This is the famous Cippus Perusinus (Cippus of Perugia), a…
By Anonymous · published 29 Oct 2026
Interpretation
AI interpretation, unverified
SUMMARY
This is the famous Cippus Perusinus (Cippus of Perugia), a monumental Etruscan boundary stone that preserves one of the longest continuous legal texts known in the Etruscan language.
WRITING SYSTEM
Etruscan alphabet (written right-to-left, archaic/classical north Etruscan ductus)
LANGUAGE
Etruscan
TEXT
𐌕𐌄𐌖𐌓𐌀𐌕 𐌕𐌀𐌍𐌍𐌀 𐌋𐌀𐌓𐌄𐌆𐌖𐌋 𐌀𐌌𐌄 𐌅𐌀𐌙𐌓 𐌋𐌀𐌖𐌕𐌍 𐌅𐌄𐌋𐌔𐌉𐌍𐌄𐌔 𐌄𐌔𐌕- -𐌋𐌀 𐌀𐌚𐌖𐌍𐌀𐌔 𐌔𐌋𐌄𐌋𐌄𐌔𐌂 𐌂𐌀𐌓𐌖 𐌕𐌄𐌆𐌀𐌍 𐌚𐌖𐌔𐌋𐌄𐌓𐌉 𐌕𐌄𐌔𐌍𐌔 𐌕𐌄𐌉- -𐌔 𐌓𐌀𐌔𐌍𐌄𐌔 𐌉𐌐𐌀 𐌀𐌌𐌀 𐌄𐌍 𐌍𐌀𐌐𐌄𐌓 𐌙𐌉𐌉 𐌅𐌄𐌋𐌔𐌉𐌍𐌀𐌔𐌖𐌓𐌀𐌔𐌉 𐌀𐌓𐌀𐌔 𐌐𐌄- -𐌓𐌀𐌔𐌂𐌄𐌌 𐌄𐌍𐌄𐌔𐌂𐌉 𐌄𐌚𐌀𐌔𐌍 𐌌𐌉𐌂𐌉 𐌕𐌀𐌍𐌍𐌀 𐌋𐌀𐌓𐌄𐌆𐌖𐌋 𐌀𐌌- -𐌄 𐌅𐌀𐌙𐌓 𐌋𐌀𐌖𐌕𐌍 𐌅𐌄𐌋𐌔𐌉𐌍- -𐌄𐌔 𐌔𐌕𐌋𐌀 𐌀𐌚𐌖𐌍𐌀𐌔 𐌔𐌋𐌄𐌋𐌄- -𐌔𐌂 𐌂𐌀𐌓𐌖 𐌕𐌄𐌆𐌀𐌍𐌂
TRANSLITERATION
teurat tanna larezul ame / vaχr lautn velθineś eśt- / -la afunas sleleθc caru / tezan fuśleri tesns tei- / -ś rasneś ipa ama hen naper / XII velθinaθurasi aras pe- / -rascem enesci efaθn / mici tanna larezul am- / -e vaχr lautn velθin- / -eś śtla afunas slele- / -θc caru tezanc [...]
TRANSLATION
An official arbitration/decree: Let this decision (?) be legally valid (?) regarding the estate/family of Velthina and the property of Afuna, concerning the tomb/ground allotment [...] according to the Etruscan law/custom (tesns teiś rasneś), measuring 12 naper here for the Velthina family...
CONTEXT
Discovered in 1904 on the hill of San Marco near Perugia, Italy, this travertine stele dates to the 3rd or 2nd century BCE (Late Etruscan period). It records a legal property agreement and delimitation of a burial ground/estate between two prominent local families, the Velthina and the Afuna. The inscription contains 46 lines total across two faces (24 on Face A, 22 on Face B) and is preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Umbria.
CONFIDENCE
High
CAVEATS
• The given GPS coordinates point to Espoo, Finland, which does not reflect the provenance of the artifact or its current museum location in Perugia, Italy; the coordinates are treated as metadata noise. • Etruscan vocabulary remains partially understood; while grammatical morphology and key legal formulaic terms (such as 'naper' for a land measure, 'lautn' for family/household, and 'rasnas' for Etruscan) are well established, semantic nuances of words like 'teurat', 'tanna', and 'caru' continue to be debated among epigraphers. • The text is engraved continuously right-to-left without word breaks, though small interpuncts or spacing are sometimes used between syntactic phrases.
LOCATION
Espoo, Finland
Exact position: 60.2354547, 24.6032579
Source of the position not recorded
Open in OpenStreetMap