Was this 'cursed' Roman ring JRR Tolkien's inspiration for The Hobbit?

[Neil]

By Rob Cooper

A 'cursed' Roman ring that was dug up by a farmer is believed to have been the inspiration behind JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit.

The piece of gold jewellery was discovered close to the Roman town of Silchester, Hampshire, in 1785. The celebrated author was called in to investigate the incredible story of the ring's past just two years before his famous novel was published.

The tale of this 'cursed' Roman ring discovered in a field by a farmer in Silchester, Hampshire, in 1785, may have inspired JRR Tolkien to write The Hobbit
The story of the jewellery's unlikely link to the 20th century author is told in a new exhibition opened at The Vyne, a National Trust-owned property in Hampshire.

It is thought it was unearthed by a farmer ploughing his field close to the Roman town in the 18th century. Historians believe the large 12g gold ring once belonged to a Roman called Silvianus but he put a curse on it after it was stolen.
 

It is so large that it will only fit on the finger of a gloved hand. It has a Latin inscription which says 'Senicianus live well in God'.

JRR Tolkien, who was an Oxford University professor with expertise in Anglo-Saxon history, is thought to have drawn inspiration from the tale when he started work on The Hobbit.
 

The book, which has a ring at the centre of the plot, was published in 1937 and was well-received by critics. The novel, which was turned into a film last year, was the precursor for the Lord of the Ring trilogy.

After the ring was discovered in a field it is thought to have been sold to the Chute family who owned The Vyne for centuries before it passed into the hands of The National Trust in the 1930s.

It was several decades after the farmer found it before the curse was discovered on a tablet in Lydney, Gloucestershire, more than 100 miles away.

The victim, Silvianus, knew the thief responsible and called on the god Nodens to strike him down.

The great archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler, the director of later excavations at Lydney, realised the connection between the ring and the curse tablet, and in 1929 asked JRR Tolkien to work on the etymology of the name Nodens.

The tablet says: 'Among those who bear the name of Senicianus to none grant health until he bring back the ring to the temple of Nodens.'
Senicianus apparently only got as far as the field in Silchester when he abandoned the ring.

For many years, the ring, with an image of the goddess Venus, lay almost forgotten in a corner of the Library at The Vyne.

The new exhibition explores whether the book inspired Tolkien to write the Lord of the Rings. It also contains memorabilia from The Tolkien Society's own archive, and a first edition copy of the book signed by the author.
Dave Green, manager of The Vyne, said they wanted to tell the public the remarkable tale of the ring.
'I was looking for the ring to show a visitor, and I walked right past the case with it – that's when I decided we really had to make more of this amazing thing,' he told The Guardian.
 

Dr Lynn Forest-Hill, Education Officer for the Tolkien Society: 'The influences most often cited for Tolkien’s creation of The One Ring usually take the form of literary or legendary rings such as the Ring of the Niebelungs, or the old king’s ring in the 14th century story of Bevis of Hampton.

'It is, then, particularly fascinating to see the physical evidence of the Vyne Ring, with its links to Tolkien through the inscription associating it with a curse.

'It is well known that in 1929 Tolkien worked on the etymology of the name Nodens mentioned on a Roman curse stone.

'Significantly, in the context of his non-academic writing, he would have read the Latin inscription on the curse tablet: Deuo Nodenti Silvianus anilum perdidit …. inter quibus nomen Seniciani nollis permittas sanitatem perfera [t] translated as: To the god Nodens: Silvianus has lost a ring….among those who bear the name Senicianus to none grant health.”

[dances with badgers]

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[legio11augustus]

wow , great read