The Uley Tablets : Roman Curse Tablets from the Temple of Mercury at Uley / Roger S. O. Tomlin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tomlin, Roger, 1943- author.

Series:

Oxford studies in ancient documents.

Oxford Studies in Ancient Documents Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Excavations (Archaeology).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (400 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, England : Oxford University Press, [2024]

Summary:

The Uley Tablets is a new collection of manuscripts from Roman Britain, letters written to a god in the Cotswolds on homemade tablets of lead. They are transcribed, translated, and illustrated by photography and line-drawings, with commentary offering new insights into country life and literacy in Roman Britain.

Contents:

Cover

The Uley TabletsRoman Curse Tablets from the Temple ofMercury at Uley (Gloucestershire)

Copyright

Preface

Contents

Acknowledgements

1. Curse Tablets from Uley and elsewherein Roman Britain

2. The Uley Tablets: Format and Layout

Blank and illiterate tablets

Literate tablets: their outline

Literate tablets: their format

'Paragraphing' and 'heading'

Punctuation

Abbreviation

Corrections

'Encipherment' and reversal

Nailed tablets

3. A Prayer to the God1

The term defixio

The verb defigo

Addressing the god: a 'petition'

Asking' the god for something

or 'complaining'

Prayers for justice

'Giving' to the god: stolen property

'Giving' the thief

The god's duty

Donation

4. Other Formulas Tabulated1

ante dies nouem ('before nine days'), Tab. Sulis 62.3

carta ('page', referring to the tablet)

*concordiam ('concord' with the petitioner or the god)

*conscius ('privy' to the theft, an 'accessory')

domine, domina ('Lord' or 'Lady', vocative), Tab. Sulis 98.6

donec ('until' the stolen property is returned), Tab. Sulis 10.15

dono ('I give' to the god, especially the thief or the stolen property)

exigas ('you are to exact' the stolen property), Tab. Sulis 38.4, 41.3

compare ex{s}igi, 47.2

exactura, 8.3

perexi[g]e, 98.6

fraudem fecit ('has done wrong')

*genius (divine attribute, compare maiestas, numen)

de hospitiolo meo ('from my house' or 'home'), restored in Tab. Sulis 12(i).3

and in 99.2, de hos{i}pitio suo

id est ('that is'), Tab. Sulis 34.3

inueniat ('let (the god) discover' thief or stolen property), Tab. Sulis 36.5, 44.12, 99.4

inuolare ('steal')

maiestas ('majesty': divine attribute, compare genius, numen)

maximo leto adigere ('inflict with the greatest death')

nec . . . nec ('neither . . . nor').

nisi ('unless')

non permittas ('you are not to permit')

(i) 'health' (sanitatem)

(ii) 'sleep' often paired with 'health' but contrasted with 'wakefulness'in 4, 75, and Wanborough

(iii) 'movement' (walking, lying, sitting)

(iv) 'drinking and eating'

(v) 'urination and defecation' (which understandably follow 'drinking' and 'eating')

(vi) 'children'

(vii) 'eyesight'

(viii) 'speech'

(ix) 'sun and moon'

nomen ('name')

numen ('divinity': divine attribute, compare genius, maiestas)8

*pareat ('be evident')

perdidi / perdidit ('I have lost' / '(he) has lost')

queror, conqueror ('I complain')

redemat sanguine suo ('redeem with his own blood')9

*repraesentare ('pay in full')

rogo ('I ask')

sanguine suo ('with his own blood')

si . . . si ('whether . . . or')

(i) si seruus si liber ('whether slave or free') and its variants

(ii) si paganus si miles ('whether soldier or civilian')17

(iii) si uir si femina ('whether man or woman') and its variants

(iv) si puer si puella ('whether boy or girl')

*s(upra)s(criptus) (etc.) ('above-written','aforesaid')

templum or fanum ('the temple')

uindices ('may you take vengeance')

5. Stolen Goods

Tablets not prompted by theft

Tablets prompted by theft

6. Personal Names

(i) Tablets which name the author

(ii) Anonymous tablets

(iii) Intended victims

(iv) Other names listed

Men and women

Rank and status

'Roman' names

'Celtic' names

Uley and Bath

7 Handwriting

Drawing the tablets

The scripts: capital and cursive, ORC and NRC

ORC letter-formsat Uley

ORC letter-formsat Uley, briefly described

Capital letter-formsat Uley

Docilinus and Docilianus

Tabulation of letter-formsat Uley

8. The Name of the God

9. Language and Spelling

Vowels

Consonants

Morphology (etc.).

