‘Liber Linteus’ – Unique History Of Ancient ‘Linen Book’ Written In Etruscan That Still Remains Poorly Understood

A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com - The Etruscan language has never been conclusively shown to be related to any other language in the world. The writing remains poorly understood.

The only known longer text, written in the Etruscan language and dated to around 250 BC,  is the "Liber linteus". It has circa 1330 words and represents the longest, single, and well-preserved Etruscan text.

Above: Liber linteus zagrabiensis, the linen book of Zagreb, third-second century BC (© Zagreb Archaeological Museum; Below: Mummy at the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb. Source

"Liber linteus," also known as 'Liber Zagrabiensis' (the 'Linen Book,' 'Book of Zagreb', or even better known as the 'Mummy Wrappings of Zagreb'), has a unique history because of how it was preserved.

The original book had been torn, forming bandage strips subsequently used to bind an Egyptian mummy. It is also the only example of a linen book in the classical world. The significance of this ancient work being written in Etruscan is that very little remains of this mysterious language today.

Originally, Etruscan was widespread over much of the Mediterranean. This can be seen by the thousands of small grave inscriptions and votive gifts dating back to 700 BC and found in Italy, in the Balkans, Africa, Elba, Corsica, Elba, Greece, and the Black Sea.

The language was spoken and written in the Etruscan civilization that existed in Italy at a time before the rise of the Roman Empire.

'Liber linteus' Has A Unique History

Liber Linteus originally consisted of twelve columns of text written on canvas in black and partly red ink from right to left. At present, most of the first three columns are missing.

Very little remains of this mysterious language today. Source

According to some other interpretations, the text was written by Etruscan priests in one of the temples near Lake Trasimeno, Perugia, Italy, the area originally occupied by the Etruscans. One theory is that the Liber Linteus was written in Egypt in the first century BC for the needs of the Romanized group of Etruscans who settled at that time in North Africa.

The work was not rolled but folded, just like modern books. With the extinction of the Etruscan language, the book lost its practical significance, as it no longer served its original religious purpose.

Priceless Literary Work Cut In Pieces

At some point, the book was cut into narrow strips, several of which served an unknown embalmer as wrappings for a mummified woman's body. In 1848, the mummy was purchased in Alexandria as a souvenir and remained on display in a private home.

Finally, in 1867, the mummy and the manuscript were stored in Zagreb, Croatia, where four years later, it was first realized that the writing was not the Egyptian hieroglyphs. In 1891, Jacob Krall, an expert on the Coptic language. At first, he expected to identify the writing as Coptic (Egyptian written in Greek letters), or an extinct language known as Carian, spoken in Caria, a region of western Anatolia, and related to Lydia and Lycia.

Liber Linteus Zagrebiensis. Image credit: SpeedyGonsales - CC BY 3.0

Krall examined the mummy wrappings and became the first to identify the language as Etruscan. He put the strips back together in the right order, but he could not translate the text.

Genesis Of The Mummy Debated

One theory proposed that the woman was of Etruscan origin and would have left Italy for Egypt due to the uncertain political situation in her country. Many Etruscans fled from Sulla (138 BC—78 BC), a Roman general and statesman, during the Roman-Etruscan Wars. She died in Egypt, and her remains were embalmed and buried.

Later, the mummy was identified as belonging to a young, wealthy Theban woman named Nesi Hensu, the wife of a tailor, Paler Hensu. The woman died during the Ptolemaic reign in Egypt (305 - 30 BC), but how the 'Liber linteus' found the way to Egypt will probably remain a mystery forever.

The question still remains: why was it so easy for Mihajlo Barić (1791–1859), a low-ranking Croatian official, to purchase a sarcophagus containing a female mummy as a souvenir?

One possibility is that the sarcophagus was bought from grave robbers or antique traders in Alexandria.

Today, this rare literary work is in good hands, and undoubtedly, it represents an invaluable treasure for linguists, historians, and archaeologists specializing in the Etruscan language.

Updated on May 26, 2024

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

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