92 PAPERS, ETC. 



Sir K. C. Hoare (Anc. Wilts. vol. 2) thinks, though the 

 word is feminine, that it was not equivalent with the Goddess 

 Minerva, but that it was the Celtic So! ; and we know the 

 sun, in Teutonick, is masculine, and the moon feminine. 

 Sir Richard says (letter in Bath Chronicle, July 19th, 

 1827), 'that the name of Sul was Celtic, there can be no 

 doubt, and it was afterwards latinized into Sol bv the 

 Romans— a custom they adopted on many other occasions, 

 and it appears, by the inscriptions preserved at Bath, that 

 they added their own deity, Minerva, to that of Britons' 

 Sol.' 



" The Itineraries of Antoninus, and of Richard of Ciren- 

 cester, will of course be cited in confirmation of the old 

 appellation, Aqua6 Solis. Mr. Himter's remarks on these, 

 may, however, be deemed worthy of consideration. (See 

 his letter.) ' The term Aquae Solis occurs only once in any 

 undisputed remain of the Roman times. It is in one of the 

 Itiueraries of Antoninus, and it may be observed that 

 there is no question whether the Station indicated by it be 

 not the place now called Bath.' 



" ' We find Aqute Solis in two of Richard's Itinera ; but tUl 

 the genuineness of his work is more completely established, 

 any evidence, which it may be disposed to offer in this en- 

 quiry, may be disregarded.' 



"Mr. Hunter afterwards states his opinion that Antoninus 

 was Ignorant of the Goddess Sul, and that he was misin- 

 formed as to the name of ancient Bath, 'and knowing 

 that at the Station in question were Springs celebrated on 

 account of their natural heat, and being familiär with 

 Heliopolis as a local appellation, was thus induced to wTite 

 Aquaj Solis; oi that some early transcriber of Antonine 

 finding Aqua3 Sulis which he could not understand, ventured, 

 on his own autliorify, to Substitute Aquas Solis, a name 



