The defixiones constitute an important source of evidence regarding to Sulis’ attributes. The curses most commonly beseech Sulis to hunt down a culprit and punish them. 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.Īttention has been drawn to a large cache of 130 Latin defixiones, or curse tablets, discovered in Sulis’ spring. For example, Sulis-Minerva has been regarded as an important healing divinity and her temple complex a place people can go for healing. Many links have been drawn between Sulis and her thermal spring. Most of the physical remains at Bath are architectural features, votive offerings and altars. Through Roman religious sensibilities, Sulis was conflated with the Roman goddess Minerva. Scholarship has agreed that Sulis is a Celtic deity who was worshipped by the Celts before the Romans arrived 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. However, there is evidence which would suggest that Sulis was worshipped by the ancient Britons before the Romans had a permanent presence in Britain. The large Romano-Celtic temple was functional from c.65 to c.400 CE. 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. Subsequently, studying and understanding Sulis’ cult is important to the study of Roman Britain. As such a large Romano-Celtic temple complex, Sulis’ cult has important contributions to religion in Roman Britain. Consequently, there is a large gap in the knowledge we have about Roman Bath and its patron goddess. To add further problems, Bath was only mentioned in one ancient source, Solinus. As the Roman city lies underneath the modern city Bath, excavation of both the temple complex has been difficult. During the Roman occupation of ancient Britain, Bath became a significant Roman town centred on a large religious complex. The Roman City of Bath, also known as Aqua Sulis, lies in the modern British county of Somerset in the south-east of England.
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