READ THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE FROM “Marija Gimbutas – The Living Goddesses” AFTER READING, PROVIDE ABOUT 400 WORDS OF ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Some thirteen thousand Etruscan inscriptions have been recorded, and because we know the
phonetic sounds of the Greek alphabet we can reconstruct roughly what the Etruscan language
sounded like. The Etruscan language has been deciphered, but most Etruscan texts remain
obscure. This is partly because Etruscan bears little relation to other known languages and
partly because most of the many inscriptions are short dedications on tombs, mirrors, or
pottery.2 Extensive texts are rare. The longest inscription is a liturgical calendar of sacrifices and
prayers from a sacred book written on linen, parts of which were preserved because they were
recycled as wrappings for Egyptian mummies. A Croatian traveler in the
last century bought the linen, and it now resides in the Zagreb National Museum. It contains
some twelve hundred readable words. Ancient languages are often bilingual: they are
translated through inscriptions that contain the same message in two languages: one of them
already deciphered, the other unknown. But only one bilingual (more exactly, close to bilingual)
inscription is known, written in Etruscan and Phoenician. This inscription is written on three gold
tablets found at Pyrgi in 1964, at the Greek harbor of Caere, dating from about 500. The
tablets, which will be detailed later, include only an inscription to the goddess Uni, not enough to
solve the enigma of the Etruscan language. The Etruscans differed socially from surrounding
Indo-European cultures. Both Greeks and Romans noted the elevated position of women in
Etruscan society. Women drank, danced, attended the theater, and participated in public life.
Etruscan women were literate. One of the better-known Etruscan women was Tanaquil, wife of
Tarquinius Priscus, the first Etruscan king of Rome. The Roman writer Livy recorded that she
was learned and well versed in the practices of divination.3 The Etruscans constructed some of
their most elaborate tombs for rich noblewomen or priests. One example is the
Regolini-Galassi tomb at Caere, which dates from the seventh century richly equipped with
gold jewelry, ivory pyxis, silver table service, and dice. Artifacts from this tomb can now be found
in the Vatican’s Museo Gregoriano
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