All stories start somewhere. In fiction a writer will sometimes pluck something from their own imagination and at other times will embellish a real world story.
For example, it appears that J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘one ring’ may have come from the legend of this Roman ring.
According to Blastr:
“The ring is made of about 12 grams of gold and is inscribed in Latin with the phrase “Senicianus live well in God.” When and how it was discovered are unknown, but for centuries it was owned by the Chute family, who owned the Vyne before the house became part of the U.K.’s National Trust in the 1930s. The ring’s story got more interesting when an ancient tablet was unearthed at a Roman site in Glouchestire known as “Dwarf’s Hill.” The tablet bore the inscription “Among those who bear the name of Senicianus to none grant health until he bring back the ring to the temple of Nodens.” The inscription gave rise to the belief that the ring was stolen and its owner subsequently cursed.”
It also appears that archeologists may have unearthed ‘the Gates of Hell’ also known as ‘Pluto’s Gate’ in Turkey.
Digital recreation of “Pluto’s Gate” (Francesco D’Andria)
Via Discovery News:
“Known as Pluto’s Gate — Ploutonion in Greek, Plutonium in Latin — the cave was celebrated as the portal to the underworld in Greco-Roman mythology and tradition.
Historic sources located the site in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis, now called Pamukkale, and described the opening as filled with lethal mephitic vapors.”
The site was apparently found by tracing the route of a thermal spring which would account for the ‘lethal vapors’. Superstitious people of the time would have mistaken these gases as a sign of some gateway to the underworld. These findings however should be taken with a few grains of salt. The same archeologist claimed, a few years ago, to have found the tomb of the apostle Phillip. It is likely that, like Jesus, the apostles were mere legend and never actually existed.