Source

Tabellae Sulis: Roman Inscribed Tablets of Tin and Lead from the Sacred Spring at Bath

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 Tier

A scholarly critical edition of the Roman curse tablets recovered from the sacred spring at Bath.

Notes

Tomlin's scholarly edition of the Roman curse tablets recovered from the sacred spring at Bath.

Citation

Author

R. S. O. Tomlin

Publisher

Oxford University Committee for Archaeology

Publication Year

1988

Source Type

Critical edition

Connections

Associated With

Minerva

This source names Minerva directly: "the sacred spring dedicated to Sulis Minerva at Bath."

Source Tabellae Sulis: Roman Inscribed Tablets of Tin and Lead from the Sacred Spring at BathR. S. O. Tomlin

Sulis

This source names Sulis directly: "of the curse tablets, the tabellae Sulis, recovered from the sacred spring dedicated to Sulis Minerva at Bath."

Source Tabellae Sulis: Roman Inscribed Tablets of Tin and Lead from the Sacred Spring at BathR. S. O. Tomlin

Claims Backed By This Source (45 claims)

This source backs 45 claims across the atlas. As facts: 34 well-attested. As cited relationships: 6 holds. Plus 5 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.

Disposition By Topic

Sacred Sites, 13 claims: 9 well-attested, 3 holds, 1 general references.
Incantations, Spells & Curses, 11 claims: 9 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.
Deities, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
Empires & Polities, 1 claims: 1 general references.