Roman Baths
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In
ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large
imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...
bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers throughout Rome. Most Roman cities had at least one – if not many – such buildings, which were centers not only for bathing, but socializing and reading as well. Bathhouses were also provided for wealthy private
villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...
s,
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, and
forts A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
. They were supplied with water from an adjacent river or stream, or within cities by aqueduct. The water would be heated by fire then channelled into the
caldarium 230px, Caldarium from the Roman Baths at Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the empty space where the hot air flowed through to heat the floor. A caldarium (also called a calidarium, cella caldaria or cella coctilium) was a room ...
(hot bathing room). The design of baths is discussed by
Vitruvius Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled ''De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribute ...
in ''
De architectura (''On architecture'', published as ''Ten Books on Architecture'') is a treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect and military engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide f ...
'
(V.10)


Terminology

'','' '','' '','' and may all be translated as 'bath' or 'baths', though Latin sources distinguish among these terms. or , derived from the
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
signifies, in its primary sense, a bath or bathing-vessel, such as most persons of any consequence among the Romans possessed in their own houses, and hence the chamber which contained the bath, which is also the proper translation of the word . The diminutive is adopted by
Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...
to designate the bathroom of Scipio in the villa at
Liternum Liternum was an ancient town of Campania, southern central Italy, near "Patria lake", on the low sandy coast between Cumae and the mouth of the Volturnus. It was probably once dependent on Cumae. In 194 BC it became a Roman colony. Although Livy r ...
, and is expressly used to characterize the modesty of republican manners as compared with the luxury of his own times. But when the baths of private individuals became more sumptuous and comprised many rooms, instead of the one small chamber described by Seneca, the plural or was adopted, which still, in correct language, had reference only to the baths of private persons. Thus,
Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
terms the baths at the villa of his brother
Quintus Quintus is a male given name derived from '' Quintus'', a common Latin forename (''praenomen'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Quintus derives from Latin word ''quintus'', meaning "fifth". Quintus is an English masculine given name and ...
. and , which according to
Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...
have no singular number, were the public baths, but this accuracy of diction is neglected by many of the subsequent writers, and particularly by the poets, amongst whom is not uncommonly used in the plural number to signify the public baths, since the word could not be introduced in a
hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...
verse.
Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
also, in the same sentence, makes use of the neuter plural for public, and of for a private bath. (Greek: , , 'hot springs, hot baths', from the Greek adjective , 'hot') meant properly warm springs, or baths of warm water; but came to be applied to those magnificent edifices which grew up under the
empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
, in place of the simple of the
republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
, and which comprised within their range of buildings all the appurtenances belonging to the Greek gymnasia, as well as a regular establishment appropriated for bathing. Writers, however, use these terms without distinction. Thus the baths erected by
Claudius Etruscus Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor a ...
, the freedman of the Emperor
Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...
, are styled by
Statius Publius Papinius Statius (Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; ; ) was a Greco-Roman poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the ''Thebaid''; a collection of occasional poetry, ...
, and by
Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...
. In an epigram by ''Martial''——the terms are not applied to the whole building, but to two different chambers in the same edifice.


