The Tita Vendia vase is a ceramic impasto pithosBaccum, p. 583. (wine containerBaldi, p. 126.,) made around 620-600 BC,Baldi, p. 126. Blanck, p. 24, dates it 640-630 B.C.E. most likely in Rome.Baldi, p. 126: "It is probably from Rome, ca. 620-600 B.C.E.". The pithos, fragmentary and preserved in sherds,See photograph in Blanck, p. 24. carries one of two earliest known inscriptions in the Latin language (the Vendia inscription) which is interpreted by some as the earliest instance of a bipartite female Latin name with praenomen and gentilicum.
Discovery The sherds of the vase were found by Raniero Mengarelli and deposited in the collection of Museo di Villa Giulia. The exact location of the find is unknown, but may be Cerveteri (ancient Caere) or somewhere in Faliscan territory.A Caeritan origin is taken for granted, for example, by Vogt-Spira, p. 38.
Etrurian type of vases
The vase belongs to a type found in Southern Etruria. In its original form, based on the collection of sherds found, it was likely to have been approximately tall and at its maximum diameter. The letters, tall, had been scratched near the bottom. They were inscribed by a right-handed artisan, using reversed letter S, and with letters instead of ( instead of fecit); according to Baccum, this rules out Faliscan origin of the vase.
Inscription The inscription reads:
The lacuna between and is ten to twelve letters wide. Only part of it has been reliably filled by interpreters. The missing part may have contained the name of a second potter. With the lacuna partially filled the inscription is expanded to:
The most common English interpretation of this text is:
I am the urn of Tita Vendia. Mamarcos … had me made.Clarkson and Horrocks, p. 29.
In this interpretation, archaic is used where we would later find Latin ego, since Latin had not yet developed a separate symbol for the voiced velar ; the personal name uses archaic genitive declension (as in pater familiās) which is omitted in , most likely due to a writing error. Those who read Mamarcos or Mamarce typically identify him as a potter.Baccum, p. 584. There are also alternative interpretations: that connects to as , i.e. "this whole urn". that should be interpreted as an adjective, meaning "prosperous". that is a piggy bank.Watkins, p. 129. that is a teat that feeds Vendia wine.
Notes
References Baccum, G. C. L. M. (2009). The Latin dialect of the Ager Faliscus: 150 years of scholarship, Volume 1. Amsterdam University Press. . Baldi, Philip (2002). The Foundations of Latin. Walter de Gruyter. . Blanck, Horst (2008, in Italian). Il libro nel mondo antico. Ediziono Dedalo. . Clackson, James and Horrocks, Geoffrey (2007). The Blackwell History of the Latin Language. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. . Vogt-Spira, Gregor (1989, in German). Studien zur vorliterarischen Periode im frühen Rom. Gunter Narr Verlag. . Watkins, Calvert (1995). How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics. Oxford University Press US. .