Bathing
complexes in
Pompeii
(Also called thermae)
Pompeii- Architecture
WHAT CAN THE BATHS AT POMPEII
TELL US ABOUT ROMAN LIFE?
Caldarium of Forum Baths,
Pompeii
• Bathing was one of the
most common daily
activities in Roman culture
• Only the very wealthy
could afford to have their
own bathing facilities
• Therefore, bathing most
commonly occurred in
public facilities and was a
communal activity
Pompeii- Architecture
WHAT CAN THE BATHS AT POMPEII TELL US
ABOUT ROMAN LIFE?
No less than 3 public baths have been
excavated at Pompeii, highlighting the
importance of bathing in Roman society
STABIAN BATHS
FORUM BATHS
CENTRAL BATHS
Pompeii- Architecture
WHAT CAN THE BATHS AT POMPEII TELL US
ABOUT ROMAN LIFE?
Bathing was
quite a process!
Caldarium
Frigidarium
It was more like
visiting the spa than
taking a quick dip
After exercising, the
Romans went
through a series of
rooms containing
baths in a pattern
Tepidarium
from hot to cold.
Pompeii- Architecture
WHAT CAN THE BATHS AT POMPEII TELL US
ABOUT ROMAN LIFE?
EXERCISE
Natatio
Many Roman baths had areas for
exercise contained within the
complex. Training the body was an
important part of daily life.
(Swimming pool)
Highlighted on the floor plan of the
Stabian Baths is the Natatio
(swimming pool) and the Palaestra,
an exercise yard.
Palaestra
(exercise yard)
After changing, this was often the
first part of the bathing process
where by men would train to work up
a sweat before bathing.
Pompeii- Architecture
WHAT CAN THE BATHS AT POMPEII TELL US
ABOUT ROMAN LIFE?
Palaestra (exercise yard) of
Stabian Baths
Portico of Palaestra
Pompeii- Architecture
WHAT CAN THE BATHS AT POMPEII TELL US
ABOUT ROMAN LIFE?
Men and Women
It is clear that men and women bathed separately in ancient Rome. Bathing
was conducted in the nude and, therefore, it was unacceptable for women and
men to bathe together. This was provided for in the complexes belowcompletely separate facilities were provided for women.
Forum Baths
Stabian Baths
Pompeii- Architecture
WHAT CAN THE BATHS AT POMPEII TELL US
ABOUT ROMAN LIFE?
Beautiful Baths!
The baths were richly decorated showing the wealth of the city who
could produce such magnificent bathing complexes
Details of tepidarium in Forum Baths
Pompeii- Architecture
WHAT CAN THE BATHS AT POMPEII TELL US
ABOUT ROMAN LIFE?
Beautiful Baths!
The baths were richly decorated showing the wealth of the city who
could produce such magnificent bathing complexes
CaldariumForum Baths
Pompeii- Architecture
WHAT CAN THE BATHS AT POMPEII TELL US
ABOUT ROMAN LIFE?
Beautiful Baths!
The baths were richly decorated showing the wealth of the city who
could produce such magnificent bathing complexes
ApodyteriumStabian Baths
Features of a bathing complex:
• Different sections for men and women or different bathing hours for each
gender.
• Vaulted ceilings, walls and ceilings decorated in stucco, floors in
mosaics.
• Various rooms:
• Apodyterium – changing and waiting room with niches
• Frigidarium – circular cold bath
• Tepidarium – warm room for transition from hot to cold and vice versa
– laconium sometimes off the tepidarium
• Caldarium – hot room, rectangular heated bath (alverus – could hold
ten people, marble) and large circular basin (labrum) for cold water.
Heating was provided by a hypocaust system.