Building layout

A public bath was built around three principal rooms: the ''
tepidarium The tepidarium was the warm (''tepidus'') bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system. The speciality of a tepidarium is the pleasant feeling of constant radiant heat which directly affects the human body from t ...
'' (warm room), the ''
caldarium 230px, Caldarium from the Roman Baths at Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the empty space where the hot air flowed through to heat the floor. A caldarium (also called a calidarium, cella caldaria or cella coctilium) was a room ...
'' (hot room), and the ''
frigidarium A frigidarium is one of the three main bath chambers of a Roman bath or ''thermae'', namely the cold room. It often contains a swimming pool. The succession of bathing activities in the ''thermae'' is not known with certainty, but it is thought ...
'' (cold room). Some also featured steam baths: the ''
sudatorium In architecture, a sudatorium is a vaulted sweating-room ('' sudor'', "sweat") or steam bath (Latin: ''sudationes'', steam) of the Roman baths or thermae. The Roman architectural writer Vitruvius (v. 2) refers to it as ''concamerata sudatio''. It is ...
'', a moist steam bath, and the ''
laconicum The ''laconicum'' (i.e. Spartan, ''sc.'' ''balneum'', bath). Cf. Greek ''pyriaterion to lakonikon'' "the Laconian vapour-bath"; , . was the dry sweating room of the Roman ''thermae'', contiguous to the ''caldarium'' or hot room. The name was given ...
'', a dry hot room much like a modern
sauna A sauna (, ), or sudatory, is a small room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a ...
. By way of illustration, this article will describe the layout of
Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
's Old Baths, otherwise known as the Forum Baths, which are among the best-preserved Roman baths. These baths were connected to the forum at Pompeii, hence the name. The references are to the floor plan pictured to the right. This specific complex consists of a double set of baths, one for men and one for women. It has six different entrances from the street, one of which (''b'') gives admission to the smaller women's set only. Five other entrances lead to the men's department, of which two (''c'' and ''c2''), communicate directly with the furnaces, and the other three (''a3, a2, a'') with the bathing apartments.


Palaestra

Passing through the principal entrance, ''a'' (barely visible, right side, one third of the total length from above), which is removed from the street by a narrow footway surrounding the building and after descending three steps, the bather would find a small chamber on his left (''x'') with a toilet ('' latrina''), and proceed into a covered
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
(''g, g''), which ran round three sides of an open court (''
palaestra A palaestra ( or ; also (chiefly British) palestra; grc-gre, παλαίστρα) was any site of an ancient Greek wrestling school. Events requiring little space, such as boxing and wrestling, took place there. Palaestrae functioned both indep ...
, A''). These together formed the vestibule of the baths (), in which the servants waited.


Use of the palaestra

This palaestra was the exercise ground for the young men, or perhaps served as a promenade for visitors to the baths. Within this court the keeper of the baths (), who exacted the ''
quadrans The quadrans (literally meaning "a quarter") or teruncius ("three unciae") was a low-value Roman bronze coin worth one quarter of an as. The quadrans was issued from the beginning of cast bronze coins during the Roman Republic with three p ...
'' paid by each visitor, was also stationed. The room (''f)'' which runs back from the portico, might have been appropriated to him; but most probably it was an ''
oecus ''Oecus'' is the Latinized form of Greek ''oikos'', used by Vitruvius for the principal hall or salon in a Roman house, which was used occasionally as a triclinium for banquets. When of great size it became necessary to support its ceiling with c ...
'' or ''
exedra An exedra (plural: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek sense (''ἐξέδρα'', a seat out of d ...
'', for the convenience of the better classes while awaiting the return of their acquaintances from the interior. In this court, advertisements for the theatre or other announcements of general interest were posted, one of which, announcing a
gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...
ial show, still remains. At the sides of the entrance were seats (). The 1898 edition of ''
Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities ''Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities'' is an English-language encyclopedia on subjects of classical antiquity. It was edited by Harry Thurston Peck and published 1898 by Harper & Brothers in New York City. (advertisement) ...
'' provided illustrations envisioning the rooms of the Old Baths at
Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
: File:Apodyterium of the Old Baths at Pompeii by Overbeck.png, ''
Apodyterium In ancient Rome, the apodyterium (from grc, ἀποδυτήριον "undressing room") was the primary entry in the public baths, composed of a large changing room with cubicles or shelves where citizens could store clothing and other belongings ...
'' File:Tepidarium of the Old Baths at Pompeii by Overbeck.png, ''
Tepidarium The tepidarium was the warm (''tepidus'') bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system. The speciality of a tepidarium is the pleasant feeling of constant radiant heat which directly affects the human body from t ...
'' File:Caldarium of the Old Baths at Pompeii by Overbeck.png, ''
Caldarium 230px, Caldarium from the Roman Baths at Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the empty space where the hot air flowed through to heat the floor. A caldarium (also called a calidarium, cella caldaria or cella coctilium) was a room ...
'' File:Frigidarium of the Old Baths at Pompeii by Overbeck.png, ''
Frigidarium A frigidarium is one of the three main bath chambers of a Roman bath or ''thermae'', namely the cold room. It often contains a swimming pool. The succession of bathing activities in the ''thermae'' is not known with certainty, but it is thought ...
''


