Writes Noa Cebon, Teacher of Classics
During half term, an enthusiastic group of Thirds embarked on the Taylors’ annual residential trip to Bath. The boys, venturing into the world of Roman Britain for perhaps the first time, brought a delightful curiosity to the experience. Over the course of two days in Bath and Cirencester, they explored some of the best-preserved remains of this country’s Roman occupation at the Roman Baths, Chedworth Roman Villa and the Corinium Museum.
There were many highlights from the weekend. The excellent handling session at the Roman Baths enabled the students to see the remarkable collection of artefacts discovered there and really helped to put Roman Britain into context. We were able to understand what people would have been doing inside the Baths so many hundreds of years ago — whether being scraped down with a strigil, eating oysters with a special oyster spoon, or even going for a communal toilet break. The students were able to hold and identify several genuine artefacts for themselves, including, most excitingly, an earwax cleaner.
At Chedworth Roman Villa, the tour guides expertly showed us around the site. Particular highlights included the magnificent Four Seasons mosaic and, of course, the real Roman toilets. It was also fascinating to hear about the ways in which wealthy and poorer Romans interacted within the villa setting, and how the wealthy inhabitants might have dined in their window-clad, underfloor-heated dining room (or triclinium) while enslaved workers served them.
At the Corinium Museum, students encountered an enormous range of artefacts discovered locally — nearly rivalling our own School Archive (as Mrs Hesketh, our Archivist, may attest). Items ranged from hairpins to hammers, spanning the Stone Age and the many centuries of Roman occupation. It was especially exciting to see one of only eleven known Sator Squares from the Roman world, which, despite their fame, continue to baffle scholars with their mysterious message.
Above all, however, my highlight from the trip was the annual Bath quiz, featuring questions such as: “What popular Roman sauce was made from fermented fish?”, “Which goddess helped the hero Odysseus on his journey home and was said to be born from Zeus’s head?”, and “If Sulis-Minerva were a real person, what would her favourite ice cream flavour be?” (The only acceptable answers were rum & raisin, olive oil and lemon sorbet, of course.) Congratulations to the winning team — Ayaan, Ralph, Gwilym, George and Yanuss — who scored an impressive 19 out of 28 points.
