The Temple of Sulis Minerva was a classical-style Romano-Celtic temple at Aquae Sulis (Bath), built in the later 1st century CE (c. 60–70 CE) over the hot spring sacred to the native goddess Sulis, who was syncretised with Roman Minerva. It was a tetrastyle Corinthian podium temple — unusually fully classical in form for Britain — set within a colonnaded precinct adjoining the great bathing complex, and it remained in use until the late 4th or early 5th century, when paganism declined and the spring's drainage failed.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
This was one of only a handful of true classical temples known in Roman Britain and the principal religious focus of a major curative cult centre that drew pilgrims from across the province and beyond. The pairing of monumental temple, sacred spring, and thermae made Aquae Sulis a religious-economic destination of provincial importance, comparable in concept to continental sanctuary spas like Grand or Bourbonne-les-Bains.
Excavations from the 19th century onward, especially Barry Cunliffe's campaigns in the 1970s–80s beneath the Pump Room, have recovered the temple podium, altar, the famous gilt-bronze head of Sulis Minerva, and the pedimental sculpture with its Gorgon-like male head. The sacred spring yielded over 130 inscribed lead curse tablets (defixiones) and thousands
The Temple of Sulis Minerva was a classical-style Romano-Celtic temple at Aquae Sulis (Bath), built in the later 1st century CE (c. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a temple site from the Roman period in Britain.
Temple of Sulis Minerva is classified as a Roman temple — a religious site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Aquae Sulis (0 km), Roman Baths (Bath) (0 km), So-called "No.4 Abbeygate Street" (0.1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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