MA-22

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Inscription
Transliteration:	]ạθa
Original script:	[
Object:	MA-22 antler (antler)
Position:	front
Script:	North Italic script
Direction of writing:	ambiguous
Letter height:	1.5 cm
Number of letters:	3
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	engraved
Current condition:	fragmentary
Archaeological culture:	Este IV [from object]
Date of inscription:	3rd–2nd centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from:	archaeological context [from object]
Language:	unknown
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	PID 242 LIR MA-21 MLR 68 TM 218495
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 166

Commentary

First published in Pellegrini 1918: 178 (no. 1).

Images in Pellegrini 1918: 178, fig. 8 (drawing), LIR (photo and drawings), MLR (photos, erroneously sub 50).

Length of the remains 3.3 cm. The preserved letters are very well legible on a practically undamaged surface. and are clear. The third letter, damaged by the break, can hardly be anything other than another Alpha, though inverted in opposition to the complete one. Whatmough's Digamma is unlikely in view of the decided obliqueness of the preserved hasta; for Mancini's Sigma, the hasta is too long (clearly reaching the height of the two complete letters). For different orientations of Alpha cp. MA-1 and MA-10. Because of the conflicting Alphas, it is unclear whether the inscription is dextroverse or sinistroverse, and whether the preserved letters represent the beginning or the end of the inscriptions. Regarding the orientation of the bars and the fact that the Magrè inscriptions tend to be written along the upper edge, the inscription is probably best regarded as a sinistroverse inscription as shown in the TIR images.

No parallel suggest itself.

On the back, at 4.5 cm from the preserved end, the remains of a mark similar those on most antler votives from Magrè.

Further references: Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 237.

Bibliography

LIR	Alberto Mancini, Le Iscrizioni Retiche [= Quaderni del dipartimento di linguistica, Università degli studi di Firenze Studi 8–9], Padova: Unipress 2009–10. (2 volumes)