Title: The Enigmatic Roman Ring That Echoes Tolkien’s Middle-earth Tales
Today marks the opening of a captivating new exhibition at The Vyne, a historical estate now under the stewardship of the National Trust. This exhibition presents a tantalizing theory: the ancient Roman ring on display could have been the muse behind J.R.R. Tolkien’s iconic ring in his beloved works, “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” series.
Dave Green, the property manager at The Vyne, shares that the tale of the ring is woven with more than just its metal. It involves an Iron Age location known as “the Dwarf’s Hill,” a curse directed at the ring’s thief, and a direct connection to Tolkien himself.
Before Tolkien became a household name with the publication of “The Hobbit” in 1937 and the subsequent “Lord of the Rings” trilogy starting in 1954, he was an Oxford professor specializing in Anglo-Saxon studies. He was well-acquainted with the legend of the cursed ring and had delved into research on the topic a full two years prior to beginning “The Hobbit.”
The ring had long been in the possession of the Chute family, whose interests spanned politics, collecting, and antiquarian studies, before The Vyne was handed over to the National Trust in the 1930s. “I was searching for the ring to present to a visitor, and I inadvertently overlooked the display case containing it. That’s when I realized we needed to highlight this remarkable artifact,” Green recounts.
The exhibition, which was put together with assistance from the Tolkien Trust, is just one aspect of the ring’s new legacy at The Vyne. The estate also features a children’s dwarf trail and a newly constructed playground, complete with tunnels and mounds reminiscent of Bilbo Baggins’s own home, Bag End.
The ring’s discovery dates back to 1785, unearthed by a farmer within the confines of Silchester, a Roman site shrouded in mystery. This town thrived before the Roman conquest, was deserted by the 7th century, and has remained uninhabited since. While the exact circumstances of the ring’s discovery are lost to time, it is believed that the farmer sold the unusual 12g gold ring, which was so large it could only fit over a gloved thumb, to the history-enthusiast Chute family. The ring, adorned with an image of a figure wearing a diadem and inscribed with the Latin phrase “Senicianus live well in God,” was certainly a conversation piece.
The narrative took a twist when, a century later and 100 miles away, a curse tablet was uncovered at a Roman site in Lydney, Gloucestershire, also known as the Dwarf’s Hill. The tablet revealed a plea from a Roman named Silvianus to the god Nodens, beseeching the deity to punish the thief Senicianus until his stolen ring was returned to Nodens’s temple.
The connection between the ring and the curse was made by Sir Mortimer Wheeler during his excavation of Lydney. He sought Tolkien’s expertise in 1929 to decipher the unusual name of the god Nodens and also recognized the link between the curse’s named villain and the Chute family’s ring. It appeared that Senicianus had only managed to flee as far as Silchester before losing his ill-gotten gains.
Dr. Lynn Forest-Hill from the Tolkien Society notes that while Tolkien’s inspirations are often thought to be literary, such as the Niebelung legends, the physical existence of the Vyne ring and its associated curse adds a fascinating layer to the story. “Seeing the tangible Vyne ring and its connection to Tolkien through the curse inscription is particularly enthralling,” she says.
Visitors to the exhibition can now see the ring alongside a first edition of “The Hobbit” and a replica of the curse tablet. They are even invited to cast their vote on whether they believe they are gazing upon the very ring that inspired Bilbo’s adventures.
