Source sacrée de Sulis à Bath (Aquae Sulis)

Bath

At Bath, a hot spring gushes out in the middle of the city. The Romans called it Aquae Sulis, ‘the waters of Sulis’, after a local goddess whom they identified with Minerva. A page of art history (Smarthistory) notes that the oldest coins found in the spring are coins of the Dobunni, a British people. This suggests that offerings were already made there before Roman rule, but no building of that period is cited in the texts read. Around 75 AD, Roman engineers enclosed the spring in a reservoir lined with a wall, with a temple and altars to the north-west. About 13,000 coins have been recovered from the spring and its reservoir. Metal tablets were also dredged up: a certain Docilianus asks the goddess to punish whoever stole his hooded cloak and to bring it back to her temple. The museum explains that worshippers threw these tablets into the water to obtain the punishment of a culprit. The temple was no longer in use at the end of the 4th century, and the statue of the goddess was broken in the early 5th century.

Roman Baths (Bath) — dépliant officiel du musée ↗

Getting there: In the heart of the city of Bath, in the Roman Baths museum, which can be visited. Times and prices have not been verified: they must be requested from the museum. Coordinates taken from the vici.org record.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound