Scrittura bustrofedica come supporto alla fruibilità documentaria: il caso della Tabula Capuana

The Tabula Capuana is the second longest known Etruscan text after the Liber Linteus Zagabriensis. It is a festive calendar with precise indications of ritual and ceremonial nature, dating back to the early 5th century BC. Since its discovery in the late 19th century, it has been the subject of studies, from the proto edition of 1900 to the publication of the text in collections of inscriptions. In each of the ten sections into which the inscribed text is divided, the first line is written from right to left and continues in the next line from left to right, following a pattern that has been defined as false boustrophedon, or “snake-writing,” serpentiform, with a reversal of letters whenever the text breaks to a new line. This particular type of boustrophedon pattern is found in antiquity on other much shorter inscriptions; other epigraphic cases, on the other hand, exhibit a simpler boustrophedon writing, meaning a change of direction in each line of writing. In general, writing adapts to the spaces where social life takes place, such as places of worship and political squares. Texts must be interpreted in terms of their content and value as sources of historical knowledge, and proper linguistic research must identify the formal characteristics of the language. These two distinct yet coherent and parallel perspectives contribute to a constant improvement in the readability of text contexts.