The Roman Baths

    We were lucky enough to travel to Bath, a city in SW England about 100 miles from London, to go see The Roman Baths.  These natural hot springs were where Roman soldiers would go and bathe after a long day of probably doing unspeakable things to the local women. Too far? Moving on,...the picture to the right is from the terrace, which overlooks the Great Bath and is lined with statues of Roman governors, emperors, and military leaders.  The rest of the baths are hidden from view and extend underground from this main one.  The temple and baths were constructed in reverence to the goddess Minerva, the Roman goddess of the arts and war.  The elements of identity of "Traditions", "Power"
and "Religion can all tie in to the Roman Baths because
the temple in the baths was used for worship of the goddess Minerva, and she was revered as a powerful entity, as were numerous other gods in the time.  Symbols are evident in abundance in all of the artwork and artifacts displayed in the underground baths.  The wishing pool (pictured to the right) was my favorite room because it just looked spectacular with the lighting and the coins glittering in the sun through the water.  Also, there were holographic images set up in the corner of men dressed in the would-be toga garb of the Roman baths, wandering back and forth near the water.  "Gender" is another large element of identity here because this was a men only retreat.  I found that fact interesting; it is a location for only men, but devoted to a goddess. 

   I really enjoyed wandering through all of the rooms and seeing the remnants of how a group of people used to live. What I will take away from this trip is knowledge
of the tools and jewelry that were used in the time, as well as a good sense of how it would have felt to be down there when it was up and working in it's full glory.  I am imagining a beautiful place contrasted by the dirty, dirty men.

Cheers!
-Abby


Some facts retrieved from:
http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/walkthrough/temple.aspx

P.S. I am including this picture to show off some of the beautiful tiling done to the floors in some of the areas, as well as a "life shot" of an adorable old couple and a pigeon man because I bet you haven't seen that today ;)