Roger Simon Ouin Tomlin (born 1943) is a British archaeologist specialising in the translation of Latin text and epigraphy. Tomlin is an Emeritus Fellow of
Wolfson College, Oxford
Wolfson College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with around sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research and ...
.
Early life
Tomlin first studied
Honour Moderations
Honour Moderations (or ''Mods'') are a set of examinations at the University of Oxford at the end of the first part of some degree courses (e.g., Greats or '' Literae Humaniores'').
Honour Moderations candidates have a class awarded (hence the ' ...
(Mods) at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
before continuing onto study ''
Literae humaniores'' (Greats). His college tutor was
Peter Brunt
Peter Astbury Brunt FBA (23 June 19175 November 2005) was a British academic and ancient historian. He was Camden Professor of Ancient History at the University of Oxford from 1970 to 1982. During his career, he lectured at the University of St ...
, the
Camden Professor of Ancient History
The Camden Professorship of Ancient History at the University of Oxford was established in 1622 by English antiquary and historian William Camden, Clarenceux King of Arms, and endowed with the income of the manor of Bexley, becoming the first and ...
.
Career
After graduating Tomlin worked in the US for a couple of years before returning to take up a post at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
teaching Late Roman History. He succeeded Richard Wright as editor of the ''
Roman Inscriptions of Britain
''Roman Inscriptions of Britain'' is a 3-volume corpus of inscriptions found in Britain from the Roman period. It is an important reference work for all scholars of Roman Britain. This monumental work was initiated by Francis J. Haverfield, whose ...
'' project and started working intensively on translating inscriptions.
Tomlin published the first translation of the
curse-tablets from the Roman Baths at ''
Aquae Sulis
Aquae Sulis (Latin for ''Waters of Sulis'') was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is the English city of Bath, Somerset. The Antonine Itinerary register of Roman roads lists the town as ''Aquis Sulis.'' Ptolemy records ...
'' (Bath, UK) in 1988. Tomlin translated the
Bloomberg tablets
The Bloomberg tablets are a collection of 405 preserved wooden tablets that were found at the site of the Bloomberg building in the City of London, financial district of London. Excavations of the site took place between 2010 and 2013, after whi ...
, a collection of 405 wooden tablets inscribed with ink found between 2010 and 2013 during excavations for the Bloomberg building in London. In 2019, a stylus from Roman London was translated by Tomlin; it was found to contain a humorous message to give to someone as a souvenir.
He is a member of the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents.
Awards
Tomlin was elected as a Fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries of London
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...
on 5 May 1976.
In March 2017 he received the
István Hahn
István Hahn (Budapest, 28 March 1913 - Budapest, 26 July 1984), was a Hungarian historianRitoók, Zsigmond. (1997"The contribution of Hungary to international classical scholarship" ''Hungarian Studies'', 12. Retrieved 12 March 2014Archived here. ...
prize and gave an honorary lecture at
Eötvös Loránd University
Eötvös Loránd University ( hu, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, ELTE) is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in Hung ...
.
Tomlin had a ''
Festschrift
In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
'' dedicated to him in 2019, titled "''Litterae Magicae'': Studies in honour of Roger S. O. Tomlin".
Select publications
* 1988. "Tabellae Sulis: Roman Inscribed Tablets of Tin and Lead from the Sacred Spring at Bath", in Cunliffe, B. (ed) ''The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath. II: The Finds from the Sacred Spring'' (Oxford University Committee for Archaeology Monographs 16). Oxford. 56-269.
* 1993. "Votive objects: the inscribed lead tablets" in Woodward, A. and Leach, P. ''The Uley Shrines. Excavation of a ritual complex on West Hill, Uley, Gloucestershire, 1977-79.'' London: English Heritage, 113-130.
* 2004. ''Curse Tablets of Roman Britain.'' Oxford: Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents.
* 2005. (as editor) ''History and Fiction. Six essays celebrating the centernary of Sir Ronald Syme''. London.
* 2005. "Wooden Stilus Tablets from Roman Britain" in ''Images and Artefacts of the Ancient World'', ed. Alan K. Bowman and Michael Brady. British Academy Scholarship Online.
* 2009. ''The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, volume III: Inscriptions on Stone, found or notified between 1 January 1955 and 31 December 2006'' (with Wright, R.P., and Hassall, M.W.C.). Oxford, Oxbow Books.
* 2010. "Cursing a Thief in Iberia and Britain", in Gordon, R. and Marco Simon, F. (eds) ''Magical Practices in the Latin West. Papers from the International Conference held at the University of Zaragoza 30th Sept-1st Oct 2005'' (RGRW 168). Leyden-Boston. Pp. 245–274.
* 2015. "An Epistolary Brick from Lower Moesia" (with Mariya Doncheva). ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' 194, pp. 292–293.
* 2016. ''London's First Voices: Writing tablets from the Bloomberg London excavations 2010-14'' (MOLA Monograph Series 72). London.
Note
References
External links
Roger Tomlin giving a lecture 'Roman London's First Voices' at Gresham College in October 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomlin, Roger
Living people
21st-century archaeologists
20th-century archaeologists
Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London
Fellows of Wolfson College, Oxford
Epigraphers
1943 births