Baths Baths Public bath complexes Tombstone of freedman Tiberius Claudius Secundus, Rome 1st CE • ‘Wine, sex and baths ruin our bodies, but they are the stuff of life’ Baths • • • • • Apodyterium Tepidarium Caldarium Frigidarium Natatio Palaestra Specialty rooms- laconicum destrictarium, food and massage Baths Strigil Hypocaust system(Sergius Orata) Seneca st (1 c. CE) Letters 56.1 • I live right over a public bath. Just imagine the whole range of voices which can irritate my ears. When the more muscular types are exercising and swinging about lead weights in their hands, and when they are straining themselves ,or at least pretending to strain, I hear groans……. But when I have to put up with an unathletic fellow, one satisfied with a low-class rub-down, I hear the slap of a hand pummeling his shoulders ( the sound varies somewhat, depending on whether the hand is flat or cupped). Now, if a ball player comes along and begins to count his score aloud, I’m definitely finished. Imagine also a quarrelsome drunk, or sometimes a thief caught in the act, or a man who loves to sing in the bath. And then imagine people diving into the pool with a great splash of water. • Besides these men, whose voices are, if nothing else, at least natural, imagine the hair plucker with his shrill and high-pitched voice, continually shrieking in order to be noticed; he’s never quiet, except, when he’s plucking armpits and forcing his customer to shriek instead of him. • I could wear myself out just listening to the variety of shouts among people selling drinks, sausages, and pastries; each restaurant or snack bar has its own huckster with his own recognizable jingle. Baths at Pompeii ( AD 79) • Stabian =oldest ( 90-80 BCE –hypocaust added) undergoing restoration • Forum ( 80 BCE)– new colony • Suburban ( undergoing restoration) • Central ( under construction) Stabian baths Stabian Baths ( Palaestra) Aqueducts Castellum aquae Forum Baths Tepidarium • 500 lamps found in complex Brazier • ( Marcus Nigidius Vacula) Jupiter and Ganymede Frigidarium • Alma Tadema Caldarium • labrum Suburban Baths Excavated 1985-1987 • • • • • No women’s section 4=hot 5=warm 6=cold 7=changing Apodyterium-sex and boxes 24 Grotto Herculaneum Forum baths , women’s apodyterium Herculaneum Suburban Baths • • • • • • • • a=entrance b=vestibule d= room with view e=apodyterium/frigidarium f=tepidarium g=caldarium h=heated swimming pool i=laconicum Proconsul Balbus Vestibule Apodyterium Caldarium • labrum Baths in Rome Baths of Caracalla Frigidarium, Baths of Diocletian ( Santa Maria degli Angeli) 3rd C. AD Rome