Tolkien and the Romans Part One

As of this writing I am in limbo regards excavating in the UK next year.  We'll see if it works out.  I confess, my mind does wander back frequently to the stone ruins of Roman forts.  It's very thought provoking.  

Of course I'm not the first person to feel this way.  One of the earliest descriptions of the ghostly ruins of Roman Britain is called "The Ruin".  Written in the 8th or 9th century and included in a later compilation of works, it sums things up nicely.  Here's the first couple of lines:

"These wall-stones are wondrous —
calamities crumpled them, these city-sites crashed, the work of giants
corrupted. The roofs have rushed to earth, towers in ruins."

Of course it was written in Old English:

Wrætlic is þes wealstan, wyrde gebræcon;
burgstede burston, brosnað enta geweorc.
Hrofas sind gehrorene, hreorge torras,

If you pay very close attention a few of the archaic words make sense.  "Wyrde" has become Weird, a word for Fate that Shakespeare dredged up for his "Weird Sisters".  "Gebraecon" evolved into "broken", and "Torras" for towers.  But what about that word "Enta"?

If it seems a bit familiar its because J.R.R. Tolkien borrowed this word for Giants for his Lord of the Rings "Ents".  Later in the poem the word of "Orthanc" also appears, and became the name of Saruman's tower.  

By some accounts JRR Tolkien was not a big fan of the Roman Empire.  That being said, he certainly baked elements of Rome into The Lord of the Rings.  The kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor being split and one conquered, basically reflect the Eastern and Western parts of the Roman Empire.  Even Gondor (ok nerds, Minas Tirith)  as a city with Seven levels of Walls has a bit of the "Seven Hills of Rome" in it.

And what about The One Ring?  It is after all the central plot device for the entire trilogy, and is what links it to the earlier Hobbit.  We shall cover that next time...