![The Ring of Silvianus, a 4th-century Roman gold ring linked to a curse tablet naming Senicianus [2056×1846]](https://preview.redd.it/b0pv65zux6ih1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=ebbed87f13b62500eec0727d513d98b2f7bdaf68)
The Ring of Silvianus, a 4th-century Roman gold ring linked to a curse tablet naming Senicianus [2056×1846]
The ring was discovered in Hampshire in 1785 and bears the name Senicianus. Around 80 miles away at the Roman Temple of Nodens at Lydney Park, archaeologists found a curse tablet in which a man named Silvianus asked the god Nodens to deny Senicianus good health until a stolen ring was returned.
In 1929, archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler asked J.R.R. Tolkien to examine the name Nodens. That documented connection later led to speculation that the story of the stolen Roman ring and its curse may have influenced Tolkien’s One Ring, although there is no definitive evidence that Tolkien directly used it as a source.
I went deeper into the ring, the curse tablet and Tolkien’s involvement here for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyjISLnafTU