Roman public baths in Bath, England. For Roman baths in general see Thermae. The Roman Baths complex is a site of historical interest in the English city of Bath Bath is a city in Somerset in the south west of England It is situated west of London and south-east of Bristol. The entire structure above the level of the pillar bases is a later reconstruction.

This page is on buildings used for Roman bathing. For the activity in general, see Ancient Roman bathing. This page is on the activity in general - see Thermae for buildings in which it was carried out

The terms balnea or thermae were the words the ancient Romans used for the buildings housing their public baths. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness Often the term public is misleading to some people as they will have restrictions based upon who can use the facility

Most Roman cities had at least one, if not many, such buildings, which were centers of public bathing and socialization. Baths were extremely important for Romans. They stayed there for several hours and went daily. They were accompanied by one or more slaves. When they paid their fee, they would strip naked and put on sandals to protect their feet from heated floors. The slaves carried around their masters towels and got drinks for them. After bathing, they exercised. They did things such as running, mild weight-lifting, wrestling, and swimming. After exercising, oil and dirt got scraped off by servants.

Roman bath-houses were also provided for private villas, town houses and forts — these were also called thermae. A Roman villa is a Villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A domus was the form of house that wealthy and some Middle class families owned in Ancient Rome and could be found in almost all the major cities of the The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military They were supplied with water from an adjacent river or stream, or more normally, by an aqueduct. An aqueduct is an artificial channel that is constructed to convey water from one location to another The design of baths is discussed by Vitruvius in De Architectura. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born c 80–70 BC died after c 15 BC was a Roman Writer, Architect and Engineer (possibly praefectus fabrum De architectura ( Latin: "On architecture" is a treatise on Architecture written by the Roman Architect Vitruvius

Terminology

Thermae, balneae, balineae, balneum and balineum are all commonly translated as "bath" or "baths"; but in the writings of the earlier Roman authors these terms are used with discrimination.

Balneum or balineum, which is derived from the Greek βαλανείον^[1] signifies, in its primary sense, a bath or bathing-vessel, such as most persons of any consequence amongst the Romans possessed in their own houses (Cic. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Ad Alt. ii. 3), and hence the chamber which contained the bath ^[2], which is also the proper translation of the word balnearium. The diminutive balneolum is adopted by Seneca ^[3] to designate the bathroom of Scipio, in the villa at Liternum, and is expressly used to characterise the modesty of republican manners as compared with the luxury of his own times. Publius Cornelius Scipio (died 211 BC was a general and statesman of the Roman Republic. Liternum was an ancient town of Campania, Italy, on the low sandy coast between Cumae and the mouth of the Volturnus 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 balnea or balinea was adopted, which still, in correct language, had reference only to the baths of private persons. Thus Cicero terms the baths at the villa of his brother Quintus^[4] balnearia. Marcus Tullius Cicero ( Classical Latin ˈkikeroː usually ˈsɪsərəʊ in English January 3, 106 BC &ndash December 7, 43 BC was a Roman Quintus Tullius Cicero (102 BC &ndash 43 BC was the younger brother of the celebrated Orator, Philosopher and Statesman Marcus Tullius Balneae and balineae, which according to Varro ^[5] 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 balnea is not uncommonly used in the plural number to signify the public baths, since the word balneae could not be introduced in an hexameter verse. Hexameter is a literary and poetic form consisting of six metrical feet per line as in the Iliad. Pliny also, in the same sentence, makes use of the neuter plural balnea for public, and of balneum for a private bath. ^[6]

Thermae (borrowing from the Greek adjective thermos, 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, in place of the simple balneae of the republic, 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. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial The Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a Republican form of government a period which began with the overthrow of the The gymnasium in Ancient Greece functioned as a training facility for competitors in public Games It was also a place for socializing and engaging in intellectual ^[7] Writers, however, use these terms without distinction. Thus the baths erected by Claudius Etruscus, the freedman of the Emperor Claudius, are styled by Statius^[8] balnea, and by Martial^[9] Etrusci thermulae. Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus or Claudius I ( August 1, 10 BC &ndash October 13, AD 54 ( Tiberius Claudius Drusus from birth to Publius Papinius Statius (ca 45-96 was a Roman Poet of the Silver Age of Latin literature, born in Naples, Italy. Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial) (March 1 40 AD - ca In an epigram by Martial^[10] — subice balneum thermis — the terms are not applied to the whole building, but to two different chambers in the same edifice.

