NO·8

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	rikanas
Reading in original script:
Object:	NO·8 Oleggio (bowl)
Position:	bottom, outside
Orientation:	0°
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Number of letters:	7
Number of words:	1
Number of lines:	1
Workmanship:	scratched after firing
Condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	unknown, La Tène D [from object]
Date of inscription:	last quarter of 2nd c. BC [from object]
Type:	unknown
Language:	Celtic
Meaning:	'of Rikana'
Alternative sigla:	Morandi 2004: 84
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 577 f.

Images

Drawing of inscription NO·8 from Morandi 2004

Inscription NO·8 from Morandi 2004

Patera NO·8 Oleggio with inscription NO·8

Inscription NO·8

Commentary

First published in Gambari 1989. Examined for LexLep on 24^th April 2024.

Images in Gambari 1989: 196 (photo = Gambari 1999: 392, fig. 416 = Morandi 2004: 789, tav. XII.84), Deodato & Poletti Ecclesia 1999: 114, fig. 95.15 (drawing = Gambari 1999: 393, fig. 417.5), Morandi 1999: 184, fig. 6 (drawing = Morandi 2004: 576, fig. 13.84).

Inscribed on the bottom of the patera near the rim, following a concentric line as upper guideline. The form is an ā-stem in the genitive. Gambari (also 1999: 388 f., no. 5) has interpreted the form as lexical 'queen', i.e. an inscription 'of the queen' on a vessel of civil or sacral ritual significance. He argues that this interpretation is confirmed by the typology of the grave – a female burial with weapons indicating social status – as well as other allegedly lexical attestations of rix° such as the coin legend NM·5 rikoi, and rik beside another inscription in a grave at Gottolengo (see BS·9, BS·10). While the context of the attestation of rikanas is certainly suggestive, the identification of an Insubrian political position and ruler's title rīgos/rīganā is not compelling; neither is the grammar, the Gaulish word for 'queen' being the ī-stem rīganī (see the word page). Though rigana is indeed not attested as a personal name in Continental Celtic, a personal name is typologically much more likely; cf. Motta 1992: 317 ("transposition en nom propre (tout comme pour l'italien Regina) du mot gaulois rīganī"), Morandi 2004: 578. Cf. also Morandi 1999: 184 f., no. 33, who notes the poor quality of the patera, which is distorted from a not entirely successful firing process, and also of the two vessels bearing the inscriptions rik (BS·9, BS·11) at Gottolengo.

Bibliography

Deodato & Poletti Ecclesia 1999	Angela Deodato, Elena Poletti Ecclesia, "Catalogo", in: Giuseppina Spagnolo Garzoli (ed.), Conubia gentium. La necropoli di Oleggio e la romanizzazione dei Vertamocori. Catalogo della mostra Oleggio, Palazzo Bellini 23 gennaio - 30 aprile 1999, Torino: Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologica del Piemonte 1999, 55–286.