Praenestine fibula

Hello, everyone!

I have been a silent reader on the list for awhile, since first
joining this spring. In fact, I've been on sabbatical from my
university and busy with research in my own field (physics and
mathematics). However, I have continued to read daily the many
very interesting postings here.

Recently, I found some information about a matter I first raised
on the list when I wrote this spring: the apparent forgery of the
Praenestine fibula, with its inscription "Manios med fhefhaked
Numasioi". Two postings on other groups addressed this matter.
I'll quote here from two messages I read.

First:

> There are significant grounds for thinking that it is fraudulent.
> The first suspicions were philological, but microscopic examination
> showed that the letters had been incised far more recently than the
> age of the fibula itself. (I think it involved amount of corrosion
> and patina and such.)
>
> There's a summary in Gordon's "Introduction to Latin Epigraphy",
> with references to the primary literature (Eric Hamp made a major
> contribution to the discussion).

Second:

> The Praenestine fibula has, in fact, been shown to be a 19th
> century forgery. I once heard the late Arthur Gordon give a talk
> to that effect. Cf. Larissa Bonfante in her introduction to
> _Etruscan Life and Afterlife: A Handbook of Etruscan Studies_
> (ed. Larissa Bonfante, Detroit, 1986), p 4:
>
> The famous Praenestine fibula, which has for a century been
> honored as bearing the earliest Latin inscription and the best
> example of archaic Latin, "Manios med vhevhaked" ("Manius made
> me"), is now supposed by many to have been forged in collusion
> with learned scholars who conspired to pass it off as genuine.
>
> Citations: A.E. Gordon, _The Inscribed Fibula Praenestina:
> Problems of Authenticity_ (Berkeley and Los Angeles 1975);
> D. Ridgway, "Manios Faked?" _BICS_ 24 (1977) 17-30; M. Guarducci,
> _MemLinc_ 24 (1980) 415-574.

I hope people find this useful. I am leaving for my family Xmas
celebration in the midwest of the US. I hope that all the list
members will have happy holidays (Yuletide, Hannukah, pagan
winterfest, etc.)!

Best - Gregory