Iguvine Tablets

The Iguvinischen panels (Latin Tabulae Iguvinae ) are a series of seven panels of bronze, which were discovered in Iguvium, today Gubbio, in Italy in 1444. The earliest are believed to date from the 3rd century BC; they are written in the original Umbrian alphabet, while the most recent dating from the 1st century BC and which were written in Latin alphabet.

The panels include religious inscriptions that reflect the rites of atiedianischen brothers, a group of 12 priests of Jupiter with important political functions in Iguvium. They are written in the Umbrian language, one related to the Latin Italic languages. They throw light on the grammar of these dead ancient language and to the religious practices of classical paganism. They seem to be written in an accentuated metric that is similar to the members of the oldest Latin poetry Saturnian metric.

As an example of their language is part of the first panel:

"Jupiter Grabovius when on the mountain Fisius a fire has broken out, or if in the nation by Iguvium owed ​​preparations were omitted, let it be as if they had been done."

"Jupiter Grabovius if in your sacrifice was any flaw, any deficiency, any ritual transgression, any deception, any error, if in your victim is, seen or unseen, a blemish, ..."

As another example, the full text of the 6th panel: