Editing Celebrimbor (section)

== Real-world origins ==

{{further|Nodens|Ring of Silvianus}}

In 1928, a 4th-century pagan cult temple was [[Archaeology|excavated]] at [[Lydney Park]], Gloucestershire.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=40–41}} Tolkien was asked to investigate a [[Latin]] inscription there: "For the god [[Nodens]]. [[Ring of Silvianus|Silvianus has lost a ring]] and has donated one-half [its worth] to Nodens. Among those who are called Senicianus do not allow health until he brings it to the temple of Nodens."<ref>{{cite web |last=Vanderbilt |first=Scott |title=RIB 306. Curse upon Senicianus |website=Roman Inscriptions of Britain website |url=https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/306  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220130/https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/306  |archive-date=2022-01-30 |url-status=live|access-date=17 February 2020}}{{cbignore}} funded by the [[European Research Council]] via the [https://latinnow.eu/ LatinNow project]</ref> An old name for the place was Dwarf's Hill, and in 1932 Tolkien, a professional [[philologist]], traced Nodens to the Irish hero ''[[Nuada Airgetlám]]'', "Nuada of the Silver-Hand".<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1932}}</ref>{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=40–43}}

The Tolkien scholar [[Tom Shippey]] thought this "a pivotal influence" on Tolkien's Middle-earth, combining as it did a god-hero, a ring, dwarves, and a silver hand.<ref name="Anger 2013"/> ''[[The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]]'' states that Mathew Lyons noted the "Hobbit-like appearance of [Dwarf's Hill]'s mine-shaft holes", and that Tolkien was, according to the Lydney curator Sylvia Jones, extremely interested in the hill's folklore on his stay there.<ref name="Anger 2013"/><ref name="Lyons 2004">{{cite book |last=Lyons |first=Mathew |title=There and Back Again: In the Footsteps of J. R. R. Tolkien |date=2004 |publisher=[[Cadogan Guides]] |location=London |isbn=978-1860111396 |page=63}}</ref> It adds that Helen Armstrong commented that the place inspired "Celebrimbor and the fallen realms of [[Moria (Middle-earth)|Moria]] and [[Eregion]]".<ref name="Anger 2013">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Anger |first=Don N. |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |title=Report on the Excavation of the Prehistoric, Roman and Post-Roman Site in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire |encyclopedia=[[The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1 |pages=563–564}}</ref><ref name="Armstrong 1997">{{cite journal |last=Armstrong |first=Helen |title=And Have an Eye to That Dwarf |journal=Amon Hen: The Bulletin of the Tolkien Society |date=May 1997 |issue=145 |pages=13–14}}</ref> The scholar of English literature John M. Bowers notes that Celebrimbor is the Sindarin for "Silver Hand", and that "because the place was known locally as Dwarf's Hill and honeycombed with abandoned mines, it naturally suggested itself as background for the [[Lonely Mountain]] and the Mines of Moria."<ref name="Bowers 2019">{{cite book |last=Bowers |first=John M. |title=Tolkien's Lost Chaucer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eGOtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 |date=2019 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-884267-5 |pages=131–132}}</ref>

{| style="margin: 1em auto;"
| [[File:Roman Temple - geograph.org.uk - 1318760.jpg|thumb|375px|Tolkien visited the temple of [[Nodens]] at a place called "Dwarf's Hill" and translated an inscription with a [[curse]] upon a ring. It may have inspired his [[Dwarf (Middle-earth)|dwarves]], [[Moria (Middle-earth)|Mines of Moria]], [[Rings of Power|rings]], and Celebrimbor "Silver-Hand".<ref name="Anger 2013"/>]]
| {{#tag:imagemap|
File:Nodens Temple influence on Tolkien.svg{{!}}thumb{{!}}upright={{{upright|1.7}}}{{!}}center{{!}}{{{caption|Imagemap with clickable links. Apparent influence of archaeological and philological work at Nodens' Temple on [[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien]]'s [[Middle-earth]] legendarium<ref name="Anger 2013"/> }}}

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