After dinner, we spent an intriguing evening at the Roman Bath. The Romans constructed a bath house and temple in the first century AD. Their engineering prowess was evident in the taming and redirection of the hot spring's flow, using well-designed drainage and sluice systems. They are still in use today! As the Roman Empire declined 300 years later, the drain system eventually backed up, causing much of the complex to crumble, fill with mud and dirt, and return to its swamp-like state over the next centuries. Anglo-Saxons bathed in the spring waters, but it wasn't until the 18th century and onward that the extent of the Roman structure was rediscovered.
The Romans took over the site from the Celts, who attributed the warm, healing waters to the goddess Sulis. Wanting to respect this goddess (even though they kicked out the Celts), the Romans named the city Aquae Sulis. Their temple was built to worship the goddess Minerva, whom they syncretized with Sulis.
The current museum houses interesting artifacts discovered as the original Roman site has been excavated. These objects include sacrificial offerings (coins, pots, etc.), gemstones lost in the bath, and "curses" - folded lead sheets on which people wrote complaint messages to the goddess and threw them into the bath. Many complaints had to do with petty theft (e.g., "the person who has stolen my bronze pot is utterly accursed").
There were also Roman tombstones and other carvings to view. Then of course there was the bath itself to look at, with its various pools and treatment rooms. It was pretty relaxing to sit by the water as the sun went down! The Roman bath house had a roof, but we enjoyed the open-air atmosphere. There were actors there portraying Romans who used the bath house.
The so-called Sacred Spring is where the actual hot spring waters bubble up from two miles below the surface. We could see air bubbles fizzing to the surface.
It all had a magical feel to it, and we could have stayed longer to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere!
The main bath, with Bath Abbey in the background
Pediment carvings
Reconstruction of how the pediment carving might
have looked, including colored paint
Gilt bronze head of Sulis Minerva
Entrance to the Roman temple, buried beneath
the current ground level of Bath
2,000-year-old lead curse messages
Sacrificial objects found in the bath
Gemstones found in the bath drain, likely lost by bathers
Original Roman main drain, still operating!
Watching the excess spring
water drain to the River Avon
Roman actors
C is standing on an original lead pipe
that fed water to other smaller baths
Hall leading from the main bath
to the treatment rooms
Floor supports for the hypocaust heating system
(steam was pumped under the floor for radiant heating)
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