Last September, 11th of September 2011 to be exacted, was my 8th day of my trip to United Kingdom. It wasn’t actually a trip at all, because the main purpose of me getting there was for a competition with my other 10 friends from Labschool Kebayoran Senior High School. But in the middle of that competition, we had a quite lot time to explore the city we visited, such as Oxford, London and Bath. And what I’m going to share here is about my visit to Roman Baths, a museum where the Romanian used to take bath here long long time ago, which takes place in Bath city.
First time I got off from the train that I took from Oxford to Bath, I walked through the shopping alley right to The Roman Baths. Not just the heritage attractions, the stores buildings here were also designed classically with original Victorian architecture. And in the middle of those, there was a magnificent vintage building near the bridge and the famous Abbey Church, called The Roman Baths.
First stop when I got inside the Roman Baths was a spacious atrium, where the reception was. The architecture of the building was very classic Romanian. I could see it from the detail of the ceilings, it were mixed of Romanian and classic British Victorian. It was very old, but also classic and awesome. But not just the buildings that mesmerized me, the technology of this museum was really great. All of the tourists got lent a device, which looked like a phone, to guide us with explanation about places, artefacts, sculptures, stones, and other stuffs here. We just needed to press the combination numbers from there to our device then put our ear closer to it, then it’d play us the right explanation in recording about the thing we wanted to know more. So that, I didn’t really need a personal guide as a person, because the device was already advanced.
Roman Bathss itself is the most famous heritage in South West England, which also became the oldest in Bath. The main attraction here in Roman Baths is the Sacred Spring. It’s not an ordinary spring, because the high temperature of the water came from the heat of magma in the center of the earth. It was a brand new and very advanced technology, which had been discovered before 10th century (which no one has discovered when was it built for the first time). But it was not discovered and explored until the late nineteenth century. 
But before I got to the Sacred Spring, right after the entrance there was a very beautiful terrace with statues of Roman Governors of Britain, Roman Emperors, and military leaders, surrounded the Spring. The statues were made in early 1894, as they were carved in advance of the grand opening of the Roman Baths in 1897 as a public museum. It was quite amazing because there were different persons in every statue, and those persons were the people who really took part in developing the England itself.
The view from the terrace was breath-taking. I could see the beautiful massive Sacred Spring right from the top of it. And from the right I could see a tall building, which was Abbey Church. The view of the Sacred Sping really made me wanted to get closer to the Spring, so I continued my journey to the museum downstairs, the only access to the Spring.
The Museum built right on the place where the Temple of Sulis Minerva was. So when I observed the museum, I felt like observed the old Temple, because some of the part of the building were still there, and so the furniture inside. One of the decorations that really interested me was fourteen pieces of carved stone that had been found from the decorative front of the Temple to Sulis Minerva. This stood in its own sacred courtyard by the Sacred Spring, in the centre of Roman Bath.
Even the archeologists said that it was difficult to know the meaning behind the carvings. The central decoration shows a bearded face with snake hair. But they did not know who it is meant to be. It is usually described as a gorgon, but in Roman mythology they were portrayed as women. It could show the Celtic god responsible for the Spring, perhaps Sul with whom the Roman goddess Minerva was associated on this site.
Surrounding the face there are two wreaths of oak leaves symbolising a victory. The two incomplete female figures with wings holding the wreaths are victories.
On the bottom right-hand side of the larger wreath is a small owl, representing Minerva and symbolising her wisdom. The helmet on the lower left-hand stone refers to her military powers.
All pieces but one were found in 1790 during the construction of the new Pump Room. They were probably found where they had fallen within the Temple courtyard when the Temple finally collapsed or was pulled down when people stopped worshipping there.
From that decoration, I went to the other room where contained the curse tablets from the Kingdom for the people they disliked. It was usually for thieves because as far back in Latin literature as Plautus, thieves were a problem at the Roman baths. Apuleius satirizes bath thievery as the basest form of larceny. Catullus, Seneca, and Petronius also mention thieves who lurk about the baths. Perhaps the best evidence of these thieves comes from the victims themselves who called on the gods to help, by means of curse tablets.
Logically when people think of bathing, we would assume nudity, but whether that was true of the Romans was very debatable. While bathers were described as nudus this could mean scantily clad instead of naked. Whether partially or fully nude, however, bathers shed their clothes before entering the water.
And at the baths there were storage nooks for clothing, utensils, oil and strigils, but the archeologists didn't know whether these were fitted with doors or locks. And even if they were, the locks could be picked. So that’s why there were thieves at the Baths long long time ago, and the excuse why they used the cursed tablets.
The methods of these curse tablets are very easy. You just need to write down what happened to you, and what do you want to happen for the theft. Then you need to throw the tablets into the spring or nailed to the bathing establishment. Inscribing on the piece of lead the victim would call on the god to right the wrong, by bringing the criminal to justice and retrieving the lost article.
It seems the curse tablet must have had the power of the proverbial voodoo doll, for thieves, learning their names had been inscribed, were often frightened enough to purchase the curse tablets to secure release from the curse. But unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to take picture with it because of the lighting of the museum was not really great, so my camera just couldn’t afford it.
Then, right in the middle of the museum, there was the Sacred Spring which was the only outdoor place at the downstairs of the Roman Baths. This Sacred Spring lies at the very heart of the ancient monument. Water rises there at the rate of over a million litres a day and at a temperature of 460C. The Spring rises within the courtyard of the Temple of Sulis Minerva and water from it feeds the Roman Bathss. There is some slight evidence, an earthen bank projecting into the Spring, that suggests it was already a focal point for worship before the Roman Temple and baths were built.
Roman engineers surrounded the Spring with an irregular stone chamber lined with lead. To provide a stable foundation for this they drove oak piles into the mud. At first this reservoir formed an open pool in a corner of the Temple courtyard but in the second century AD it was enclosed within a barrel vaulted building and columns and statue bases were placed in the Spring itself. Enclosing the Spring in a dimly lit building in this way and erecting statues and columns within it must have enhanced the aura of mystery that surrounded it. Offerings were thrown into the Spring throughout the Roman period.
The mystery I mentioned before is about the heat of the water. In the past this natural phenomenon was beyond human understanding and it was believed to be the work of the ancient gods. It’s because of the technology, which hadn’t developed really well that time, made people started to believe that the heat of the water was the healing powers of their goddess, Sulis Minerva. They even built a great Temple next to the Spring dedicated to her, in Roman times. Not just that, they even believed that the powers in this baths could deliver their curses and wishes to their god so everything they wanted would come true.
The Hot water itself, at a temperature of 46°C rises there at the rate of 1,170,000 litres (240,000 gallons) every day and has been doing this for thousands of years. The mineral rich water from the Sacred Spring supplied a magnificent bath-house which attracted visitors from across the Roman Empire.
But sadly, I couldn’t touch the water with hand. So I didn’t know whether it’s still hot or not anymore. Because the water now is already dirty with pollution and other stuff, which make its colour is green. More over, the water now could cause allergic reactions because of the unsterile condition. So I didn’t give it a try.
After looking at the Spring, I went to other rooms heading to the exit. But because of the lack of the time I had there, I couldn’t explore all the collections here, so afterwards I went directly out to other places in Bath. But it really was a great pleasure to be here, and I’d really love to come back.
