Here's some context for those who don't have time to do their own research:
Around 500 BC,
Tarchna/Tarchuna was one of many city-states inhabited by
Etruscans – or Rasenna as they called themselves. The Etruscan civilization was past its peak. It still dominated its surroundings, but its sphere of influence was slowly shrinking.
Tinia was the Etruscan god of the sky, and is considered eqivalent to Zeus and Jupiter.
"Quintus liberliganus" is clearly Latin, and the book mummy spoke Latin, but the
Etruscan language was not related to Latin. It wasn't even an Indoeuropean language. It is believed to have been a remnant of one of the language families that were spoken in Europe before the Indoeuropean expansion. Latin was spoken in a small region by the coast, south of the Etruscan-speaking region but still dominated by Etruscans. Rome was a young town in this region. The dominant language of learning and international contacts was Greek.
Etruscan was usually written right to left, as can be seen on the base of the statue of Tinia.
Its alphabet was derived from Greek, and in turn became the basis of the Latin alphabet.
An incidental find:
The longest surviving Etruscan text is preserved because it was recycled as mummy wrappings.
randomlanguage wrote:
Looking at the subtitle of this chapter, Liber legis means"Book of Records," so maybe "Quintus Liberligaus" is a play on "5th Book of Records?"
I rather think I glimpse the root of "lignin", "ligand", "ligature" and others. Let's see ...
"ligō" means "bind", "wrap" or "unite", so it may have connections to book binding, the page of binding, or mummies.
tube_rat wrote:
Is that a deux egg thingy in the krig's hand?
A diagonally striped circle or ellipse was the Krig's symbol in Mokhadun, so that may just be a three-dimensional version of the symbol.