I had very little expectation for what awaited us in Bath. I was far more focused on Bath as a home of Jane Austen instead of the Roman Baths the city was named for. As soon as we stepped off the train it was obvious just how unique bath was. The architecture feels ancient, it almost feels like the train was a time machine. If it weren’t for the crowds of people holding cell phones and moving with the speed and ferocity of the 21st century I would have believed we were in a different time. Columns cover the fronts of the shops feeling so Roman that I could have believed we were in Italy. The architecture felt Roman on the first floor and then very British up the rest of the buildings. This melding of ancient and classical architecture should have felt confusing, but in Bath it just makes sense.
As I said earlier, the Roman Baths were not the draw of Bath for me, and quite frankly they were overcrowded and I found it hard to enjoy the museum being pushed around by unaware tourists who refused to watch where they were going. I found a moment of refuge in a mostly empty side room dedicated to the information on Minerva Sulis. I’m very familiar with Roman and Greek mythology, and know quite a bit about the goddess Minerva, but had never heard a surname. I was immediately intrigued. This room is where I spent most of my time in the baths. Minerva Sulis is a goddess is specific to Celtic polytheism which was only practiced in Great Britain. She was a local goddess only celebrated in the thermal springs in bath. The baths we explored are her one and only temple. She was celebrated as a goddess of healing, both physical and mental. It is said the thermal springs were blessed by her and bathing in the waters would bring whatever cure you were looking for. Her cult practiced in the temple until mid fourth century CE. There were several parts of the ruins of the altar that lead us to believe that worshipping the goddess required sacrifices. There was also a place where it assumed people laid down significant offerings to the goddess. These ranged from coins, gemstones, jewelry, and curse tablets. There are 130 curse tablets that were recovered in the baths, curse tablets, I learned, were a way of asking the goddess specific requests, whether that be the return of items that were stolen or lost, or revenge on someone for some level of wrongdoing. Most of what we know about the Cult of Minerva Sulis is conjecture as most of the relics of her are said to have been destroyed by barbarians in the 5th century.
All in all I enjoyed my time in the baths, the overwhelming crowds aside. There is so much wonder is walking through the ruins of an ancient world that almost doesn’t feel real. As if it’s so old it’s out of the grasp of my understanding of time. In most ways it couldn’t feel more different than London. The cobblestone walkways, the ancient architecture, the almost non existent roadways for cars. But there was a Slim Chickens, and a Primark, and a Boots, which sometimes would be very jarring. Bath has become an amalgamation of the ancient and the modern. On one street you’re transported back in time, and then you turn the corner and it feels like you’re in a square in London. Bath has become a city that has it all, a modern age pub, ancient Roman ruins, the home of Jane Austen, and everything in between.
Theatre in London U of A 