Apodyterium and frigidarium

A passage (''c'') leads into the ''
apodyterium In ancient Rome, the apodyterium (from grc, ἀποδυτήριον "undressing room") was the primary entry in the public baths, composed of a large changing room with cubicles or shelves where citizens could store clothing and other belongings ...
'' (''B''), a room for undressing in which all visitors must have met before entering the baths proper. Here, the bathers removed their clothing, which was taken in charge by slaves known as '' capsarii'', notorious in ancient times for their dishonesty. The was a spacious chamber, with stone seats along three sides of the wall (''h''). Holes are still visible on the walls, and probably mark the places where the pegs for the bathers' clothes were set. The chamber was lighted by a glass window, and had six doors. One of these led to the ''
tepidarium The tepidarium was the warm (''tepidus'') bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system. The speciality of a tepidarium is the pleasant feeling of constant radiant heat which directly affects the human body from t ...
'' (''D'') and another to the ''
frigidarium A frigidarium is one of the three main bath chambers of a Roman bath or ''thermae'', namely the cold room. It often contains a swimming pool. The succession of bathing activities in the ''thermae'' is not known with certainty, but it is thought ...
'' (''C''), with its cold plunge-bath referred to as ''
baptisterium In classical antiquity, a baptisterium ( grc, βαπτιστήριον) was a large basin installed in private or public baths Public baths originated when most people in population centers did not have access to private bathing facilities. Tho ...
'' (more commonly called ''
natatorium A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
'' or ), , , or ; the terms and suggest that some of those baths were also
swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
s. The bath in this chamber is of white marble, surrounded by two marble steps.


Tepidarium

From the the bather who wished to go through the warm bath and sweating process entered the (''D''). It did not contain water either at Pompeii nor at the Baths of Hippias, but was merely heated with warm air of an agreeable temperature, in order to prepare the body for the great heat of the vapour and warm baths, and, upon returning, to prevent a too-sudden transition to the open air. In the baths at Pompeii this chamber also served as an for those who took the warm bath. The walls feature a number of separate compartments or recesses for receiving the garments when taken off. The compartments are divided from each other by figures of the kind called atlantes or
telamones In European architectural sculpture, an atlas (also known as an atlant, or atlante or atlantid; plural atlantes)''Aru-Az
, which project from the walls and support a rich cornice above them in a wide arch. Three bronze benches were also found in the room, which was heated as well by its contiguity to the
hypocaust A hypocaust ( la, hypocaustum) is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm th ...
of the adjoining chamber, as by a
brazier A brazier () is a container used to burn charcoal or other solid fuel for cooking, heating or cultural rituals. It often takes the form of a metal box or bowl with feet. Its elevation helps circulate air, feeding oxygen to the fire. Braziers h ...
of bronze ('' foculus''), in which the charcoal ashes were still remaining when the excavation was made. Sitting and perspiring beside such a brazier was called . The is generally the most highly ornamented room in baths. It was merely a room to sit and be anointed in. In the Forum Baths at Pompeii the floor is mosaic, the arched ceiling adorned with stucco and painting on a coloured ground, the walls red. Anointing was performed by slaves called '' unctores'' and '' aliptae''. It sometimes took place before going to the hot bath, and sometimes after the cold bath, before putting on the clothes, in order to check the perspiration. Some baths had a special room ('' destrictarium'' or '' unctorium'') for this purpose.


Caldarium

From the a door opened into the (''E''), whose
mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
floor was directly above the furnace or
hypocaust A hypocaust ( la, hypocaustum) is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm th ...
. Its walls also were hollow, behind the decorated plaster one part of the wall was made from interconnected hollow bricks called , forming a great flue filled with heated air. At one end was a round basin ('' labrum''), and at the other a quadrangular bathing place (, , , ), approached from the platform by steps. The held cold water, for pouring upon the bather's head before he left the room. These basins are of marble in the Old Baths, but we hear of of solid silver. Because of the great heat of the room, the was but slightly ornamented.


