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REVIEW BY JO DAY
Imagining Roman baths conjures up scenes of mosaics and frescoes, perfumes, hot rooms and cold pools, and steamy air thick with watery sounds and chattering. These structures were so much more than just a place to get clean, and in this carefully researched volume Giacomo Savani shows how bathing in Roman Britain merged indigenous and foreign practices in a process he terms ‘colonisation of the senses’. This is revealed through an exploration of the relationships between rural baths (as opposed to urban and military ones) and the surrounding communities in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Gloucestershire. There are detailed descriptions of the archaeological remains and analysis of the construction materials, as well as discussion of the multisensory encounters of the users (not forgetting the very different experiences of slaves running the hypocaust system). Overall, this book combines an overview of changing scholarly attitudes to Roman Britain with plentiful archaeological data, relevant Classical texts, and exciting new ideas about the senses. There is much here for specialists and amateurs alike.
Rural Baths in Roman Britain: A colonisation of the senses
Giacomo Savani
Routledge, £101.50 (eBook: £33.99)
ISBN 978-1032282749
