The Roman Baths.(Aquae Sulis)......a place for body AND soul

Those Romans sure must have been clean! The Roman Baths (of course in Bath) are a great example of the ingenuity of the earlier civilisations. We tend to be very arrogant in thinking that the post industrial/technology generations are the epitome of civilised living, but when you think about how poorly we care for ourselves, each other and the environment, it may well be time to look back at how things were done in days gone by. Now I'm not naive, I don't know that I'd have wanted to be a woman in Roman Britain or in Minoan Greece for that matter, however if you were a bloke, relatively well off, young and healthy, I think you really could have lived a relatively pleasant life (so long as you weren't a soldier). Walking around the Roman Baths, you could really get a feel for both the community nature of the baths as well as the spiritual aspect of reverence and dignity that is incorporated in the ritual of cleansing and contemplation. They obviously valued the sense of community and camaraderie that relaxing in the baths allowed them (in addition of course to the healthy influence of bathing in the mineral springs, sweating away the cares of the day in the steam rooms and sitting around chatting and exchanging ideas). Remarkably the influence of women is clearly evident in the complex, where not only are there areas designated for women, but where most of the deities are female.......lots to be learned here! So maybe being a woman wasn't too bad in Roman Britain (with the same caveat applied as to the men), but of course you wouldn't want to be poor, old, ugly or sick..........nothing much has changed in this respect really, has it?

Photos include the golden head of the goddess Minerva and a shot of another goddess (an Aussie one) hanging out with the temple priest, this goddess was obviously feeling the cold that day!)