Working with Penguin and The British Museum, The Reading Agency gave reading groups the chance to explore their local museums and tell us all about their favourite discoveries. Reading groups read A History of the World in 100 Objects and were treated to exclusive talks from curators.
We’re showcasing the best entries on Reading Groups for Everyone throughout December. Today we’re presenting an ancient Roman’s tourist souvenir.
A Roman soldier’s bowl
Bath today is inundated with tourists, shoppers, students and everyday visitors from surrounding towns and villages. The city was also a popular tourist destination in Roman times; the natural thermal springs were used as Public Baths and also housed a sacred temple to the goddess Sulis Minerva. Just like today, the visitors often had traveled far to visit this hotspot of the Roman Empire. The diversity of the visitors can be deduced from the provenance of objects thrown into the Sacred Spring.
One of the items in the fabulous collection of objects in the Roman Baths Museum is, on first glance, a simple bowl. The bowl is small with a flat handle on one side. It is a warm, gold colour with clear shapes indented around its sides. Originally these indentations would have held bright enamel, but no trace of this remains.
The bowl may have belonged to a Roman soldier visiting Bath. A simpler bowl would have been an everyday object but this particular bowl is a souvenir from the very edge of the empire, the dangerous line between civilisation and disorder – for the shapes around the bowl’s sides depict Hadrian’s Wall.
Who knows the actual motivation for the purchase, but it’s hard not to imagine someone wanting to spark conversation about their daring exploits as a soldier at the very end of the earth.
As you wander round Bath today and see tourists buying holiday curios it’s amusing to think that in some ways things haven’t changed much since the 2nd Century AD. People seem to have a similar urge to capture memories and prove their well-traveled sophistication by purchasing eye-catching souvenirs. It’s just a shame that most aren’t nearly as beautiful as this breathtaking Roman bowl.
Contributor: Sarah Ormes
Huge thanks to Susan Fox, Collections Manager at the Roman Baths and Pump Room, Heritage Services, Bath and NE Somerset Council for the brilliant and fascinating tour she gave our reading group around the Baths.
