Bronce celtibérico en alfabeto latino de Igedankom, Complutum, Alcalá de Henares (Madrid). Un avance

Abstract

This paper present a preliminary edition and study of a Celtiberian bronze inscription written in the Latin alphabet. The object became known under the name “Bronze of Meditón” on the basis of a poor-quality photograph published online. The present work improves the previously published reading of the inscription at several important points.

The question of its authenticity is briefly addressed, after which we move on to a general interpretation of the epigraph, without dwelling on detailed explanations, which are reserved for a future complete edition and study.

The text records a pact of hospitality between an individual and a city, whereby the latter (the Carpetanian Igedankom, later Roman Complutum) grants civic rights to a Termestine (from Tarmeskom, present-day Tiermes in Soria) named Medittos. The decision of the city is carried out by certain “magistrates” or “curators” mentioned at the end of the inscription.

This interpretation is based on treating the form Medittu in the first line of the bronze as an oblique case of the name Medittos, and therefore as the beneficiary of the action, with the implications this entails for the analysis of other forms.

In sum, this is a Celtiberian epigraph of great importance owing to the length of the text (nine lines with thirty-two words, plus one abbreviation), its relatively good state of preservation, the use of the Latin alphabet—which secures the phonetic interpretation of a considerable number of words—the advanced stage of the language, and the presence of certain grammatical forms and categories hitherto unknown.