Pyrgi Tablets – 3D Archaeological Reconstruction
Discovered in 1964 at ancient Pyrgi, the harbor of Caere on the Tyrrhenian coast of Lazio, the Pyrgi Tablets are three thin gold plates (c. 500 BC) inscribed with a bilingual dedicatory text in Phoenician and Etruscan. These are among the oldest historical documents from pre‑Roman Italy and preserve a rare parallel text in both languages, making them crucial for the study of Etruscan through the better‑known Phoenician.
The inscriptions record a dedication by Thefarie Velianas, ruler of Caere, of a temple to the Phoenician goddess Astarte, identified with the Etruscan goddess Uni, and likely connect to wider Phoenician–Punic influence and early Carthaginian involvement in central Italy. The original tablets, now preserved at the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome, measure roughly 9 × 19 cm and are incised on very thin sheets of gold.
has been digitally sculpted to reproduce the plates’ proportions, bending, nail holes, and the delicate layout of both the Phoenician and Etruscan inscriptions, making it ideal for:
- Digital and printed replicas for museum‑style displays and teaching
- Epigraphic study and visual comparison of Phoenician and Etruscan scripts
- Historical visualization projects on the interaction between Etruscans, Phoenicians, and early Rome
While you wait to see the originals in Rome, you can explore these remarkable gold texts in your own hands through a faithful 3D model ready for printing and digital archaeology projects.
Phoenician tablet (KAI 277, Tablet C) – opens with the dedication:
𐤋𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤋𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕 lrbt lʻštrt – “For the Lady, for Astarte.”
It then names Thefarie Velianas, king of Caere, as the one who “made and gave” the sanctuary.
Etruscan tablet A – dedicatory formula to Uni:
Contains the theonym Uni and the name Thefarie Velianas, stating that he dedicated the temple/sanctuary and specifying the circumstances and time frame of the offering.
Etruscan tablet B – parallel dedicatory and ritual details:
Repeats the royal name and the goddess, and adds phrases about offerings, years, and magistracies, elaborating on how and when the dedication is to be remembered.
