A cheerful and enthusiastic group of Year 9 students spend three days in Bath and the surrounding area at the end of the recent half term break to study Roman life in Britain.
Our first day was spent in Caerleon Roman military fort, looking at the remains of the amphitheatre, barracks and baths, and trying to imagine what a Roman might have thought about serving for 25 years as a soldier in south Wales. The theme of the second day was “Roman town life” – visiting the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Roman Baths at Aquae Sulis and the Corinium Museum in Cirencester with its fabulous mosaics.
For many students, their Latin curriculum follows a storyline set in Bath, so this was a great opportunity to put their studies in context. We had a workshop which involved deciphering Roman tombstones and handling ancient artefacts found at the baths. A curse tablet which is one of the earliest pieces of evidence for a person with dyslexia and a tombstone of a small child who was apparently freed from slavery and legally adopted just before her death were particular highlights.
The theme of our final day was life for the wealthy elite in the countryside. We visited the Roman villa at Chedworth, made our own mosaics, and learnt about the Italian snails who must have made a daring escape from the villa’s kitchens before being eaten, because their descendants are still living in the forest nearby.
All of this, plus some excellent autumn colours throughout Somerset, and one of the best pizzas in the country, added up to a short but fun trip to a beautiful city.
