Detail map of Arezzo, Toscana, Italy,Zagreb, Croatia,Alexandria Governorate, Egypt

A: Arezzo, Toscana, Italy, B: Zagreb, Croatia, C: Alexandria Governorate, Egypt

Liber Lenteus Zagrabiensis, the Only Extant Ancient Linen Book and the Longest Etruscan Text

Circa 250 BCE
Lanena knjiga (Liber linteus Zagrebiensis)

Liber linteus Zagrebiensis

Preserved when it was used for mummy wrappings in Ptolemaic Egypt, the Liber Lenteus Zagrabiensis (Linen Book of Zagreb), remains the longest extant Etruscan text and the only extant early book written on linen. Though the complete text remains untranslated because of lack of understanding of the Etruscan language, it is thought to be a ritual calendar. Certain local gods mentioned within the text allow its place of production to be narrowed to a small area in southeast Tuscany near Lake Trasimeno where four major Etruscan cities were located: modern day ArezzoPerugiaChiusi and Cortona.

The manuscript was purchased in Alexandria, Egypt in 1848, and preserved in Zagreb, Croatia since 1867; however it was not recognized as an Etruscan text until 1891.

"The book is laid out in twelve columns from right to left, each one representing a "page". Much of the first three columns are missing, and it is not known where the book begins. Closer to the end of the book the text is almost complete (there is a strip missing that runs the entire length of the book). By the end of the last page the cloth is blank and the selvage is intact, showing the definite end of the book.

"There are 230 lines of text, with 1200 legible words. Black ink has been used for the main text, and red ink for lines and diacritics.

"In use it would have been folded so that one page sat atop another like a codex, rather than being wound along like a scroll. Julius Caesar is said to have folded scrolls in similar accordion fashion while on campaigns" (Wikipedia article on Liber Linteus, accessed 10-17-2014).

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