London and Roman Civilization

Yes, Yes, I'm long overdue for a post! I apologize for keeping the masses waiting, but life as a student in London is very busy, you know!

To briefly catch everyone up, I will talk about a list of different aspects of London in addition to my travels since last post, beginning with the Stonehenge/Bath trip that occurred on the 21st of January(well over a month ago...yikes!). The significance of Bath and Stonehenge also contains a recurring religious theme that will more than likely be referred to more than once, so prepare yourselves. Let's dive in!

First, after visiting the sites of Bath and Stonehenge, I would venture to say that the Roman Baths and their religious affiliation caught my attention the most. The religious significance of the Roman Baths and how they came to be was particularly interesting given the current secular nature of this area, which is only about an hour outside of Britain. Upon entering the baths, one of the first things that I noticed was the Sacred Spring. This spring, with a hot water temperature of 46 degrees Celsius, was believed to be the work of the gods, hence the sacred nature of the area. The Romans even went so far as building a temple near the spring that was dedicated to the worship of the healing goddess Minerva (goddess of wisdom and war), according to information gathered from the bath site.

Because the site was dubbed holy ground, many people threw various objects into the spring as offerings to the goddess Minerva. These acts of generosity and/or religious worship contribute to the fact that this spring is the largest votive deposit known in Britain. In addition to offerings, many individuals tossed curses, spelled out on rolled up pieces of pewter into the spring, which was thought to deliver justice to the violated.

These archaeological discoveries show that Roman London was built upon a firm religious foundation, one that has since seemingly dissipated. To continue, though slightly different in tone, the Stonehenge visit also supports the existence of religious principles in prehistoric London. According to information gathered from Diana, our Stonehenge tour guide, some individuals believe that this mysterious set of stones was built for a variety of reasons, more popular of which range from astronomical to sacrificial.

Overall, the existence of prehistoric sites such as the Roman Baths and Stonehenge solidify the existence of strong spiritual worship in a now secular society. London’s ancient predecessors proved this through works of art such as the aforementioned sites. I find it interesting that archaeology is instrumental in uncovering this semi-forgotten period in time.

It was very neat to see how much of an impact archeology has on history. Before attending this trip, I rarely paid archeology any mind, but I see now that archeological findings can definitely go hand in hand with science and solidifying/verifying many religious and/or historical aspects about any given society. Very interesting!

Until next post,

Darrion