Un Osco a Solunto. Una nota sul cosiddetto «oscillum» di Solunto

Abstract

A terracotta disk with two holes for suspension and an enigmatic inscription in Punic and
Greek was found during the excavation of the city of Solunto in 1965. Scholars immediately
interpreted the object as an «oscillum», a votive disk for a dead person or an unknown local god.
The edition of a tabella defixionis from Laos with a list of Oscan personal names, allows to
properly read the inscription and to suggest a more secular interpretation of the disk. It was
probably a seal of the Oscan Φαδις, written in Punic and Greek, used for commercial or
administrative purposes.