Building layout

Plan of the Old Baths at Pompeii
(click to enlarge)

A public bath was built around three principal rooms: the caldarium (hot bath), the tepidarium (lukewarm bath) and the frigidarium (cold bath). A Caldarium (also called a Calidarium, Cella Caldaria or Cella Coctilium) was a room with a hot plunge bath used in a Roman bath complex The tepidarium was the warm ( tepidus) bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a Hypocaust or Underfloor heating system A frigidarium is a large cold pool to drop into after enjoying a hot Roman bath. Some thermae also featured steam baths: the sudatorium, a moist steam bath, and the laconicum, a dry steam bath much like a modern sauna. Sudatorium, the term in Architecture for the vaulted sweating-room ( sudor, sweat of the Roman Thermae, referred to in Vitruvius (v A sauna (ˈsɔːnə or as Finnish) is a small room or house designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions or an establishment with one or more of these and auxiliary

By way of illustration, this article will describe the layout of the Old Baths adjoining the forum at Pompeii, which are among the best-preserved Roman baths. The Forum was the public space in the middle of a Roman city It had a great social importance and was often the scene of diverse activities including political discussions Pompeii is a ruined and partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples and Caserta in the Italian region of Campania, in The references are to the floor plan pictured to the left. ^[11]

The whole building comprises a double set of baths, one for men and the other 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 male department, of which two (c and c2), communicate directly with the furnaces, and the other three (a3, a2, a) with the bathing apartments.

Atrium

Passing through the principal entrance, a, which is removed from the street by a narrow footway surrounding the building and after descending three steps, the bather finds upon his left hand a small chamber (x) which contained a water closet (latrina), and proceeds into a covered portico (g, g), which ran round three sides of an open court (atrium, A). A latrine (from Latin lavatrina a privy is a structure (usually small holding a single person for Defecation. A portico is a Porch that is leading to the entrance of a building or extended as a Colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway supported by Columns In modern Architecture, an atrium (plural atria is a large open space often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows often situated within an These together formed the vestibule of the baths (vestibulum balnearum^[12]), in which the servants waited. A vestibule (ˈvɛstɨbjuːl is a lobby, entrance Hall, or passage between the entrance and the interior of a Building.

This atrium 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 (balneator), who exacted the quadrans paid by each visitor, was also stationed. The quadrans (literally meaning "a quarter" was a low-value Roman Bronze Coin worth one fourth of an as. The room f, which runs back from the portico, might have been appropriated to him; but most probably it was an oecus or exedra, for the convenience of the better classes while awaiting the return of their acquaintances from the interior. Oecus, the Latinized form of Gr oikos, house used by Vitruvius for the principal Hall or salon in a Roman house which was used occasionally In Architecture, an exedra is a semicircular recess often crowned by a half- Dome, which is usually set into a building's facade In this court, advertisements for the theatre, or other announcements of general interest, were posted up, one of which, announcing a gladiatorial show, still remains. Gladiators (gladiatores "swordsmen" or "one who uses a sword" from la ''gladius'' "sword" were professional fighters in Ancient Rome who fought At the sides of the entrance were stone seats (scholae).

Apodyterium and frigidarium

The apodyterium.

The frigidarium. A frigidarium is a large cold pool to drop into after enjoying a hot Roman bath.

A passage (e) leads into the apodyterium (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. ^[13] The apodyterium was a spacious chamber, with stone seats along two sides of the wall (h, 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 (D) and another to the frigidarium (C), with its cold plunge-bath (referred to as loutron, natatio, natatorium, piscina, baptisterium or puteus). The tepidarium was the warm ( tepidus) bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a Hypocaust or Underfloor heating system natatorium is strictly speaking a structurally separate Building containing a Swimming pool. A piscina or sacrarium is a shallow basin placed near the Altar of a Church, used for washing the communion vessels In Classical antiquity, a baptisterium (βαπτιστήριον was a large basin installed in private or public baths into which bathers could plunge or even swim The bath in this chamber is of white marble, approached by two marble steps.

Tepidarium

The tepidarium. The tepidarium was the warm ( tepidus) bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a Hypocaust or Underfloor heating system

From the frigidarium the bather who wished to go through the warm bath and sweating process entered the tepidarium (D). The tepidarium was the warm ( tepidus) bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a Hypocaust or Underfloor heating system It did not contain water either at Pompeii or 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 apodyterium 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, which project from the walls and support a rich cornice above them. In the European architectural tradition an atlas (also known as a atlant, or atlantid; plural atlantes) is a support sculpted in the form of Origins The origins of the term are unclear It is first recorded in the Latin form caryatides by the Roman architect Vitruvius.