• An exercise area
• Toilets
• Heating system - furnaces provide heat, heated air is sent through a
hypocaust system to the caldarium and sometimes the tepidarium
Conclusions
• Bathing was an important part of daily life and a
visit to the bath could take many hours
• Training the body or exercising was also part of
daily life
• The bathing process was complex and followed
a series of steps which went from hot to cold
• Social custom dictated that men and women
bathed separately
• Pompeii was a wealthy city as it was able to
afford to build grand complexes that were richly
decorated
Imperial Style
Republican / Pompeian
Style
• earlier style, smaller
• larger scale
• asymmetric
• bilateral symmetry
(mirror image)
• No laconicum
• same facilities for both
sexes
• different facilities for men and
women
Forum Baths
- Locate on your map
• Built around 80 BC by Lucius Caesius (duovir) and Caius
Occius and Lucius Niraemius according to two inscriptions
• Only baths in operation at the time of the eruption in AD 79
as they had been repaired quickly after the earthquake of AD
62
• Separated into men and women’s section; the men’s section
was much larger and more ornately decorated
• Palaestra in men’s section
• Three entrances to the men’s section: Via delle Terme, Via
del Foro, Vicolo delle Terme. Only one entrance to the
women’s section.
Forum Baths
The Romans were as particular about
cleanliness as we are in modern times. This
public bathhouse, known today as the Forum
Baths because of its location, was built soon after
the Roman conquest in 80 B.C. The residents of
Pompeii, both slave and free, who lived in the
neighborhood would bathe here daily at public
expense. This building was found well preserved
when excavated in 1823.
The diagram to the right is the floor plan of the
Forum Baths which shows the area reserved for
men in blue and the area for women in green.
The various sections on the floor plan are as
follows:
A men's entrance. B women's
entrance. 1 men's apodyterium, or
dressing room. 2 frigidarium, or cold
bath. 3 tepidarium, or warm
bath. 4 calidarium, or hot bath. 5 palaestra,
or gymnasium. 6 bronze brazier and
seats. 7 basin for
ablutions. 8 bathtub. 9 furnaces for air and
water at different temperatures, serving the
facilities for both men and
women. 10 women's dressing room. 11 tub
for cold
bath. 12 tepidarium. 13 calidarium. 14 ope
n-air courtyard.
Forum Baths
This photograph shows the
caldarium (hot room) of the
Forum Baths.
Thanks to under-floor heating,
and air ducts built into the
walls, the whole room would
have been full of steam when
in use. Grooves in the ceiling
allowed condensation to be
channelled to the walls, rather
than drip onto bathers. Cold
water was piped into the basin
at the centre of the
photograph, thus enabling
bathers to cool off when they
wanted.
Stabian Baths
- Locate on your town map
Stabian Baths
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The Stabian Baths take their name from the fact that they lie at the intersection of the Via Stabiana and
the Via dell'Abbondanza. They are the oldest baths in Pompeii and four different building phases can be
identified. The oldest part seems to date from the 4th century BC and consisted of the palaestra, a series of
small rooms with tubs along its north side and a well to furnish water.
The establishment covers a total surface area of over 3,500 square metres and is divided into two adjacent
section, respectively reserved for men and woman and includes a courtyard which was used as a
gymnasium.
Three sides of the courtyard have colonnades with stuccoed tuff-stone pillars, while the fourth side borders
onto a large swimming-pool one and a half metres deep. Separated from the gymnasium by a low wall, the
latter could be reached from two side-rooms where the bathers would probably get changed for the bathing
rite. The bathing establishment proper occupies the longer side of the peristyle. A door in the right-hand
corner of the colonnade leads to the men’s section. The first room on the left is a chamber for cold bath
(frigidarium), which is round in shape, with four corner niches and a pool in the centre. The water used to
feed the pool flowed from another niches in the north-facing wall. The fact that this room came before the
one where the bathers undressed may suggest that it was actually used as a laconicum, a steam room in
which the air was heated by means of bronze braziers.
From the entrance hall the bather entered the changing room (apodyterium), which is plastered in white
except for a red band running all round the lower half of the walls. The next room is the tepidarium, in which
warm bath were taken. It was heated by hot air which circulated under the floor and trough cavities in the
walls themselves. Follows the calidarium, where the tube on the right-hand side was used for hot baths.
Walking along the gymnasium colonnade, we reach the entrance door to the women’s section. Here the
rooms follows the same sequence as in the men’s section, but there’s no frigidarium.
Strigils
- Used for scraping off oil
and dirt on the body