: a[r]θza? See comparanda in L. Ambrosini, Le gemme etrusche con iscrizioni [2011], p. 29 nos 23–4). This work will certainly boost further studies in Etruscan epigraphy, thanks to the numerous new readings and novelties, and will stand as an outstanding model for future publications of archaeological collections, not only of inscriptions.