Laconicum

The Old Baths have no ''
laconicum The ''laconicum'' (i.e. Spartan, ''sc.'' ''balneum'', bath). Cf. Greek ''pyriaterion to lakonikon'' "the Laconian vapour-bath"; , . was the dry sweating room of the Roman ''thermae'', contiguous to the ''caldarium'' or hot room. The name was given ...
'', which was a chamber still hotter than the , and used simply as a sweating-room, having no bath. It was said to have been introduced at Rome by
Agrippa Agrippa may refer to: People Antiquity * Agrippa (mythology), semi-mythological king of Alba Longa * Agrippa (astronomer), Greek astronomer from the late 1st century * Agrippa the Skeptic, Skeptic philosopher at the end of the 1st century * Agri ...
and was also called ''
sudatorium In architecture, a sudatorium is a vaulted sweating-room ('' sudor'', "sweat") or steam bath (Latin: ''sudationes'', steam) of the Roman baths or thermae. The Roman architectural writer Vitruvius (v. 2) refers to it as ''concamerata sudatio''. It is ...
'' and .


Service areas

The has a passage (q) communicating with the mouth of the furnace (i), called or and, passing down that passage, we reach the chamber M, into which the projects, and which is entered from the street at ''c''. It was assigned to the , or persons in charge of the fires. Of its two staircases, one leads to the roof of the baths, and one to the
boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...
s containing the water. There were three boilers, one of which () held the hot water; a second, the tepid (); and the third, the cold (). The warm water was filled into the warm bath by a pipe through the wall, marked on the plan. Underneath the hot chamber was set the circular furnace ''d'', of more than 7 ft. in diameter, which heated the water and poured hot air into the hollow cells of the hypocaustum. It passed from the furnace under the first and last of the caldrons by two flues, which are marked on the plan. The boiler containing hot water was placed immediately over the furnace; as the water was drawn out from there, it was supplied from the next, the , which was raised a little higher and stood a little way off from the furnace. It was already considerably heated from its contiguity to the furnace and the hypocaust below it, so that it supplied the deficiency of the former without materially diminishing its temperature; and the vacuum in this last was again filled up from the farthest removed, which contained the cold water received directly from the square reservoir seen behind them. The boilers themselves no longer remain, but the impressions which they have left in the mortar in which they were embedded are clearly visible, and enable us to determine their respective positions and dimensions. Such coppers or boilers appear to have been called , from their similarity of shape to a
milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...
. Behind the boilers, another corridor leads into the court or palaestra (''K''), appropriated to the servants of the bath.


Women's bath

The adjoining, smaller set of baths were assigned to the women. The entrance is by the door ''b'', which conducts into a small vestibule (''m'') and from there into the (''H''), which, like the one in the men's bath, has a seat ('','' ) on either side built up against the wall. This opens upon a cold bath (''J''), answering to the of the men's set, but of much smaller dimensions. There are four steps on the inside to descend into it. Opposite to the door of entrance into the is another doorway which leads to the (''G''), which also communicates with the thermal chamber (''F''), on one side of which is a warm bath in a square recess, and at the farther extremity the . The floor of this chamber is suspended, and its walls perforated for flues, like the corresponding one in the men's baths. The in the women's baths had no brazier, but it had a hanging or suspended floor.


