Cleanliness the Roman Way

Here's a brief walk through my recent Roman Baths and Museum visit in the City of Bath.

There was once a tribe of Britons, the Dobunni, who had based themselves around three hot springs on a bend in a river, later to be named The Avon. They were minding their own business when, one day around 60 CE, legionaries of the 20th Roman Legion turned up and started killing them. No match for the power of Rome, they were soon subjugated and became compliant subjects of the Empire. The crafty Romans needed their cooperation so named their new city after the local water deity, Sulis. It became Aquae Sulis, 'The Waters of Sulis' and a grand bathing complex was built over the three natural hot water springs.

The Romans wanted their new subjects to behave like Romans and bathe in the baths and make offerings in their temple, so they twinned Sulis with their own female water deity, Minerva. 400 years later, the Romans cleared off to defend a crumbling empire and the locals once again presided over the increasingly dilapidated structures.

In my novel, Uther's Destiny, I imagine High King of the Britons, Uther Pendragon, around 470 CE, hosting a meeting of regional tribal leaders in the Roman Baths at Aquae Sulis [sorry, I just had to]. Over time it fell into ruin, and was excavated and partly restored by Victorian archaeologists in the 19th century.

Picture shows a reconstruction of the pediment over the entrance to the baths in Roman times depicting a gorgon's head.