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The Great Bath at the Roman Baths. The entire structure above the level of the pillar bases is a later reconstruction.

For the Roman Baths complex at Aquae Sulis, see Roman Baths (Bath).

Aquae Sulis was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Bath, located in the English county of Somerset.

Main article: Roman Baths (Bath)

The Romans probably occupied Aquae Sulis shortly after their invasion of Britain in AD 43, attracted by the large hot spring which had been a shrine of the Celtic Brythons, dedicated to their goddess, Sulis. The name means "the waters of Sulis". The Romans identified the goddess with Minerva and encouraged her worship. The spring was built up into a major Roman Baths complex associated with an adjoining temple. Messages to Sulis scratched onto lead curse tablets have been recovered from the Sacred Spring by archaeologists. They were written in Latin, and usually laid curses upon those whom the writer felt had done them wrong. The corpus from Bath is the most important found in Britain.

Aquatic mosaic from the Roman town

It was the religious settlement, rather than the road junction further north, which was given defensive stone walls, probably in the 3rd century. The area within was largely open ground at the time, but soon began to be filled in. There is some dispute as to whether these new buildings were private dwellings or were associated with servicing the pilgrims to the temple. There was also a ribbon development along the northern road outside the walls and cemeteries beyond^[1].

From the later 4th century on, the Western Roman Empire and its urban life declined. However, while the great suite of baths fell into disrepair, some use of the hot springs continued in use. After the Roman departure from Britain around AD 410, some residents seem to have remained, but they must have faced Saxon raids for, in the 440s, a young girl's severed head was thrust into an oven in Abbeygate Street. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records a King Ffernfael, who may have come from Aquae Sulis, being killed at the Battle of Dyrham in 577^[2].

Rediscovered gradually from the 18th century onward, the city's Roman remains have become one of the city's main attractions. They may be viewed almost exclusively at the Roman Baths Museum, which houses:

• A vast collection of artefacts recovered from both the baths and the Roman town. There is a particularly fine collection of stone sculptures.
• In site excavated remains of the main temple courtyard.
• The Roman Baths themselves, though some lie below 18th century stonework. Of particular note, however, is the original Roman Great Bath still lead lined and fed by the sacred spring through Roman lead pipes.

1. ^ Burnham, Barry C; Wacher, John (1990). The Small Towns of Roman Britain. London: B T Batsford. 
2. ^ Ford, David Nash (1996). The 28 Cities of Britain as listed by Nennius. Early British Kingdoms. Retrieved on January 28, 2007.