Purpose

The baths often included, aside from the three main rooms listed above, a ''
palaestra A palaestra ( or ; also (chiefly British) palestra; grc-gre, παλαίστρα) was any site of an ancient Greek wrestling school. Events requiring little space, such as boxing and wrestling, took place there. Palaestrae functioned both indep ...
'', or outdoor gymnasium where men would engage in various ball games and exercises. There, among other things, weights were lifted and the discus thrown. Men would oil themselves (as
soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...
was still a luxury good and thus not widely available),
shower A shower is a place in which a person bathes under a spray of typically warm or hot water. Indoors, there is a drain in the floor. Most showers have temperature, spray pressure and adjustable showerhead nozzle. The simplest showers have a ...
, and remove the excess with a
strigil The strigil ( el, στλεγγίς, translit=stlengis, probably a loanword from Pre-Greek substrate) is a tool for the cleansing of the body by scraping off dirt, perspiration, and oil that was applied before bathing in Ancient Greek and Roman cu ...
(cf. the well known Apoxyomenus of
Lysippus Lysippos (; grc-gre, Λύσιππος) was a Greek sculptor of the 4th century BC. Together with Scopas and Praxiteles, he is considered one of the three greatest sculptors of the Classical Greek era, bringing transition into the Hellenistic p ...
from the
Vatican Museum The Vatican Museums ( it, Musei Vaticani; la, Musea Vaticana) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of ...
). Often wealthy bathers would bring a , a slave that carried his master's towels, oils, and strigils to the baths and then watched over them once in the baths, as thieves and pickpockets were known to frequent the baths. The changing room was known as the ''
apodyterium In ancient Rome, the apodyterium (from grc, ἀποδυτήριον "undressing room") was the primary entry in the public baths, composed of a large changing room with cubicles or shelves where citizens could store clothing and other belongings ...
'' (from Greek from 'to take off').


Cultural significance

In many ways, baths were the ancient Roman equivalent of community centres. Because the bathing process took so long, conversation was necessary. Many Romans would use the baths as a place to invite their friends to dinner parties, and many politicians would go to the baths to convince fellow Romans to join their causes. The had many attributes in addition to the baths. There were libraries, rooms for poetry readings, and places to buy and eat food. The modern equivalent would be a combination of a library, art gallery, mall, restaurant, gym, and spa. One important function of the baths in Roman society was their role as what we would consider a “branch library” today. Many in the general public did not have access to the grand libraries in Rome and so as a cultural institution the baths served as an important resource where the more common citizen could enjoy the luxury of books. The
Baths of Trajan The Baths of Trajan ( it, Terme di Traiano) were a massive ''thermae'', a bathing and leisure complex, built in ancient Rome starting from 104 AD and dedicated during the '' kalendae'' of July in 109. Commissioned by Emperor Trajan, the complex of ...
, of
Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...
, and
Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
all contained rooms determined to be libraries. They have been identified through the architecture of the baths themselves. The presence of niches in the walls are assumed to have been bookcases and have been shown to be sufficiently deep to have contained ancient scrolls. There is little documentation from the writers of the time that there did exist definitive public libraries maintained in the baths, but records have been found that indicated a slave from the imperial household was labelled ('maintenance man of the Greek library of the baths'). However, this may only indicate that the same slave held two positions in succession: "maintenance man of the baths" () and "employee in the Greek library" (a ). The reason for this debate is that, although
Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
and Asinius Pollio advocated for public access to books and that libraries be open to all readers, there is little evidence that public libraries existed in the modern sense as we know it. It is more likely that these reserves were maintained for the wealthy elite. Baths were a site for important sculpture; among the well-known pieces recovered from the
Baths of Caracalla The Baths of Caracalla ( it, Terme di Caracalla) in Rome, Italy, were the city's second largest Ancient Rome, Roman public baths, or ''thermae'', after the Baths of Diocletian. The baths were likely built between AD 212 (or 211) and 216/217, durin ...
are the ''
Farnese Bull The ''Farnese Bull'' ( it, Toro Farnese), formerly in the Farnese collection in Rome, is a massive Roman elaborated copy of a Hellenistic sculpture. It is the largest single sculpture yet recovered from antiquity. Along with the rest of the Fa ...
'' and ''
Farnese Hercules The ''Farnese Hercules'' ( it, Ercole Farnese) is an ancient statue of Hercules, probably an enlarged copy made in the early third century AD and signed by Glykon, who is otherwise unknown; the name is Greek but he may have worked in Rome. Like ...
'' and over life-size early 3rd century patriotic figures, (now in the
Museo di Capodimonte Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Italia ...
,
Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
). The Romans believed that good health came from bathing, eating, massages, and exercise. The baths, therefore, had all of these things in abundance. Since some citizens would be bathing multiple times a week, Roman society was surprisingly clean. When asked by a foreigner why he bathed once a day, a Roman emperor is said to have replied "Because I do not have the time to bathe twice a day." Emperors often built baths to gain favour for themselves and to create a lasting monument of their generosity. If a rich Roman wished to gain the favour of the people, he might arrange for a free admission day in his name. For example, a senator hoping to become a
Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...
might pay all admission fees at a particular bath on his birthday to become well known to the people of the area.


