Founding of Cumae, Italy

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

. . .
could not bring enough horses even for all our Council members, and many of the horses we did bring died, so when the time came that we had to fight the natives, we were forced to do it on foot. What we have learned is that if brave and stout men form close order on foot, advancing together to the sound of the flute, they need fear no horsemen, or indeed anything but another army of men equal in steadfastness to themselves. [Editor's note  this is the earliest known account of the phalanx principle in action; see Hansen, 1989]. The natives tried attacking us on horseback: we held together, kept our spears pointed at them in a line  and the horses shied away from us and ran. They tried fighting on foot from the bushes, firing arrows and slinging stones at us: they picked off a man or two, but shouting out our paian and sounding our battlehymn with the flutes, we marched steadily against them, and forced them to flee, surrender, or die. Why am I telling you this account of our fighting in my remarks on government? I tell you to warn you, because in the nature of things, all the Hellenes will learn this sooner or later  and when they do, no handful of mounted oligarchs will be able to lord it over Chalchi
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Chalchis Eretria, Ischia Hopper, Strategos Commander, Gauls Carthagenian, Asia Minor, Ceres Persephone, Etruscans Gauls, South Etruscan, Poseidon Earthshaker, Scylla Charybdis, chalchis eretria, colony cumae, editor's note, editor's note , note , oracle apollo, established colony, finley 1981, trading post, cumae mainland, kitto 1957, established colony cumae, york penguin books, colony cumae mainland, chalchis eretria hellenes,
Approximate Word count = 3675
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page)