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= Thermae =
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Introduction
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In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were
facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial 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 villas,
town houses, and forts. 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 (hot bathing room).
The design of baths is discussed by Vitruvius in 'De architectura'
[
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/5*.html#10
(V.10)].
Terminology
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',' ',' ',' and may all be translated as 'bath' or 'baths', though
Latin sources distinguish among these terms.
or , derived from the Greek 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 to designate the bathroom of
Scipio in the villa at Liternum, 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 terms the baths at the villa of his brother Quintus .
and , which according to Varro 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 verse. Pliny
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, in place of the simple 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. Writers, however, use these terms without distinction. Thus
the baths erected by Claudius Etruscus, the freedman of the Emperor
Claudius, are styled by Statius , and by Martial . 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
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A public bath was built around three principal rooms: the 'tepidarium'
(warm room), the 'caldarium' (hot room), and the 'frigidarium' (cold
room). Some also featured steam baths: the 'sudatorium', a moist
steam bath, and the 'laconicum', a dry hot room.
By way of illustration, this article will describe the layout of
Pompeii'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 ('g, g'), which ran round three sides of an open court
('palaestra, 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' 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' or 'exedra', 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 gladiatorial
show, still remains. At the sides of the entrance were seats ().
The 1898 edition of 'Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities'
provided illustrations envisioning the rooms of the Old Baths at
Pompeii:
File:Apodyterium of the Old Baths at Pompeii by
Overbeck.png|'Apodyterium'
File:Tepidarium of the Old Baths at Pompeii by
Overbeck.png|'Tepidarium'
File:Caldarium of the Old Baths at Pompeii by Overbeck.png|'Caldarium'
File:Frigidarium of the Old Baths at Pompeii by
Overbeck.png|'Frigidarium'
Apodyterium and frigidarium
=============================
A passage ('c') 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. 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' ('D') and another to
the 'frigidarium' ('C'), with its cold plunge-bath referred to as
'baptisterium' (more commonly called 'natatorium' or ), , , or ; the
terms and suggest that some of those baths were also swimming pools.
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, 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 of the adjoining chamber, as
by a brazier 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 floor was
directly above the furnace or hypocaust. 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', 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 and was also called
'sudatorium' 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
boilers 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 . 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.
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
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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. There, among other things, weights
were lifted and the discus thrown. Men would oil themselves and remove
the excess with a strigil (cf. the well known Apoxyomenus of Lysippus
from the Vatican Museum). 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' (from Greek from
'to take off').
Cultural significance
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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, of Caracalla, and Diocletian 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 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 are the 'Farnese Bull' and
'Farnese Hercules' and over life-size early 3rd century patriotic
figures, (now in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples).
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 might pay all
admission fees at a particular bath on his birthday to become well
known to the people of the area.
Location
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Baths sprang up all over the empire. Where natural hot springs existed
(as in Bath, England; Băile Herculane, Romania or Aquae Calidae near
Burgas and Serdica, Bulgaria) were built around them. Alternatively,
a system of 'hypocausta' (from 'below' and 'to burn') were utilised
to heat the piped water from a furnace ().
Remains of Roman public baths
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A number of Roman public baths survive, either as ruins or in varying
degrees of conservation. Among the more notable are those which give
the English city of Bath its name and the Ravenglass Roman Bath House
in England as well as the Baths of Caracalla, of Diocletian, of Titus,
of Trajan in Rome and the baths of Sofia, Serdica and Varna. Probably
the most complete are various public and private baths in Pompeii and
nearby sites. The Hammam Essalihine is still in use today.
In 1910, Pennsylvania Station 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 in the
ceiling. The success of the design of Pennsylvania Station in turn was
copied in other railroad stations around the world.
See also
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* Ancient Roman bathing
* Chassenon Baths
* Diocletian window (thermal window)
* Greek baths
* History of sanitation
* Roman architecture
* Roman culture
* Roman engineering
* Roman technology
* Spa town
* 'Thermae Romae' ('manga' and film)
* Victorian Turkish baths
* Ancient Baths of Alauna
* Bliesbruck Baths
* Gallo-Roman site of Sanxay
Further reading
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*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.
* Eliav, Yaron Z., "A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse: Cultural Interaction
in the Ancient Mediterranean", Princeton University Press (2023)
External links
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*William Smith
[
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Balneae.html
Roman Baths (Balneae)] from "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Antiquities", pub. John Murray, London, 1875.
*[
http://www.thermenmuseum.nl/default.asp?taal=eng ThermeMuseum
(Museum of the Thermae) in Heerlen]
* [
http://traianus.rediris.es/ Traianus] - Technical investigation of
Roman public works
*[
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/roman/day.html Roman Bath:
a day at the baths] An interactive site using the Baths of Caracalla
as an example
*Barbara F. McManus [
http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/baths.html Roman
baths and bathing]
*3d reconstruction of a Roman baths
[
http://www.limes.co.at/index_en.php?sub=vindobona2_inhalt_en Limes in
Austria]
*[
http://archive.cyark.org/roman-baths-intro Roman Baths of
Weissenburg Digital Media Archive] (creative commons-licensed photos,
laser scans, panoramas) with data from a City of Weissenburg/CyArk
research partnership
*[
http://www.victorianturkishbath.org Victorian Turkish bath]
Information regarding a 19th-century version of the Roman or "Turkish"
bath
*
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermae
