The Cult of Sulis-Minerva at Bath: The Religious Ritual of the Patron Goddess at Bath

<p>The Roman City of Bath, also known as Aqua Sulis, lies in the modern British county of Somerset in the south-east of England. During the Roman occupation of ancient Britain, Bath became a significant Roman town centred on a large religious complex. As the Roman city lies underneath the modern city Bath, excavation of both the temple complex has been difficult. To add further problems, Bath was only mentioned in one ancient source, Solinus. Consequently, there is a large gap in the knowledge we have about Roman Bath and its patron goddess. As such a large Romano-Celtic temple complex, Sulis’ cult has important contributions to religion in Roman Britain. Subsequently, studying and understanding Sulis’ cult is important to the study of Roman Britain. This thesis discusses features of Sulis’ cult and what this may tell us about the goddess’s attributes as well as how her cult functioned. The large Romano-Celtic temple was functional from c.65 to c.400 CE. However, there is evidence which would suggest that Sulis was worshipped by the ancient Britons before the Romans had a permanent presence in Britain. This thesis will place Roman Bath within the wider context of Romano-British history, outlining how it functioned through architecture and evidence for the temple’s gradual decline. Scholarship has agreed that Sulis is a Celtic deity who was worshipped by the Celts before the Romans arrived in Britain. Through Roman religious sensibilities, Sulis was conflated with the Roman goddess Minerva. Most of the physical remains at Bath are architectural features, votive offerings and altars. Many links have been drawn between Sulis and her thermal spring. For example, Sulis-Minerva has been regarded as an important healing divinity and her temple complex a place people can go for healing. This thesis will discuss Sulis and her connection to the goddess Minerva as well as what the goddess’s relationship was to the Romans and Britons. Attention has been drawn to a large cache of 130 Latin defixiones, or curse tablets, discovered in Sulis’ spring. The curses most commonly beseech Sulis to hunt down a culprit and punish them. The defixiones constitute an important source of evidence regarding to Sulis’ attributes. There has been some debate as to the nature of these curse tablets as there have been suggestions that they read more as ‘prayers for justice’. This thesis will explore the idea that the tablets acted as a medium for a devotee to ask the goddess for retribution against a perceived wrong. A comparison will be drawn between Bath’s curse tablets and other forms of Roman prayers comparing the two. As of now, the defixiones contribute a large portion of evidence towards religious life at Bath. Sulis represents hybridization between two ancient civilizations. On the one hand, Sulis had strong roots to ancient British religion but after Roman occupation her cult became predominantly Roman in form. I will discuss the remaining aspects of Celtic religion at Bath, such as in the Gorgon pediment, and how this was changed under Roman rule.</p>

The Cult of Sulis-Minerva at Bath: The Religious Ritual of the Patron Goddess at Bath

<p>The Roman City of Bath, also known as Aqua Sulis, lies in the modern British county of Somerset in the south-east of England. During the Roman occupation of ancient Britain, Bath became a significant Roman town centred on a large religious complex. As the Roman city lies underneath the modern city Bath, excavation of both the temple complex has been difficult. To add further problems, Bath was only mentioned in one ancient source, Solinus. Consequently, there is a large gap in the knowledge we have about Roman Bath and its patron goddess. As such a large Romano-Celtic temple complex, Sulis’ cult has important contributions to religion in Roman Britain. Subsequently, studying and understanding Sulis’ cult is important to the study of Roman Britain. This thesis discusses features of Sulis’ cult and what this may tell us about the goddess’s attributes as well as how her cult functioned. The large Romano-Celtic temple was functional from c.65 to c.400 CE. However, there is evidence which would suggest that Sulis was worshipped by the ancient Britons before the Romans had a permanent presence in Britain. This thesis will place Roman Bath within the wider context of Romano-British history, outlining how it functioned through architecture and evidence for the temple’s gradual decline. Scholarship has agreed that Sulis is a Celtic deity who was worshipped by the Celts before the Romans arrived in Britain. Through Roman religious sensibilities, Sulis was conflated with the Roman goddess Minerva. Most of the physical remains at Bath are architectural features, votive offerings and altars. Many links have been drawn between Sulis and her thermal spring. For example, Sulis-Minerva has been regarded as an important healing divinity and her temple complex a place people can go for healing. This thesis will discuss Sulis and her connection to the goddess Minerva as well as what the goddess’s relationship was to the Romans and Britons. Attention has been drawn to a large cache of 130 Latin defixiones, or curse tablets, discovered in Sulis’ spring. The curses most commonly beseech Sulis to hunt down a culprit and punish them. The defixiones constitute an important source of evidence regarding to Sulis’ attributes. There has been some debate as to the nature of these curse tablets as there have been suggestions that they read more as ‘prayers for justice’. This thesis will explore the idea that the tablets acted as a medium for a devotee to ask the goddess for retribution against a perceived wrong. A comparison will be drawn between Bath’s curse tablets and other forms of Roman prayers comparing the two. As of now, the defixiones contribute a large portion of evidence towards religious life at Bath. Sulis represents hybridization between two ancient civilizations. On the one hand, Sulis had strong roots to ancient British religion but after Roman occupation her cult became predominantly Roman in form. I will discuss the remaining aspects of Celtic religion at Bath, such as in the Gorgon pediment, and how this was changed under Roman rule.</p>

