VB·27

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	atekua / aśounị
Reading in original script:
Object:	VB·27 Stresa (stela)
Position:	top, front
Orientation:	180°
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Letter height:	7–10 cm2.756 in <br />3.937 in <br />
Number of letters:	12
Number of words:	2
Number of lines:	2
Workmanship:	carved
Condition:	complete, damaged
Archaeological culture:	unknown [from object]
Date of inscription:	end of 2nd / 1st century BC [from object]
Type:	funerary
Language:	Celtic
Meaning:	'Atekua of Aśounos' (?)
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 302 Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 17 Solinas 1995: 126 Morandi 2004: 70
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 567 no. 70

Images

Inscription VB·27 from Morandi 2004

Commentary

First published in Ferrero 1889: 262 (c).

Images in Ferrero 1889: 262 (drawing with incorrect orientation), Ponti 1896: 153, no. 187 (drawing from Fabretti's calque), Ferrero 1897: 57 (drawing from Fabretti's calque = Danielsson 1909: 27), Morandi 2004: 566, fig. 12.70 (drawing).

Inscribed in two lines, usually read upside-down with first line atekua which is, as the stela stands, below aśouni, probably because alpha and epsilon, which are letters not commonly inverted, are upside-down in both lines. Of the other potentially indicative letters, upsilon is not inverted (), but inverted upsilon appears in two other inscriptions at Stresa (VB·23, VB·26), so it is difficult to judge which variant should be considered more "regular" here. Nu in the upper line strongly resembles the inverted or retrograde nu in VB·26 and VB·22. Overall, considering the tendency toward inverted letters at Stresa and the fact that the orientation of the present inscription on the stela is beyond doubt, it may be more accurate to read it sinistroverse, with aśouni as line 1 and atekua as line 2, and inverted alpha, epsilon and nu.

De-Vit in the original publication inexplicably claims that the inscription is applied vertically. Drawing with inverted inscription already in Ponti 1896 (see above) without comment; also in Ferrero 1897: 59, no. 3 ("L'iscrizione è incisa capovolta sulla pietra.") atekua aśouni, preferring the reading ni over mu (as in VB·26) to get a genitival patronym. Accurately reflecting the orientation only Pauli 1891: 158 (though with incorrect orientation of alpha in the upper line), reading mu rather than ni: aśoum atekua). Otherwise general following of Ferrero: Danielsson 1909: 26–28, Rhŷs 1913: 51 f., no. 2 (suggesting that the text was inscribed upside down because it was more convenient for the stone cutter), Jacobsohn 1927: 30, no. 190, Whatmough PID 107 f., no. 302 (believes that the inscription is upright and applied on the lower end of the stela, which makes no sense whatsoever as it would not have been visible and the stela's upper end can be clearly identified by the rounded top; argues against the other orientation in n. 1 because of the order of the name formula), Pisani 1964: 282 f., no. 119 F, Tibiletti Bruno 1975: 53, Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 153, Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 170 f., no. 17 (thinks that the inscription is applied as drawn by De-Vit), Solinas 1995: 374, no. 126, Morandi 2004: 567, no. 70 (says like Whatmough that the inscription is on the wrong end of the stela "forse per errore").

See also Caramella & De Giuli 1993: 210.

Bibliography

Caramella & De Giuli 1993	Pierangelo Caramella, Alberto De Giuli, Archeologia dell'Alto Novarese, Mergozzo: Alberti Editore 1993.
Danielsson 1909	Olof August Danielsson, Zu den venetischen und lepontischen Inschriften [= Skrifter utgivna av Kungliga Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsala 13.1], Uppsala – Leipzig: 1909.
Ferrero 1889	Ermanno Ferrero, "Regione XI. (Transpadana)", Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità (1889), 261–262.
Ferrero 1897	Ermanno Ferrero, "Iscrizioni di Chignolo Verbano", Atti della Società di Archeologia e Belle Arti per la provincia di Torino 7 (1897), 56–60.