Derbyshire Classical Association
Dr Giacomo Savani: ‘An Elusive Legacy: The Rediscovery of Roman Baths in Eighteenth-Century Britain’
The meeting will take place on Friday 8 May, in the main hall at Strutts Community Centre, Belper (DE56 1UU), with doors opening at 7 for a 7.30 pm start. Drinks and refreshments will be available before the talk, as well as our second-hand bookstore.
Entry is free to DCA members; non-members’ tickets are available from our Ticketsource page, for £5 or £2 for accompanied under-18s. We aim to make the ancient world as accessible as possible; please contact us about support for attendance from our access fund. All our events include the opportunity to find out more about teaching the ancient world at primary or secondary level through our partnership with Classics for All East Midlands. We welcome school groups.
To find out more about our friendly and accessible events looking at all aspects of the ancient world, contact us at derbyshireca.secretary@gmail.com.
Abstract for Giacomo’s talk: Bathing wasn’t just about hygiene to the Romans; it was a key part of social and political life. The talk will investigate how eighteenth-century antiquarians reacted when they first came across the remains of Roman bath buildings in Britain, with a particular focus on the town of Buxton and the city of Bath. It reconstructs the antiquarians’ varied interests and occasionally wild theories about the ancient practice of bathing, especially regarding the hypocaust system, which heated the baths. Although the renowned antiquarian William Stukeley (1687–1765) praised the hypocaust as an ‘incomparable invention,’ the baths’ heating system remained a subject of debate among Georgian scholars, who were often confounded by the subtleties ofthe ancient descriptions. Finally, we’ll delve into the elusive socio-cultural legacy of Roman baths in Britain 250 years ago, highlighting how these discoveries influenced, or sometimes reinvented, contemporary ideas about bathing and architecture.
Membership:
To become a member email us at derbyshireca.secretary@gmail.com
Note: for queries about any events hosted by local CA branches, please contact the branch directly (details are available on the Branches page)