Roman Technology - Its Past and Future
Professor Julian Vincent
BRLSI Chair of Trustees

Using power from the wind, water, animals and themselves, the Romans made crossbows and catapults for war, water-mills and pumps, cranes and hoists, and had both merchant and armed navies. The Industrial Revolution broke these traditions, which we would do well to rediscover.

Britain's First Information Revolution
Professor Ian Haynes
University of Newscastle

The Roman conquest of Britain introduced a revolution in the use of information as dramatic in its way as the introduction of the internet in our own times. While many changes were linked to major cities and military centres, others reached further afield and deeper into society. Even patterns of cult practice were changed by this revolution as the evidence from the famous Bath curse tablets demonstrates.

The Roman Empire
Authors Frank McLynn, Philip Parker & Charlotte Higgins in conversation.

How did Rome come to conquer such an enormous territory, and where and why did its expansion halt and fold in on itself? What is that legacy and how powerfully does it survive, both physically and culturally?

They Came to Aquae Sulis
Stephen Bird
Head of Heritage Services, B&NES

Throughout the Roman period people came to Aquae Sulis (Bath) for different reasons - for rest and recuperation, relaxation, to seek retribution for wrongs done to them, or simply to retire. This lecture draws on antiquarian records and archaeological evidence to tell us who these people were and why they came.

Saturday 24th April until Saturday 19th June
Monday - Friday, 10am to 4pm
Admission free.

Exhibition: Caveman to Celt
- The Unwritten History of the British Isles
From the BRLSI Collections.

The environment, lifestyle and technologies of early man, from stone tools used to butcher Mammoth and Woolly Rhino, to the beginnings of agriculture and settled communities, the development of international trade, and with it, the first contacts between Britain and the Roman Empire.

The Demonisation of Paganism - Christian views of Roman religion in late antiquity
Dr Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe
Kings College London

This lecture will explore the reasons for and expressions of Christian hatred of Roman religion. It will focus on their stigmatization of magic and of pagan statues as the dwelling-places of demons. It will also address the effects that such anxieties had on the development of the Christian church.

Mutating Gods of the Roman Pantheon
- Roman religious practicality, its origins and traces today
Roger Vlitos
Writer & photographer

Sulis Minerva, often represented, for her wisdom, with an owl, represents that eclectic pragmatism which allowed Romans to assimilate diverse and even contrary traditions of mythology and faith, from Pagan to Christian eras, into their pantheon. This richly illustrated lecture will examine local examples of the faith-fusion or syncretism which brought unity to the Empire, and consider the meaning of its well known symbols, some of which survive to this day.

Roman Ruins, English Poets
BRLSI Members & others

For centuries, ruins of Roman buildings in England and in Rome have moved English poets to admiration, wonder and reflection on the great fall of empires. We present a variety of poems prompted by such reflections, some read first in Anglo- Saxon or Latin, followed by recent translation.

Bathing in the Roman Empire
Stephen Clews
Bath Roman Baths & Pump Room

What is special about the Roman baths at Bath that attracts visitors from around the world? How do they compare with Roman baths elsewhere? We shall consider the role of bathing in the Roman world, and enjoy some insights from classical sources, the whole finely illustrated with examples from around the Roman Empire.

Roma non basta una vita
(Rome, a lifetime is not enough)

Duncan McGibbon
author of The Consolations

An evocation of Rome through the eyes of poets who visited Bath, including Richard Brinsley Sheridan, John Dryden and Walter Savage Landor.

What the Ancients have done for us (and might still do)
Dr Peter V Jones
Classicist

Our speaker will show how the Greeks and Romans laid the foundations of our world, with their law, politics, education, sport, medicine, war, natural science, ethics, literature, history, philosophy, and ‘communication skills’.

Fosse Way and Myth - Evidence and interpretation
Simon Tyler
BRLSI Member

In tracing this Roman road from Devon to Lincolnshire, we uncover many layers of story and history. As with so much of history and archaeology, the story depends upon the teller, and upon the simplifications in his account and the reasons for them.

A day visit to the Roman town of Caerwent and the legionary fortress of Caerleon

For details email romans@brlsi.org or ring 01225 312084