Can the Decline be Reversed?

The final chapter considers whether the decline of religion in Britain is likely to be reversed. It demonstrates the absence of a shared stock of religious knowledge and the current poor public reputation of religion. It considers what we know about the dynamics of religious conversion and makes the point that personal influence often relies on pre-existing social bonds and on social similarity between believers and potential converts. The key problem for British religion is that ‘being religious’ is no longer a common and widespread characteristic but is confined to a few relatively introverted minority populations. The odds on the religiously indifferent associating with committed believers are very small. Hence the chances of any religious revival occurring now, when it failed to occur in the previous century (when religion was far more popular), seem equally slight.

GI Religion and Post-War Revival in the United States and Great Britain

This chapter identifies the wartime roots of the post-Second World War religious revival in the United States, stressing the importance of military service as a galvanizing force in religious terms. Far from being a product of the Cold War, or a simple echo of ‘foxhole religion’, the revival owed much to the privileged position of religion in America’s armed forces during the war years and to the resources devoted to their religious and moral well-being. Fortified by post-war prosperity and by the benefits of the GI Bill, US veterans were well placed to further the religious revival stirred by the war itself. The situation in Britain was very different. Although the war also had an invigorating effect on British religion, the economic situation of post-war Britain and the lot of veterans helped to ensure that a religious revival comparable to that in the USA failed to materialize.

The issue of religion in 1857: Three documents

The rebels of 1857 had many causes to incite them to rise against the British. Religion has often been held to be a major source of disquiet for them owing to the perceived threat posed by Christian conversions. In this article, three documents are studied which present three different aspects of rebel consciousness. The first represents its secular character, for there is little reference to faith or religion in it. The second is a tract addressed obviously to Muslims to rise against the English on religious grounds. But annexed to it is a manifesto appealing to all Hindus and Muslims to join the rebellion: the emphasis on communal unity is manifest. Finally, we have the memoirs of an embittered theologian writing an account of the rebellion in its immediate aftermath: regrets and suspicion are manifest here.

Money Matters: The Neglect of Finance in the Historiography of Modern Christianity

The subject of religion and finance is seriously neglected within the historiography of the church during the modern period. This essay explores the pioneering ‘Financing of American Religion’ project and suggests possible fruitful avenues of research into the financing of British religion. By way of a case study, it analyses the size of the religious voluntary sector as a whole and then, within that, the individual finances of a range of Anglican voluntary organizations, all home missionary organizations within the diocese of London. Historians of religion have shown a certain reluctance to grapple with the columns of figures and minutiae of detail contained in cash books, general ledgers and annual reports. This essay serves as a brief taster of the wealth of material contained in such sources.

Contextualising Romano-British Lead Tanks: A Study in Design, Destruction and Deposition

Despite being an intriguing, if obscure, series of artefacts there has been a hesitancy in academic discussion to address fully the myriad of questions raised by the design and archaeological find-spots of lead tanks from Roman Britain. This, and an uncritical acceptance that they were used by early Christians as baptismal fonts, has led to a lack of appreciation of their contribution to our knowledge of late Romano-British religion. This paper seeks to redress this via two channels. The first is a detailed and contextualised examination of the design, iconography and manufacture of these tanks. The second is an investigation into how the manner of their deposition can inform their function. It is concluded that the evidence used to associate the tanks with baptism is flawed and greater attention must be given to other facets of their design in order to gain an appreciation of their proper place in the culture and religion of Roman Britain.