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Capestrano Warrior
A symbol of Abruzzi and its identity
Capestrano Warrior was accidentally discovered in summer 1934 during the works in a vineyard, downstream the town it has been named after. The statue was sculpted by Aninis. The character it represents, Naevius Pompuledius, is a man armed with sword, knife, a couple of spears and disc-armor, probably dating back to the 4th-5th century BC.
The inscription on the pillar tells us that Naevius Pompuledius was one of the last kings of the people of Abruzzi. The sculpture has been obtained from one only block of calcareous stone and is 209cm high, except the base. The head covering, very wide, is an hemisphere-shaped crown fixed in the middle. The face features are stylized for someone, while for others are a protective or funerary mask. Near the heart, a couple of discs, the so-called Kardiophilakes, protect chest and back. The waist is wrapped up with a large belt divided into five strips.
The military equipment consists of: a long sword with handle decorated with a double line of human figures, cross hilt, and a scabbard with the representation of a couple of quadrupeds; a knife overlapping the sword; an axe whose very long handle recalls a scepter. The shinbones were probably protected by greaves, and the feet by shoes and straps under the malleoli. The inscription is written vertically on one line, to read from the bottom to the top, with a Sabellic language similar to the one of the stele in Penna S. Andrea and very similar to the Osco-Umbrian languages.