Bath’s majestic Roman Baths are South West England’s second most popular tourist attraction, welcoming over 1.2 million visitors in 2016. One of the most remarkably well-preserved religious spas of the ancient world, hot water still flows into the Baths via thermal springs unique to the city.
The site enjoyed a £5.5 million redevelopment in 2011 that should help to preserve it for the next century. While the baths themselves are spellbinding, for history enthusiasts like Fiyaz Mughal the museum’s archaeological relics are equally as fascinating.
Here are just three of the Roman Baths’ most mysterious and impressive relics:
Sulis Minerva’s Head
The symbol of the baths and one of Britain’s most spectacular Roman relics, Sulis Minerva’s Head is the head from a huge gilt bronze statue. Statues as expensive as this were rare in Roman Britain and its presence indicates the site was a location of great importance.
The head’s impressive size indicates that the full statue would have towered over visitors to the baths.
What’s particularly fascinating about the head is its name. Sulis was not Roman, but actually a native Celtic goddess. The Romans had an open-minded view of polytheism and would often embrace foreign gods and incorporate them into their own pantheons. In this case they equated Sulis with Minerva, their own goddess of wisdom.
This statue brilliantly illuminates how Roman society was able to blend with different cultures.
Curse Tablets
Not as scary as they may sound, the curse tablets are actually remarkable for their mundanity. Inscribed into small blocks of lead or pewter and deposited into the sacred waters, curse tablets were requests to the Gods made by the residents of Bath. What makes the 130 curse tablets so interesting is that they mostly demand revenge for fairly everyday disputes like petty thievery.
One tablet demands a thief loses his “mind and eyes” for stealing two gloves.
When history is so often dominated by gods and kings, these Curse Tablets provide an alternative and fascinatingly relatable window into the lives of ordinary people in the Roman Empire.
Beau Street Hoard
Through the hoard of 17,577 Roman coins you can see how Roman emperors transmitted their propaganda via the iconography on coinage.
What makes the hoard so compelling is that it was only discovered in 2007. The Beau Street Hoard is the perfect example of how treasures are constantly being uncovered and our understanding of the past is perpetually evolving.