NO·13

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	kaputus
Reading in original script:
Variant reading:	keputus
Object:	NO·13 Oleggio (bowl)
Position:	foot, outside
Orientation:	180°
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, damaged
Archaeological culture:	La Tène D 2 [from object]
Date of inscription:	first half of 1st c. BC [from object]
Type:	unknown
Language:	prob. Celtic
Meaning:	'Kaputus'
Alternative sigla:	Morandi 2004: 89
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 580

Commentary

First published in Gambari 1999: 390, no. 9.

Images in Deodato & Poletti Ecclesia 1999: 157, fig. 147.7 (drawing), Gambari 1999: 390, fig. 413 (photo) and 393, fig. 417.9 (drawing).

Inscribed upside-down on the oblique inside rim of the foot of the patera. Kappa appears to be damaged; the second letter is read by Gambari as epsilon, alternatively alpha, while Morandi prefers kaputus (so do I). For keputus, Gambari compares PV·1 kepi; kaputus also finds potentially Celtic comparanda (see further on the word page). In either case, the ending appears to be Latinised. Possibly the name of the person buried in the grave.

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.
Gambari 1999	Filippo Maria Gambari, "Le iscrizioni vascolari della necropoli", 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, 387–395.