Rural Baths in Late Roman Britain: Prestige and Competition
This talk redefines our understanding of the relationship between rural baths and the identities of the communities residing in the countryside of Roman Britain, with a focus on late antique Gloucestershire. This region experienced unprecedented levels of prosperity at this time, and many villas were equipped with lavishly decorated baths. Giacomo discusses how villa owners could meticulously craft sensory experiences to reinforce social hierarchies and cultural norms, shaping individuals’ perceptions and interactions. In some instances, baths might even have functioned as catalysts for discrepant or new socio-cultural values and even religious practices.
Details:
Thursday 31st July 2025
7pm – 8:30pm
Clore Learning Centre, Bath, BA11RB
This talk by Dr Giacomo Savani will be ticketed for Live and Online Viewing.
Biography:
Dr Giacomo Savani is a Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Leeds. His research explores the spread and adoption of Roman culture across different spaces and times, focusing on Roman material culture – especially baths and bathing – as a vector and an expression of political, social, and cultural relations. Before starting at Leeds in September 2024, he completed his PhD in Roman Archaeology at the University of Leicester in 2017. Subsequently, he held an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship in the School of Classics, University College Dublin (2019–2022), a Royal Society of Edinburgh Saltire Early Career Fellowship in the School of Classics, University of St Andrews (2022–2023), and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship at the School of History, Ca'Foscari University of Venice (2024).
He is the author of the book Rural Baths in Roman Britain: A Colonisation of the Senses, published by Routledge in 2025.
