Editing Sulis (section)

=== Inscribed tablets ===
{{Main|Bath curse tablets}}
About 130 [[curse tablets]], mostly addressed to Sulis, have been found in the [[sacred spring]] at the Roman baths in Bath.<ref name= Wilson>{{cite book |title=A guide to the Roman remains in Britain|last=Wilson |first=Roger  |year=1988 |isbn=0094686807 |page=109|publisher=Constable }}</ref> Typically, the text on the tablets offered to Sulis relates to theft; for example, of small amounts of money or clothing from the bath-house. It is evident, from the localized style of Latin ("[[British Latin]]") used, that a high proportion of the tablets came from the native population.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Adams|first=J. N.|year=1992|title=British Latin: The Text, Interpretation and Language of the Bath Curse Tablets|journal=Britannia|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=93|pages=1–26|doi=10.2307/526102|jstor=526102|s2cid=163388305 }}</ref> In formulaic, often legalistic, language, the tablets appeal to the goddess Sulis to punish the known or unknown perpetrators of the crime until reparations are made. Sulis is typically requested to impair the physical and mental well-being of the perpetrator, by the denial of sleep, causing normal bodily functions to cease, or even by death. These afflictions are to cease only when the property is returned to the owner or disposed of as the owner wishes, often by its being dedicated to the goddess.<ref>Cf. {{cite book |title=Bathing in Public in the Roman World |last=Fagan |first=Garrett G. |year=2002 |isbn=0472088653 |page=37|publisher=University of Michigan Press }}, {{cite book |title= Curse tablets and binding spells from the ancient world|last=Gager |first=John G.  |year=1999 |isbn=0195134826|pages=194–195|publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref> One message found on a tablet in the Temple at Bath (once decoded) reads: "Docimedis has lost two gloves and asks that the thief responsible should lose their minds [''sic''] and eyes in the goddess' temple."<ref>{{cite book |title=Tabellae Sulis: Roman inscribed tablets of tin and lead from the sacred spring at Bath |last=Tomlin |first=Roger |year=1988 |isbn=0947816003 |pages=114–115|publisher=Oxford University Committee for Archaeology }}</ref>

[[File:RIB155Bath.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Latin epitaph of Gaius Calpurnius, a priest of Sulis at Bath, who died at the age of 75 and was commemorated by his wife, a freedwoman<ref>{{CIL|7|53}} = ''RIB'' 155.</ref>]]
The tablets were often written in code, by means of letters or words being written backwards; word order may be reversed and lines may be written in alternating directions, from left to right and then right to left ([[boustrophedon]]). While most texts from Roman Britain are in Latin, two scripts found here, written on [[pewter]] sheets, are in an unknown language which may be [[Common Brittonic|Brythonic]]. If so, they would be the only examples of writing in this language ever found.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Tomlin|first=Roger|year=1987|title=Was Ancient British Celtic Ever a Written Language?|journal=Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies|publisher=University of Wales|issue=34|pages=18–35|issn=0142-3363}}</ref>

The only dated tablet of the collection is Bath tablet 94, though no year is given alongside the day and month.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Tomlin|first=RSO|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1143479195|title=Britannia Romana : Roman Inscriptions and Roman Britain.|date=2020|publisher=OXBOW Books|isbn=978-1-78925-548-5|location=Oxford, United Kingdom|pages=335|oclc=1143479195|access-date=21 February 2021|archive-date=29 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429024609/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1143479195|url-status=live}}</ref> This can be inferred, however, by comparison to handwriting used on other tablets, which range from the 'Old Roman cursive' of the second and third centuries CE to the 'New Roman cursive' of the fourth century CE.<ref name=":0" /> As argued by Tomlin in his 2020 publication, this shows the popularity of the inscriptions, and therefore the likely belief in their efficacy, for at least two centuries.<ref name=":0" />