Here is a “Venetic” inscription. Well, not exactly. While Venetic inscriptions – meaning inscriptions from Northeast Italy of the Adriatic Veneti – are well known and have been studied (whether they were translated correctly is another matter), there are other “Venetic” inscriptions. That is inscriptions not written in Venetic but that mention the word Veneti.
Masuria – currently north of Dacia
So, for example, you have this inscription coming out of Dacia and dated precisely to March 17, 139. That’s right – it’s second century Dacia (the home of Burebista (Burivist?)). It is a contract for the acquisition of a slave written on a so-called “triptych” wooden tablet (currently in a Romanian museum). It is well known and has been reprinted numerous times, for example in:
- Fontes iuris romani antiquiˆ;
- “Introduction to the study of Latin inscriptions” by James Chidester Egbert;
- Altitalische Forschungen (volume 3);
- Inscriptiones Daciae Romanae (volume 1);
We have discussed the story of Boz (4th century) and hinted that certain earlier Suevic names may have been Slavic (e.g., Veleda). Now Boz was of the Antes and Veleda was, at least Batavian or Suevic. But here below is an actual reference to a “Venetic.” Who was this Venetic? It is in Dacia that we find him – which Dacia we know was close to the location of Jordanes’ Veneti and the earlier mention of at least some of the Venedi on the Tabula Peutingeriana.
There is, of course, more of interest and we get to it but first the contract:
Maximus Batonis puellam nomine
Passiam, sive ea quo alio nomine est,
ancirciter [annorum circiter?] p[lus] m[inus] empta sportellaria
norum sex emit mancipioque accepit
de Dasio Verzonis Pirusta ex Kaviereti[o]
* ducentis quinque.
Iam [eam] puellam sanam esse a furtis noxisque
solutam, fugitiuam erronem non esse
praestari. Quot si quis eam puellaam
partemve quam ex eo quis evicerit,
quominus Maximus Batonis quove
ea res pertinebit habere possidereque
recte liceat, tum quanti
ea puella empta est, tam pecuniam
et alterum tantum dari fide rogavit
Maximus Batonis, fide promisit Dasius
Verzonis Pirusta ex Kavierti.
Proque ea puella, quae s[upra] s[cripta] est, * ducentos
quinque accepisse et habere
se dixit Dasius Verzonis a Maximo Batonis.
Actum Karto XVI k[alendas) Apriles
Tito Aelio Caesare Antonino Pio II et Bruttio
Praesente II co[n]s[ulibus].
Maximi Veneti principis
Masuri Messi dec(urionis)
Anneses Andunocnetis
Plani Verzonis Sclaietis
Liccai Epicadi Marciniesi
Epicadi Plarentis qui et Mico
Dasi Verzonis ipsius venditoris
Translation
“Maximus, Bato’s son, bought and received a slave girl of about six years old by the name of Passia, or however she may henceforth be called, she was a Sportellaria [bought in a basket? originally found in a basket, i.e., abandoned?], from Dasio son of Verzo, a Pirusta* from Kavieretum for 205 dinars.”
* Pirustae were an “Illyrian” tribe who lived in north Albania, south Bosnia and parts of Montenegro. They are mentioned by Caesar, Strabo and Livy. After the Roman conquest of Dacia in 106, many of the Pirustae miners were settled by the Romans in the Carpathians (including in western Dacia).
“It is confirmed that the slave girl is healthy, was not improperly obtained, is not a runaway or vagrant and that if someone should claim the slave girl (or any part of the associated property), whereby Maximus son of Bato won’t be able to properly own and possess her, then the purchase price will be returned twofold. On his honor so has Maximus son of Bato demanded and on his honor so has Dasius son of Verzo, Pirusta from Kavieretum promised.”
“And Dasius son of Verzo has confirmed the receipt of the 205 dinars for the above-named slave girl from Maximus son of Bato.”
“This has taken place at Karto on the 16th day of calends of April under the consulship of Titus Aelius Caesar Antoninus Pius, in his second term as consul and [under] Bruttius Praesens, in his second term as consul.”
“The seal of:
Maximus Venetus, princeps
Masurius Messius decurion
Annesis, son of Andunocnes
Planius son of Verzo, Sclaietis
Liccaius Epicadus Marciniesus
Epicades, son of Plarentis, who is also called Mico
Dasius, son of Verzo, the seller.”
Noteworthy
- Is Maximus son of Bato the same as Maximus Venetus (princeps as in purchaser, princeps to the transaction)?
- Whether or not that is the case, is Maximus a Venet?
- If he is a Venet it seems more likely that he is of the Danube Veneti.
- Bato (sounding so “Turkic from the steppe”) is an Illyrian name (or at least several Illyrian, that is Dardanian, Daesitiat (or Daezitiat) and Breucian chieftains bore that name). So are the Veneti then Illyrian (if these are the same person).
- Notice the name of the decurion (local official charged with contract administration) – Masurius or Masur. The name Masuri seems strangely linked to Masuria and the Polish “tribe” of Masuri (settlers coming from Mazovia into south Prussia) which, supposedly, comes from Mazovia. However, the Masuri name (other than here) also appears:
- in Calabria, Italy (though the origin of the word may be different – Turkic? Or does it belong in the prior section ‘L’elemento slavo’?), and
in a Himalayan region next to Dharmsala;
- Puella – meant a girl but, sometimes, a slave girl (a brave Palianka?);
- Passia – Slavic or not?;
- Whether names such as Licca[ius] or Mico could be Slavic we leave to you;
For more see also Hanne Sigismund-Nielsen “Introduction: A Little Girl Called Passia” in “The Oxford Handbook of Childhood and Education in the Classical World”.
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