Location

Baths sprang up all over the empire. Where natural
hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
s existed (as in
Bath, England Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the ceremonial counties of England, county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 1 ...
;
Băile Herculane Băile Herculane ( la, Aqua Herculis; german: Herkulesbad; hu, Herkulesfürdő; cz, Herkulovy Lázně, tr, Lazarethane) is a spa town in Romanian Banat, in Caraș-Severin County, situated in the valley of the Cerna River, between the Mehedinț ...
,
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
or Aquae Calidae near
Burgas Burgas ( bg, Бургас, ), sometimes transliterated as ''Bourgas'', is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a popu ...
and
Serdica Serdika or Serdica (Bulgarian: ) is the historical Roman name of Sofia, now the capital of Bulgaria. Currently, Serdika is the name of a district located in the city. It includes four neighbourhoods: "Fondovi zhilishta"; "Banishora", "Orlandovts ...
,
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
) were built around them. Alternatively, a system of ''
hypocaust A hypocaust ( la, hypocaustum) is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm th ...
a'' (from 'below' and 'to burn') were utilised to heat the piped water from a furnace ().


Remains of Roman public baths

A number of Roman public baths survive, either as ruins or in varying degrees of conservation. Among the more notable are the Roman baths of Bath and the
Ravenglass Roman Bath House Ravenglass Roman Bath House (also known as Walls Castle) is a ruined ancient Roman bath house at Ravenglass, Cumbria, England. Belonging to a 2nd-century Roman fort and naval base (known to the Romans as ''Itunocelum''), the bath house is desc ...
in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
as well as the
Baths of Caracalla The Baths of Caracalla ( it, Terme di Caracalla) in Rome, Italy, were the city's second largest Ancient Rome, Roman public baths, or ''thermae'', after the Baths of Diocletian. The baths were likely built between AD 212 (or 211) and 216/217, durin ...
, of Diocletian, of Titus, of Trajan in
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
and the baths of
Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
,
Serdica Serdika or Serdica (Bulgarian: ) is the historical Roman name of Sofia, now the capital of Bulgaria. Currently, Serdika is the name of a district located in the city. It includes four neighbourhoods: "Fondovi zhilishta"; "Banishora", "Orlandovts ...
and
Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...
.http://www.ancient-bulgaria.com/2008/05/09/the-roman-thermae-in-varna/ Probably the most complete are various public and private baths in
Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
and nearby sites. The
Hammam Essalihine Hammam Essalihine ( ar, حمام الصالحين ''Ḥammām aṣ-Ṣāliḥīn'', lit. "The Bath of the Righteous"; la, Aquae Flavianae) is an ancient Thermae, Roman bath situated in the Aurès Mountains in the El Hamma District in the Khench ...
is still in use today. In 1910,
Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...
was opened in New York City, with a Main Waiting Room that borrowed heavily from the frigidarium of the Baths of Diocletian, especially with the use of repeated
groin vaults A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults.Hugh Honour, Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. ...
in the ceiling. The success of the design of Pennsylvania Station in turn was copied in other railroad stations around the world.


