Petelia Gold Tablet
The Petelia Gold Tablet or Petelia Tablet is an Orphic inscription or Totenpass that was found near the ancient city of Petelia, southern Italy in the early nineteenth century. Since 1843, the original has been kept in the British Museum.
Discovery
In the 1830s, an inscribed gold tablet was unearthed at the ancient Greek site of Petelia near Strongoli in Calabria. Little is known of the circumstances of the find nor of its provenance subsequent to the find, before it was acquired by the British Museum from the archaeologist and collector James Millingen in 1843.Description
The small gold tablet is inscribed in ancient Greek with an Orphic saying and dates from between 300 and 200 BC. The gold case and chain designed to hold it is much later in manufacture, having been made over 400 years later during Roman times. The ancient Thracian prophet Orpheus, who was often represented as a musician or poet, founded a cult that promised a happy afterlife to the initiated. Many of his temples or shrines were considered oracles by his devotees. The Petelia Gold Tablet probably came from one of his shrines in southern Italy and demonstrates the widespread distribution of Οrphism in antiquity.Translation of the inscription
- ΕΥΡΗΣΣΕΙΣΔΑΙΔΑΟΔΟΜΩΝΕΠΑΡΙΣΤΕΡΑΚΡΗΝ
- ΗΝΠΑΡΔΑΥΤΗΙΛΕΥΚΗΝΕΣΤΗΚΥΙΑΝΚΥΠΑΡΙΣΣΟΝ
- ΤΑΥΤΗΣΤΗΣΚΡΗΝΗΣΜΗΔΕΣΧΕΔΟΝΕΜΠΕΛΑΣΕΙΑΣ
- ΕΥΡΕΗΣΕΙΣΔΕΤΕΡΑΝΤΗΣΜΝΗΜΟΣΥΝΗΣΑΠΟΛΙΜΝΗΣ
- ΨΥΧΡΟΝΥΔΩΡΠΡΟΡΕΟΝΦΥΛΑΚΕΣΔΕΠΙΠΡΟΣΘΕΝΕΑΣΙΝ
- ΕΙΠΕΙΝΓΗΣΠΑΙΣΕΙΜΙΚΑΙΟΥΡΑΝΟΥΑΣΤΕΡΟΕΝΤΟΣΑΥΤΑΡΕΜ
- ΟΙΓΕΝΟΣΟΥΡΑΝΙΟΝΤΟΔΕΔΙΣΤΕΚΑΙΑΥΤΟΙΔΙΨΗΙΔΕΙΜΙΑΥ
- ΗΚΑΙΑΠΟΛΛΥΜΑΙΑΛΛΑΔΟΤΑΙΨΑΨΥΧΡΟΝΥΔΩΡΠΡΟΡΕ
- ΟΝΤΗΣΜΝΗΜΟΣΥΝΗΣΑΠΟΛΙΜΝΗΣΚΑΥΤΣΙΔΩΣΟΥΣΙ
- ΠΙΕΙΝΘΕΙΗΣΑΠΝΗΣΚΑΙΤΟΤΕΠΕΙΤΑΗΡΩΕ
- ΣΣΙΝΑΝΑΞΕΙΝΗΣΤΟΔΕΙ̣ΟΔΕΓΡΑ σι δώσουσι πιεῖν θείηϛ ἀπνηϛ,
- καὶ τότ ἔπειτα ἡρώεσσιν ἀνάξει.
- νης τόδε θανεῖσθ τόδε γραψry: death
- ::] write this the darkness folding within it.