Three bronze benches were also found in the room, which was heated as well by its contignity to the hypocaust of the adjoining chamber, as by a brazier of bronze (foculus), in which the charcoal ashes were still remaining when the excavation was made. A hypocaust (Latin hypocaustum) is an ancient Roman system of Central heating. A brazier is a container for fire generally taking the form of an upright standing or hanging metal bowl or box Sitting and perspiring beside such a brazier was called ad flammam sudare. ^[14]

The tepidarium is generally the most highly ornamented room in baths. It was merely a room to sit in and be anointed in. In the Old 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^[15]. Some baths had a special room (destrictarium or unctorium) for this purpose.

Caldarium

The caldarium. A Caldarium (also called a Calidarium, Cella Caldaria or Cella Coctilium) was a room with a hot plunge bath used in a Roman bath complex

From the tepidarium a door opened into the caldarium (E), whose mosaic floor was directly above the furnace or hypocaust. Art History Mosaics of the 4th century BC are found in the Macedonian palace-city of Aegae, and they enriched the floors of Hellenistic A hypocaust (Latin hypocaustum) is an ancient Roman system of Central heating. Its walls also were hollow, forming a great flue filled with heated air. At one end was a round basin (labrum), and at the other a quadrangular bathingplace (puelos, alveus, solium, calida piscina), approached from the platform (schola) by steps. Scholae (Σχολαί is a Latin word literally meaning "schools" (from the singular schola, school or group) that was The labrum 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 alvei of solid silver. ^[16] Because of the great heat of the room, the caldarium was but slightly ornamented.

Laconicum

The Old Baths have no laconicum, which was a chamber still hotter than the caldarium, and used simply as a sweating-room, having no bath. Laconicum (ie Spartan sc balneum, bath the dry sweating room of the Roman thermae, contiguous to the caldarium or It was said to have been introduced at Rome by Agrippa^[17] and was also called sudatorium and assa. Agrippa redirects here For other uses of the name see Agrippa (disambiguation. Sudatorium, the term in Architecture for the vaulted sweating-room ( sudor, sweat of the Roman Thermae, referred to in Vitruvius (v

Service areas

A three-tiered water boiler (miliarium).

The apodyterium has a passage (q) communicating with the mouth of the furnace (r), called praefurnium or propigneum; and, passing down that passage, we reach the chamber M, into which the praefurnium projects, and which is entered from the street at c. It was assigned to the fornacatores, or persons in charge of the fires. Of its two staircases, one leads to the roof of the baths, and one to the boilers containing the water. A boiler is a closed vessel in which Water or other Fluid is heated

There were three boilers, one of which (caldarium vas) held the hot water; a second, the tepid (tepidarium); and the third, the cold (frigidarium). The warm water was turned 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; and, as the water was drawn out from there, it was supplied from the next, the tepidarium, 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 imbedded are clearly visible, and enable us to determine their respective positions and dimensions. Such coppers or boilers appear to have been called miliaria, from their similarity of shape to a milestone. ^[18]

Behind the boilers, another corridor leads into the court or atrium (K) appropriated to the servants of the bath.

Women's bath

The 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 apodyterium (H), which, like the one in the men's bath, has a seat (pulvinus, gradus) on either side built up against the wall. This opens upon a cold bath (J), answering to the natatio 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 apodyterium is another doorway which leads to the tepidarium (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 labrum. The floor of this chamber is suspended, and its walls perforated for flues, like the corresponding one in the men's baths. The tepidarium 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, or outdoor gymnasium where men would engage in various ball games and exercises. For the sports arena in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania see Palestra. There, among other things, weights were lifted and the discus thrown. Men would oil themselves (as soap was still a luxury good and thus not widely available), shower, and remove the excess with a strigil (cf. SOAP (see below for name and origins is a protocol for exchanging XML -based messages over Computer networks normally using A shower (also called shower bath is a booth for washing usually in a Bathroom, having an overhead nozzle that sprays water down on the body A strigil was a small curved Metal tool used in Ancient Greece and Rome to scrape dirt and sweat from the body before effective Soaps became the well known Apoxyomenus of Lysippus from the Vatican Museum). Lysippos (Λύσιππος was a Greek sculptor of the 4th century BC. The Vatican Museums (Musei Vaticani in Viale Vaticano in Rome, inside the Vatican City, are one of the greatest museums in the world since they display works Often wealthy bathers would bring a capsarius, 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 (Greek apodyterion, apo + duo "to take off" here of clothing).