10. Copying and Other Errors

I. Formulas bungled in various ways

1. Words in formulas mis-speltor garbled

2. Inconsistency in syntax

3. Other errors

II. Errors in non-formulaictext

1. Letter(s) omitted

2. Letter(s) repeated in error

3. Intrusive letter(s) inserted

4. Other errors

5. Errors corrected

11. Authorship

From draft to fair copy

A professional hand?

The evidence of formulas

Possible handbooks

Oral transmission

12. Epigraphic Conventions used in the Texts

Numbering and reference

Cross-reference

Side' and 'face'

Line-numbering

u (vowel) and v (consonant)

Transcript and restored text

Conventions used in transcription

TEXTS

Uley Tablets 1-87

1 Theft of a beast of burden

2 Memorandum from Saturnina

3 Theft of a gold ring

4 Biccus curses a thief

5 Theft of a bridle

6 The first fragment ever found

7 Un-Latintext in 'rustic capitals'

8 Curse against theft in ORC but with NRC heading

9 Theft of a sheep

10 Undeciphered

11 Undeciphered

12 Illegible text pierced by a nail

13 Undeciphered

14 ORC fragment, large but ill-preserved

15 '. . . as soon as possible . . .'

16 A line of letters, perhaps a reversed text

17 Plea for vengeance

18 '. . . unless with his own blood . . .'

19 'Ma . . . Mercury . . .'

20 List of stolen property including clothes

21 35,000 denarii but only one caduceus

22 Fragmentary text prompted by theft

23 . . . ? of barley

24 Theft of a beehive

25 Undeciphered

26 Disorderly capitals and cursive, damaged

27 Illegible fragment

28 Undeciphered text to Mercury Aruerius

29 Undeciphered fragments

30 Fragment of a text in capitals

31 One letter

32 Illegible fragment

33 Two persons named with their parents

34 Theft of a ring.

35 Un-Latintext in cursive

36 Crossing-out

37 NRC fragment enclosing something

38 Undeciphered

39 Long cursive text but unresolved

40 Mercury Arueriacus . . . and his woodlanders?

41 Theft of another sheep

42 Undeciphered

43 Docilinus curses Varianus, Peregrina, and Sabinianus for doing harm to his farm animal

44 Five fragments

45 List of names (?)

46 Undeciphered

47 Complaint to Aruerius of losing silver coins

48 Scraps of formula

49 List of names

50 Theft of one plaque and four rings

51 ?Capitals and cursive

52 Latin formulas against theft in Greek letters

53 '. . . whether man or woman'

54 '. . . has stolen'

55 Theft of the material of a cloak

56 Undeciphered

57 '. . . unless he make good with his own blood'

58 Theft of wool and a jug

59 Spiral text, undeciphered

60 '. . . is given'

61 '. . . I have given'

62 Theft of a cloak, scarf, and cap

63 'I ask . . .'

65 Undeciphered fragment of NRC

66 Irregular capitals

67 Two pseudo-inscriptions

68 Primanus is cursed for theft

69 Undeciphered

70 Tablet re-used

71 To the god Mercury, against a thief

72 Theft of two wheels and four cows (etc.)

73 Small fragment

74 To the god Mercury . . .

75 On the Hill of Aruerius

76 Malice towards beasts of burden

77 quos . . .

78 Reclaiming 100,000 denarii

79 Serenus to the god Mercury

80 Theft of gloves

81 Formulas against theft

82 A 'gift' and a plea for vengeance

83 Theft of wethers

84 Theft of two pewter plates

85 Text in capitals

86 Petronius

87 Undeciphered

Tarlton Tablets

Tarlton Tablets 1-7

Tarlton (1) Theft of three coins

Tarlton (2) Theft of a cloak and hood

Tarlton (3) descriptum

Tarlton (4) descriptum

Tarlton (5) descriptum

Tarlton (6) descriptum

Tarlton (7) descriptum.

APPENDIX: Curse Tablets from Roman Britain

A Brief Bibliography

Tablets by location

Index I: Personal Names

Index II: Gods

Index III: Latin Words

Index IV: Divergent Spellings and Forms

Abbreviations

Bibliography

General Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-198232-6

0-19-288863-3