Today I payed my respects to the Pagan/Roman Goddess Sulis Minerva. Sulis Minerva is the Goddess of the thermal-spring in Bath. After seeing the spring myself, it's no wonder people long ago sensed the presence of something magical. Pictured above is the great bath that was filled and heated by a natural thermal spring. The spring rises from the ground and bubbles, as if it's boiling. Steam and the scent of minerals rise up as well. When the Romans built the baths, they rerouted some of this water to run through several rooms before meeting up with the River Avon. With the exception of some out-dated lead pipes, their original stone architecture is still working today. This was visible all over the baths as we took our tour. I was most interested in hearing all of the recovered items when they excavated the baths and spring. Most notable were the offerings and curse requests. Offerings typically included carved plates and, not surprisingly, coins. On the other hand, people also would make carvings with names and accusations of people they believed needed to be cursed. Overwhelmingly, these were for what we would see as rather small thefts such as a cape or gloves. These days, they ask you to throw coins into one of the baths rather than the deep Spring. I tossed a coin and made a wish to the Goddess Sulis. I also had the opportunity to drink water from the spring but not until it was thoroughly cleaned! Overall, it was a really beautiful and magical location.
I really enjoyed learning about the curses, too! Some of them were really petty, asking for the Goddess to strike down the thief of a bath robe.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the baths as well! It was so cool to be in such an ancient part of Roman history. It was interesting to find out that they had natural hot springs that took centuries to actually rise and form. I did not expect the religious part to the baths to worship there. There was a lot I didn't know about the baths!
ReplyDeleteThe baths were stunning! I loved how the Romans thought that cleanliness was so important that they built the baths. I also loved how they were so keen on the idea that the baths were from a divine presence that they built a bath section purely for the goddess and not for human use.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed visiting the Roman Baths. One of my deepest regrets from this semester was not being able to visit Rome, so this was nice to get the feeling of Rome! The baths were so interesting to me, so much ingenuity went into designing them! I find it so impressive that the people from so long ago were able to build so much without the modern day tools we enjoy today.
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