They are the oldest historical source documents from Italy, predating Roman hegemony, and are rare examples of texts in these languages.
They were discovered in 1964 during a series of excavations at the site of ancient Pyrgi, on the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy in Latium (Lazio).
Pallottino has claimed that the existence of this bilingual suggests an attempt by Carthage to support or impose a ruler (Tiberius Velianas) over Caere at a time when Etruscan sea power was waning and to be sure that this region, with strong cultural ties to Greek settlements to the south, stayed in the Etrusco-Carthaginian confederacy.
[5] Another area that the Pyrgi Tablets seem to throw light on is that Carthage was indeed involved in central Italy at this point in history.
lrbt lʻštrt, For the Lady, for Astarte, ʼšr qdš ʼz, ʼš pʻl, wʼš ytn tbryʼ wlnš, mlk ʻl kyšryʼ this is the holy place, which was made, and which was placed (by) Tiberius Velianas, king over Kasriye (= Caerites?
[10] wbn tw, kʻštrt ʼrš bdy, lmlky šnt šlš ///, byrḥ krr, bym qbr ʼlm And he built a chamber (or -bn TW = "Tiberius Velianas built (it)"),[11] because Astarte requested (this) from him, year three "3" of his reign, in the month of Krr, on the day of the burial of the divinity.
[15] For example, other translations of the final line, besides that cited above, include: "And I made a duplicate of the statue of the goddess
"[17] Much of the well known vocabulary (from the glossary by A. Bloch, 1890, unless otherwise indicated) of the text is, of course, religious, including rb-t "Lady," ʻštrt the goddess "Astarte," qdš "holy," ʼlm "divinity," bt "temple, house," zbḥ "sacrifice," qbr "burial"; or they involve the calendar or elements of the natural world: ym "day," yrḥ "month," šnt "year(s)," šmš "sun" (in this context, also a deity), kbb "stars."
Common verbs include šmš "made," ytn "placed," bn "built," mlk "rule, reign.
"[18] Most of the items below not covered in this list are grammatical elements, uncited claims, or reflect earlier scholarship that has now been superseded by newer studies.
Etruscan Χurvar], kyšryʼ , Caerites [a people], lmʼš , statue (But analyzed by some as the preposition lm "during" plus the relative pronoun ʼš "which"), mtnʼ', gift [Semitic *ntn 'to give'], qbr, burial, rbt, lady [cf.
of the cella (or "the funeral chamber" tameres-ca)[25] ilacve /9 tulerase during the feast (of the month) of Tuler nac ci avi/10l χar var tesiamet /11 ale when three years (were) full (?)
"[27] However, Steinbauer (agreeing with Rix) has challenged this assumption and, considering that it seems to be positioned at the beginning of a series of phrases within the contexts of a step-by-step instruction in the Liber Linteus, proposed that vacal (with its variants vacil and vacl) simply means "then."
)," and ilucve "festival"; or they involve the calendar or elements of the natural world: tiur "month, moon," avil "year(s)," pulum-χva "stars" (?).
Other well attested words in the text include the number "three" ci, and some common verbs such as turu- "give" and am- "be," and the well known term for "magistrate" zilac-.
[36] Colonna, G. – Garbini, G. – Pallottino, M. – Vlad Borrelli, L., '"Scavi nel santuario etrusco di Pyrgi.
Relazione preliminare della settima campagna, 1964, e scoperta di tre lamine d’oro inscritte in etrusco e punico”, ArchCl 16, 1964: 49–117.