The oldest letters discovered in the area of the SE Alps are short inscriptions of a few Venetic letters cut in bronze weapons and tools dated in Ha A [Hallstatt A] time (12th century BC). It is suggested that they may represent owners' marks. There are several possibilities as to how the knowledge of writing was introduced to this region. Older hypotheses proposed that the knowledge of writing arrived from the Black Sea coast along the Danube-Sava river trade route (the myth of the Argonauts), or that it arrived from the Adriatic basin with the Greek colonization of Northern Adria (Spina, Adria), or that writing was introduced directly from the neighboring Etruscans or from the Greek colony of Massilia. It could also be possible that the Veneti (Enetoi) brought the knowledge of writing together with the metallurgical skills from their old homeland in Asia Minor. A recent theory is that the Venetic writing is a result of continuous evolution from the old Vinca culture.
Venetic inscriptions have been found in Slovenia, Carinthia, Pannonia, Northern Italy and also in the Iberian Peninsula (Oscian-Umbrian alphabet). Later Venetic inscriptions are mostly votive and as epitaphs. The knowledge of writing was limited to only a few high ranking individuals, who mostly wrote on nondurable materials, such as wood, bark, parchment or linen.
The Celtic occupation interrupted the use of Venetic writing only for a few centuries. Venetic inscriptions are found on Celtic silver coins, imitating Greek Massilian drahmas. In the region of the Carnic Alps, Carinthia, Slovenia and partly in NW Pannonia, the Celtic Taurisci minted large silver coins with Venetic inscriptions (70. B.C.).
The Venetic alphabet written from right to left was soon replaced with the Roman alphabet written from the left to right and almost disappeared during the Roman period. It survived as Runes in remote areas. One of the earliest manuscripts in the runic alphabet is the famous Wulfilas Bible from the 4th century A.D. The last remains of the Venetic alphabet are represented by owner's and house marks still in use around Bohinj, Tolmin and other remote alpine settlements in Slovenia.
Brackets [ ] indicate transcriber's clarification.
Page Created: November 2, 2001
Page Updated: November 2, 2001
©Copyright 2001 Gary L. Gorsha
