The San Francisco call., 1908-12-27
HFMPL CHANGES
THE HISTORY OF
ANCIENT ITALY
Stanford Professor Solves the
Mysterious Symbols of
the Etruseans
Inscriptions That Puzzled. the
Scientists for Centuries
Read at Last
Discoveries That Mean EnOr=
nous Changes in Views on
Rome and Greece
Especial Dispatch 10 The Call


STANFORD UNIVERSITY, Dec. 26.-
The manners and customs of the an
cient Etruscans. their history and their
relation to the Romans, 80 long mys-
terious to historians have at last been
solved by DR.. George Hempl who holds
the chair of Germanic philoIogy at
Stanford university. For centuries
scientists have worked to read the
Etruscan inscriptions and failed, and
because they have failed little is known
today of the people who lived in upper
italy ages ago. In a single night Dr.
Hempl succeeded in finding the key to
the mysterious symbols, and to a small
gathering OF the Stanford pathological
association this noted scholar today
outlined his discovery and told what
effect it would have upon the scien-
tiic world.
Sprang From Trojans
The educators who attended the
meeting and heard the lecture are
generally of the opinion that DR..
Hempls discovery is of great import
ance and far reaching in it's results.
1t will make necessary complete
change in the present historical view
of ancient Italy and will elucidate
many disputed facts of Latin gram
mar and etymology. Probably its
greatest effect will be in overturning
the generally accepted idea that the
Etruscans and Romans We're different
peoples DIR. Hempl, by means OF
charts, today proved conclusively that
the Roman and the Etruscan languages
were similar in all their important
features, drawing the conclusion that
the people sprang from the same race,
that of the Trojans.
The work so brilliantly begun by
the stanford professor win be long and
80 have been deciphered. DR.. IIempl
I intends TO complete his task, however,
and when it is done the world will
know much that is now sealed book
DIR. HempI Finds CIew
In his lecture this afternoon DR..
HempI gave these facts:
Ancient italy was occupied by vari-
Gus peoples speaking various languages.
There were Greeks in the south, Celts
in the north and Italic tribes in all
parts of the peninsula. The latter fall
into two groups-the Latin Faliscan,
spoken in and near Latium, and the
Oscan- -Umbrian, spoken in large part
of Italy Aside from these are the
Etruscans, just north of the Romans;
the veneti in the .neighborhood of Ven
| ice; the people in eastern italy, who
spoke what is called Old Sabellic. and
minor tribes But the inscriptions left
/ by all these last named peoples have
always baffied the ingenuity of scholars.
For many years DR.. Hempl has been
engaged in deciphering the ancient
Germanic. inscriptions written in letters
called runes Not long ago he was
able to prove that one group of these
inscriptions We're Burgundian and thus
to furnish information as to great
Germanic language of which we hither-
to knew nothing.
Closely Akin to Latin
Professor Hempl long ago observed
the letters used in the unread Venetic
and Sabellic inscriptions found in Italy
This led him last fall to examine those
Inscriptions more carefully. The re-
suit was that he succeeded in reading
them and thus brought to light two
hitherto unknown Italic languages sim
liar to Umbrian and Oscan. When he
reported this matter at the meeting
of the Pathological Association of the
Pacific Coast at it's meeting in San
Francisco at Thanksgiving time, he was
urged to try his hand at solving the
ber 4 and found the language closely
akin TO Latin.
This discovery, though in it's nature
not different from the solving of the
venetic and Sabellic inscriptions. is a
matter of far greater Importance. The
Etruscans were. from 700 to 500 B. c..
the most powerful and civilized people
in Italy. They introduced the arts and
scieifces, as well as the religion of
Greece and were the means of spread
ing civilization all over the northern
and western world. They left behind
them countless works of art and engi-
neering and more than 5000 inscrip
tions.
Remained Sealed Book
These have hitherto remained a
sealed book and the world has thus
continued in ignorance of the language.
the race and the origin OF this remark
able people. The Etruscan question
has thus been the standing riddle of