In 1785 this gold ring was found by a peasant plowing the land. It weighed 12 grams and was quite large in diameter - 25 millimeters, which indicated how it was worn over a glove and most likely on the thumb.
The history of the ring, however, did not end there.
At the beginning of the 19th century, an ancient Roman tablet was found 130 kilometers from the ring, on which a man named Sylvian presented his complaint to the Celtic god Nondens, who was responsible for healing, hunting, sea and dogs. The Roman accused his fellow tribesman Senitsian of stealing his beloved ring and asked the pagan deity to deprive the thief and his relatives of health if he did not return the ring.
Plate.
Already in the 1920s, archaeologists again took up the study of these objects, inviting Professor of Anglo-Saxon Language and Literature at the University of Oxford, John Ronald Ruel Tolkien, as a consultant. This gold Roman ring from the fourth century AD was the prototype for the Ring of Omnipotence.
But when was Senician's ring made? Until recently, it was dated quite widely - II-V centuries. But the authors of the article, published in the magazine Bonner Jahrbucher, managed to clarify the age of the ring.
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The fact is that Senitsian's ring is not the only one of its kind. It belongs to a type called Brancaster (after the place of the first find). A total of 54 such rings were found in Britain. Some of them were found during excavations, some by accident, others were found by amateur treasure hunters. (In the UK, amateur search for artifacts using metal detectors is allowed. On the one hand, this leads to a large number of finds, on the other, it causes serious damage to archaeological sites.)
First of all, the researchers paid attention to the material: most of the Brancaster rings are made of silver, and only some (like the “ring of Omnipotence”) are made of gold. This is how they differ from the bulk of the rings of the Roman period, which were often made of bronze. And the later ones, Anglo-Saxon, are much simpler in form.
The second thing that helped to clarify the age of the ring is the engraving. Brancaster rings are seals with pictures or text on rectangular or square shields. They have portraits of emperors, soldiers, and lovers. There are also images of dolphins or ancient mythical creatures (for example, griffins). All of this points to Roman times.
On the other hand, there is a Christian connotation in a number of engravings. So, on the shield of one of the rings, a dove is depicted holding an olive branch - a clear reference to the biblical legend about Noah's ark. Consequently, the rings witnessed the widespread spread of Christianity, and this could not have happened before 313, when the emperors Constantine and Licinius equalized all religions in rights.
In addition, some of the rings were found along with silver Roman coins, which were trimmed at the edges, which is typical of the 5th century. According to researchers, all this - material, engraving plots and coins - is enough to narrow the date of manufacture of Brancaster rings to the end of the 4th – 5th centuries AD. e.
Rings were used as seals - with the help of wax, prints were put on letters and other documents, they also sealed important things, for example, when moving. Therefore, the owners of the rings were literate, dealt with documents and did not suffer from poverty (remember that the seals were made of silver and gold). Such rings were probably worn by representatives of the elite of British society.