See also

* Ancient Roman bathing *
Diocletian window Diocletian windows, also called thermal windows, are large semicircular windows characteristic of the enormous public baths (''thermae'') of Ancient Rome. They have been revived on a limited basis by some classical revivalist architects in more m ...
(thermal window) *
Greek baths Greek baths were bath complexes suitable for bathing and cleaning in ancient Greece, similar in concept to that of the Roman baths. Greek baths are a feature of some Hellenized countries. These baths have been found in Greece, Egypt, Italy, and t ...
*
History of sanitation The history of water supply and sanitation is one of a logistical challenge to provide clean water and sanitation systems since the dawn of civilization. Where water resources, infrastructure or sanitation systems were insufficient, diseases spre ...
*
Roman architecture Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are often considered on ...
*
Roman culture The culture of ancient Rome existed throughout the almost 1200-year history of the civilization of Ancient Rome. The term refers to the culture of the Roman Republic, later the Roman Empire, which at its peak covered an area from present-day Lo ...
*
Roman engineering The ancient Romans were famous for their advanced engineering accomplishments. Technology for bringing running water into cities was developed in the east, but transformed by the Romans into a technology inconceivable in Greece. The architecture ...
*
Roman technology Roman technology is the collection of antiques, skills, methods, processes, and engineering practices which supported Roman civilization and made possible the expansion of the economy and military of ancient Rome (753 BC – 476 AD). The Roma ...
*
Spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. H ...
* ''
Thermae Romae is a Japanese manga series by Mari Yamazaki. It won the third Manga Taishō and the Short Story Award at the 14th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. The manga has been licensed in North America by Yen Press. Fuji TV produced a live-action film ...
'' (''manga'' and film) *
Turkish Bath A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...
*
Victorian Turkish bath Victorian Turkish bath or simply Turkish bath (though not to be confused with the traditional baths in Turkey and the Ottoman Empire) is a type of public bathhouse which was derived from the ''hammam'' (bathhouse) of the Islamic world and those ...


References


Citations


Sources

* * *


Further reading

*Bruun, Christer. 1991. ''The water supply of ancient Rome: A study of Roman imperial administration.'' Helsinki: Societas Scientiarum Fennica. * DeLaine, Janet. 1997. ''The Baths of Caracalla: A Study In the Design, Construction, and Economics of Large-Scale Building Projects In Imperial Rome.'' Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology. *DeLaine, Janet, and David E Johnston. 1999. ''Roman Baths and Bathing: Proceedings of the First International Conference On Roman Baths Held At Bath, England, 30 March-4 April 1992.'' Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology. *Fagan, Garrett G. 2001. "The genesis of the Roman public bath: Recent approaches and future directions." ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 105, no. 3: 403–26. *Manderscheid, Hubertus. 2004. ''Ancient Baths and Bathing: A Bibliography for the Years 1988-2001.'' Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology. *Marvin, M. 1983. "Freestanding sculptures from the Baths of Caracalla." ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 87: 347–84. *Nielsen, Inge. 1993. ''Thermae Et Balnea: The Architecture and Cultural History of Roman Public Baths.'' 2nd ed. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press. *Ring, James W. 1996. "Windows, baths and solar energy in the Roman Empire." ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 100: 717–24. *Rotherham, Ian D. 2012. ''Roman Baths In Britain.'' Stroud: Amberley. *Roupas, N. 2012. "Roman bath tiles." ''Archaeology'' 65, no. 2: 12. *Yegül, Fikret K. 1992. ''Baths and bathing in classical antiquity.'' New York: Architectural History Foundation. *--. 2010. ''Bathing In the Roman World.'' New York: Cambridge University Press.


External links

*William Smit
Roman Baths (Balneae)
from "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities", pub. John Murray, London, 1875.
ThermeMuseum (Museum of the Thermae) in Heerlen

Traianus
– Technical investigation of Roman public works

An interactive site using the Baths of Caracalla as an example *Barbara F. McManu

*3d reconstruction of a Roman bath
Limes in AustriaRoman Baths of Weissenburg Digital Media Archive
(
creative commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...
-licensed photos, laser scans, panoramas) with data from a City of Weissenburg/
CyArk CyArk (from "cyber archive") is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Oakland, California, United States founded in 2003. CyArk's mission is to "digitally record, archive and share the world's most significant cultural heritage and ensure ...
research partnership
Victorian Turkish bath
Information regarding a 19th-century version of the Roman or "Turkish" bath * {{Authority control Ancient Roman baths Hydrotherapy