OBJECT FILE
The Lydney curse tablet (RIB 306)
FOLLOWLydney Park (museum in the house; open on set days), Lydney, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
THE OBJECT
A lead plate, 64 × 79 mm, found in or before 1817 at the Romano-British temple of Nodens at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, and kept at Lydney Park, whose house holds a small museum of finds from the site. Mortimer and Tessa Wheeler excavated the site in 1928–29; their report carries an appendix by J. R. R. Tolkien on the name Nodens.
REPORTED ACTIVITY
The text, in the RIB translation: 'To the god Nodens: Silvianus has lost his ring and given half (its value) to Nodens. Among those who are called Senicianus do not allow health until he brings it to the temple of Nodens.' A faint word added at the top, probably REDIVIVA ('renewed'), suggests the curse was refreshed. It is one half of the Vyne Ring story; the National Trust thinks the two are probably unconnected.
WHERE IT IS NOW
On public display — kept by Lydney Park estate. Lydney Park (museum in the house; open on set days), Lydney, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom.
PROVENANCE · 1 ENTRY
TRACE ON THE MAP →1817 — CURRENT LOCATION
The owners of Lydney Park (Bathurst family, later Viscounts Bledisloe)
Lydney Park, Lydney, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
1817 is the latest possible find date; the tablet has stayed on the estate where it was found.
Source: Roman Inscriptions of Britain, RIB 306 (find date 'In, or before, 1817'; 'Now at Lydney Park, Glos.'); Bathurst, Roman Antiquities at Lydney Park (1879)
PERSONAL ACCOUNTS · 0
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