Cultural significance

The baths were an important place in the lives of Romans. Built as public monuments, they were used by everyone, whether rich or poor, free or slave. A person could eat, exercise, read, drink, shop, socialize, and discuss politics. The modern equivalent would be a combination of a library, art gallery, mall, bar/restaurant, gym, and spa. [1]

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. " [2]

Emperors often built baths to gain favor for themselves and to create a lasting monument of their generosity. If a rich Roman wished to gain the favor of the people, he might arrange for a free admission day in his name. For example, a senator hoping to become a Tribune might pay all admission fees at a particular bath on his birthday to become well known to the people of the area. Tribune (from the Latin: tribunus; Byzantine Greek form τριβούνος) was a title shared by 2–3 elected magistracies in the

Location

Baths sprung up all over the empire. Where natural hot springs existed (as in Bath, England, and Băile Herculane) thermae were built around them. A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated Groundwater from the earth's crust. Bath is a city in Somerset in the south west of England It is situated west of London and south-east of Bristol. Băile Herculane (Herkulesbad Herkulesfürdő Aqua Herculis is a town in Romanian Banat, in Caraş-Severin County, situated in the valley of the Alternatively a system of hypocausta (Greek hypocauston < hypo "below" + kaio "to burn") were utilized to heat the waters heated by a furnace (praefurnium). A hypocaust (Latin hypocaustum) is an ancient Roman system of Central heating.

Remains of Roman public baths

Main article: List of remains of Roman public baths

A number of Roman public baths survive, either as ruins or in varying degrees of conservation. This is a list of remains of ancient Roman public baths. Urban baths Algeria Timgad Guelma (Calama Among the more notable are the Roman baths of Bath in England as well as the Baths of Caracalla, of Diocletian, of Titus, of Trajan in Rome and the baths of Varna[3]. For Roman baths in general see Thermae. The Roman Baths complex is a site of historical interest in the English city of Bath England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The Baths of Caracalla were Roman public baths or Thermae, built in Rome between AD 212 and 216 during the reign of the Emperor Caracalla The Baths of Diocletian ( Thermae Diocletiani) in Rome were the grandest of the public baths or Thermae built by successive emperors The Baths of Titus were Public baths ( Thermae) built in Rome in 81 by Emperor Titus. The Baths of Trajan, begun in AD 104 and dedicated during the Kalends of July in 109, were a massive Roman bathing and Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Varna (Варна is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv

See also

• Aqueducts
• Roman culture
• Roman aqueducts
• Roman architecture
• Roman engineering
• Roman technology
• Spa town
• Hygiene

References

• This article incorporates text by Anthony Rich from the article "Balneae" in the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities by William Smith (1870), p. An aqueduct is an artificial channel that is constructed to convey water from one location to another Endless such activities were also conducted in other cities under ancient Rome The ancient Romans constructed numerous aqueducts ( Latin aquaeductūs, sing The Architecture of Ancient Rome adopted the external Greek architecture for their own purposes which were so different from Greek buildings as to create a new Origins The Romans are generally famous for their advanced Engineering accomplishments although some of their own inventions were improvements on older ideas concepts Roman technology is the engineering practice which supported Roman civilization and made the expansion of Roman commerce and Roman military possible over nearly a thousand years See also Mineral spa A spa town, or simply spa, is a town frequented mainly for health reasons to "take the waters" Hygiene refers to practices associated with ensuring good health and cleanliness The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities is an English-language Encyclopedia first published in 1842 and then in many revised editions through Sir William Smith (1813 &ndash 1893 English Lexicographer, was born at Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents 183 et seq.
• This article incorporates text from the article "Balneae" in the public domain Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities by Harry Thurston Peck (1898). The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone Harpers Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities is an English-language Encyclopedia on subjects of Classical antiquity. Harry Thurston Peck ( November 24[[ 856]]&ndash March 23[[ 914]] was an American classical Scholar, Author, editor, and
• Aaland, Mikkel (May 15, 1998). Mass Bathing: The Roman BaInea and Thermae. Cyber-Bohemia. Retrieved on August 2, 2006.

Footnotes

External links

• William Smith 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
• Roman Bath: a day at the baths An interactive site using the Baths of Caracalla as an example
• Barbara F. McManus Roman baths and bathing
• 3d reconstruction of a roman baths Limes in Austria