NO-16

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Inscription
Transliteration:	tianusa / taniun
Original script:
Object:	NO-16 bronze (bronze)
Position:	left-hand side"left-hand side" is not in the list (front, back, top, bottom, inside, outside, neck, shoulder, foot, handle, ...) of allowed values for the "position" property., right-hand side"right-hand side" is not in the list (front, back, top, bottom, inside, outside, neck, shoulder, foot, handle, ...) of allowed values for the "position" property.
Orientation:	0°
Script:	North Italic script (Sanzeno alphabet)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	0.70.7 cm <br /> – 1.2 cm
Number of letters:	13
Number of lines:	2
Craftsmanship:	embossed
Current condition:	complete
Date of inscription:	5th–2nd centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from:	archaeological context [from object]
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	'? of/for Tianu*'
Alternative sigla:	MLR 29 TM 653561

Images

Object NO-16 bronze with inscription NO-16 - left-hand side.

Object NO-16 bronze with inscription NO-16 - right-hand side.

Commentary

First published in Marchesini 2014: 137 f. Autopsied by TIR in October 2014.

Images in Marchesini 2014: fig. 3 (photo and drawing), MLR (photo).

Inscribed on the two sides of the bronze, line 1 (4.2 cm from to ) beginning at the rump of the horse, line 2 (about 2.4 cm) running around the curve of its head. Well legible despite corrosion. In line 1, is clear, being wedged in before the bulge representing the leg of the rider. , turned against writing direction, is tall after the leg. Final Alpha is not inscribed immediately after , but on the front of the horse's neck. While it might be conjectured that the writer also wanted to avoid the slighter bulge representing the horse's shoulder, the ultimate position of seems even more awkward, access being hindered by the horse's head. Marchesini ignored the letter in her reading. An interpretation as a manufacturer's mark, often found on bronzes and/or statuettes and requently on the neck of animals (cp. SZ-20), cannot be excluded; see tianusa as well as tianus on NO-15. Line 2 poses no problems.

Whatever the reading of line 1, we are concerned with a genitive of what is probably a theonym tianu(s) + the obscure taniun. This appears to be the only document naming only the recipient of the votive gift without mention of the dedicant.

Bibliography

Marchesini 2014

Simona Marchesini, "Nuove iscrizioni retiche da Cles e Sanzeno (Trento)", in: Rosa Roncador, Franco Nicolis, Antichi popoli delle Alpi. Sviluppi culturali durante l'età del Ferro nei territori alpini centro-orientali (Atti della giornata internazionale di studi 1 maggio 2010 Sanzeno, Trento), Trento: Provincia autonoma di Trento. Soprintendenza per i beni architettonici e archeologici 2014, 127–144.