R. S. O. Tomlin is an epigrapher specializing in Roman Britain, and this Oxford University Committee for Archaeology volume is his scholarly edition of the curse tablets, the tabellae Sulis, recovered from the sacred spring dedicated to Sulis Minerva at Bath. Its strength is direct epigraphic expertise, Tomlin transcribed and translated the inscribed tin and lead tablets, many scratched in a cursive hand that is genuinely difficult to read, giving scholars reliable access to this body of everyday Roman religious petition rather than a secondhand paraphrase. Its limit is that it documents this one specific votive corpus from this one site, so a claim about Roman curse tablet practice more broadly, at a different shrine or in a different province, needs a source addressing that separate body of material.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
A scholarly critical edition of the Roman curse tablets recovered from the sacred spring at Bath. NotesTomlin's scholarly edition of the Roman curse tablets recovered from the sacred spring at Bath.
Citation
AuthorR. S. O. Tomlin
PublisherOxford University Committee for Archaeology
Publication Year1988
Source TypeCritical edition
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Minerva directly: "the sacred spring dedicated to Sulis Minerva at Bath."
Sulis, Deities This source names Sulis directly: "of the curse tablets, the tabellae Sulis, recovered from the sacred spring dedicated to Sulis Minerva at Bath."
Claims Backed By This Source (40 claims)
This source backs 40 claims across the atlas. As facts: 32 well-attested. As cited relationships: 4 holds. Plus 4 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sacred Sites, 11 claims: 9 well-attested, 1 holds, 1 general references.
- Incantations, Spells & Curses, 10 claims: 8 well-attested, 1 holds, 1 general references.
- Sources, 9 claims: 7 well-attested, 2 holds.
- Articles, 5 claims: 5 well-attested.
- Subcategories, 4 claims: 3 well-attested, 1 general references.
- Empires & Polities, 1 claims: 1 general references.
Well-attested
32Incantations, Spells & Curses
Holds
4Incantations, Spells & Curses
General References
4Incantations, Spells & Curses
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