MI·11

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	ratmon
Reading in original script:
Object:	MI·11 Milano (spindle whorl)
Position:	side
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Script:	North Italic script
Letter height:	0.5–0.7 cm0.197 in <br />0.276 in <br />
Number of letters:	6
Number of words:	1
Number of lines:	1
Workmanship:	scratched
Condition:	unknown
Archaeological culture:	unknown [from object]
Date of inscription:	unknown [from object]
Type:	unknown
Language:	unknown
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	Solinas 1995: 103 b Morandi 2004: 141
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 617 no. 141

Images

Spindle whorl MI·11 Milano and inscription MI·11 from Pauli

Commentary

First published in Pauli 1888: 44–46.

Images in Pauli 1888: Taf. XI, fig. 2 (drawings, middle one = Molinari 1974: 69, fig. 1).

Pauli, in the only first-hand treatment of the document, reads ratmon inscribed on the side of the spindle whorl, with the tops of the letters pointing toward the tapered end. He considers the slightly carved inscription well legible, though the third and fourth letters are indistinct; the exact letter forms are hard to make out from his drawings (especially the number of bars of mu). Pauli identifies the alphabet as the Lepontic one, though alpha would be archaic, while tau is untypical and Latin-looking (but cf. MI·12). Molinari 1974: 69 f. suggests Etruscan influence. The form ratmon is unclear.

Corinna Salomon