The Uley Tablets by Roger S O Tomlin
The Uley Tablets is the first full publication of the eighty Roman lead writing-tablets found in the excavation of a Romano-British temple in the Cotswolds, the temple of the god Mercury at Uley, Gloucestershire, together with two from the nearby site of Tarlton. Like those found in the hot spring at Bath, they are 'curse tablets', so called because they seek divine intervention against the writer's enemies, who are mostly thieves unknown. They complain of farm animals being stolen or bewitched, even a stolen beehive (the first document of bee-keeping in Britain), the theft of clothing such as gloves, cloaks and gaiters, woman's underwear, the theft of rings and sums of money ranging from two 'mites' to a hundred thousand denarii. In formalised language they ask the god to recover their property and punish the thieves with ill health or the 'greatest death'. These tablets are the richest collection of manuscripts from the countryside of Roman Britain, unique as a written witness to the social and economic history of the province since they were not found in the usual urban or military context. They are a major new source for studying the language, whether written or spoken, of the civil population. The Uley Tablets provide a practical lesson in how to decipher Roman handwriting, and in this volume, they are transcribed and translated with detailed commentary, each inscribed face illustrated with a photograph and line-drawing. These texts are preceded by eleven introductory chapters which outline their context and content, the way in which the god was approached, the language and handwriting employed, and the implications for the study of literacy in Roman Britain. The Uley Tablets offer a vivid contribution to ancient history with a disturbing modern echo.-
Corpus of Ptolemaic Inscriptions: Volume 1, Alexandria and the Delta (Nos. 1-206)
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Asia Minor and the Third Century CE
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Proxeny and Polis
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Scribal Repertoires in Egypt from the New Kingdom to the Early Islamic Period
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Arsama and his World: The Bodleian Letters in Context
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Image to Interpretation
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Spirits of the Dead
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Petitions, Litigation, and Social Control in Roman Egypt
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Ancient Archives and Archival Traditions
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The Epigraphy of Ptolemaic Egypt
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Corpus of Ptolemaic Inscriptions
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Greek Personal Names in Egypt
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The Use of Documents in Pharaonic Egypt
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The Early Greek Alphabets
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Latinization, Local Languages, and Literacies in the Roman West
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The Customs Law of Asia
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The Greek Theatre and Festivals
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Social Factors in the Latinization of the Roman West
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Languages and Communities in the Late-Roman and Post-Imperial Western Provinces
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Teos and Abdera
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The Material Dynamics of Festivals in the Graeco-Roman East
Roger S. O. Tomlin studied at Oxford where he was awarded a DPhil for his work on the Emperor Valentinian I (364-375). He taught Roman History at Cornell University, the University of Kent at Canterbury, and Durham University, before returning to Wolfson College, Oxford as University Lecturer in Late-Roman History. He retired in 2010, but has continued to be Editor of the Roman Inscriptions of Britain.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780192888624 |
| ISBN 10 | 0192888625 |
| Title | The Uley Tablets |
| Author | Roger S O Tomlin |
| Series | Oxford Studies In Ancient Documents |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 2024-10-24 |
| Number of pages | 400 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |