EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is a translation of Text C113B, found on the site of ancient Chalkis, Euboia, by researchers from the American School, Athens. Inscribed on stone, it purports to be an account of the founding of Cumae Italy, in 752 BC.
Unearthed in 1987 but only recently transcribed and translated, it is regarded as most improbable that it could be a modern forgery. The possibility of an ancient forgery, at some date much later than the founding of Cumae, cannot be dismissed; however, it should be noted that both the dialect and the characters are archaic, and the latter are suggestively similar to Roman (Etruscan) letters, which is consistant with current views of the origins of the Roman alphabet (Hopper, 1976: 105). If genuine, it is our earliest surviving Greek document of a historical nature. The site and excavation are described in Proceedings of the Hellenic Institute ...
PHILONIKOS, STRATEGOS OF CUMAE, TO KING AMPHIDAMAS AND THE COUNCIL OF ARCHONS AT CHALKIS, GREETINGS.
This is the true account which I promised to you of the foundation of the new apoikia ["colony," see Finley, 1981: 91],by the Chalcidians and Eretrians, which took place last year, being the first year of the Sixth Olympiad. We have established our colony at Cumae on the mainland of the great Western peninsula [editor's note Italy], directly across from the colony and trading post of Pithekoussai [now Ischia; Hopper, 1976: 89], which was settled several years ago.
While Pithekoussai serves well as a trading post, it is a very small island, and not fertile, so we have established the new colony of Cumae on the mainland itself, so that it can develop with the assistance of the gods into a true polis, with farmers and townsfolk alike, not just a trading post. The colony is located by a bay, which gives shelter from most winds. The region is almost ringed by mountains, including one very high mountain from ...