en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nodens?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
1 correction found
associated in a curse with Silvanus (a hunting-god).
The Lydney curse tablet does not associate Nodens with the god Silvanus. It names a man, Silvianus, who says he lost his ring and asks Nodens to punish the thief.
Full reasoning
This sentence appears to confuse Silvanus, the Roman deity, with Silvianus, the human author of the curse tablet.
The standard edition of the inscription (RIB 306) gives the text as “Deuo Nodenti Silvianus anulum perdidit…” and translates it: “To the god Nodens: Silvianus has lost his ring and given half (its value) to Nodens.” In other words, Silvianus is the person making the appeal, not another god paired with Nodens.
A teaching resource from the University of Warwick gives the same sense: “To the god Nodens: Silvianus has lost his ring and promises half its value to Nodens...” Likewise, the National Trust’s page for the Ring of Senicianus quotes the Lydney tablet and again translates it as “To the god Nodens Silvianus has lost his ring...”
So the article’s wording is factually wrong: the curse tablet does not show Nodens being “associated ... with Silvanus”; it shows a man named Silvianus petitioning Nodens over a stolen ring.
3 sources
- RIB 306. Curse upon Senicianus | Roman Inscriptions of Britain
The inscription reads “Deuo Nodenti Silvianus anulum perdidit...” and the translation is: “To the god Nodens: Silvianus has lost his ring and given half (its value) to Nodens.”
- Romano-British Religion | University of Warwick
At Lydney ... another curse tablet was found, which reads: “To the god Nodens: Silvianus has lost his ring and promises half its value to Nodens...”
- Ring of Senicianus 719789 | National Trust Collections
The Lydney tablet reads: “Deuo Nodenti Siluianus ...” which in English reads: “To the god Nodens Silvianus has lost his ring and given half (its value) to Nodens...”