A mysterious Roman ring’s story that deserves to become a novel…
Or, maybe, it has become a novel! This enigmatic Roman gold ring was found in a plowed field near Silchester in 1785. The square bezel has a portrait of the pagan goddess Venus, inscribed backward SUNEV for use as a signet ring by the owner. Curiously, around the ten-sided ring is crudely inscribed the identity of a later Christian owner, "Senicianus" who, it proclaims with spelling errors, "lives in god" (vivas in deo) - a ring passing from pagan to Christian hands was certainly possible in the 4th century CE. The plot thickens when, at a temple to the mysterious British god “Nodens” 80 miles away in Lydney, Gloucestershire, a lead curse tablet (defixio) was later discovered. On the tablet, a man named “Silvianus” complains that his gold ring was stolen and he suspects “Senicianus” was the culprit! the temple of Nodens, image from Nodens - Wikipedia The defixio, image from The Roman Preciousss on display at The Vyne The inscription on the tablet ...