ROMAN BATHS AND BATHING
(www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/baths.html)
Of all the leisure activities, bathing was surely
the most important for the greatest number of
Romans, since it was part of the daily regimen
for men of all classes, and many women as well.
We think of bathing as a very private activity
conducted in the home, but bathing in Rome was
a communal activity, conducted for the most
part in public facilities that in some ways
resembled modern spas or health clubs
(although they were far less expensive).
A modern scholar, Fikret Yegül, sums up the significance of Roman baths in the following way (Baths and Bathing in
Classical Antiquity. Cambridge: MIT, 1992, p.30):
‘The universal acceptance of bathing as a central event in daily life belongs to the Roman world and it is hardly an
exaggeration to say that at the height of the empire, the baths embodied the ideal Roman way of urban life. Apart
from their normal hygienic functions, they provided facilities for sports and recreation. Their public nature
created the proper environment—much like a city club or community center—for social intercourse varying from
neighborhood gossip to business discussions. There was even a cultural and intellectual side to the baths since the
truly grand establishments, the thermae, incorporated libraries, lecture halls, colonnades, and promenades and
assumed a character like the Greek gymnasium.’
Although wealthy Romans might set up a bath in their town houses or especially in their country villas, heating a series of
rooms or even a separate building especially for this purpose, even they often frequented the numerous public bathhouses in
the cities and towns throughout the empire. Small bathhouses, called balneae, might be privately owned, but they were
public in the sense that they were open to the populace for a fee, which was usually quite reasonable. The large baths, called
thermae, were owned by the state and often covered several city blocks. Fees for both types of baths were quite
reasonable, within the budget of most free Roman males. Since the Roman workday began at sunrise, work was usually over
at little after noon. About 2:00-3:00 pm, men would go to the baths and plan to stay for several hours of sport, bathing, and
conversation, after which they would be ready for a relaxing dinner. Republican bathhouses often had separate bathing
facilities for women and men, but by the empire the custom was to open the bathhouses to women during the early part of
the day and reserve it for men from 2:00 pm until closing time (usually sundown, though we occasionally hear of a bath being
used at night). For example, one contract for the management of a provincial bath specified that the facility would be open
to women from daybreak until about noon, and to men from about 2:00 pm until sunset; although the women got the less
desirable hours, their fee was twice as high as the men's, 1 as (a copper coin) for a woman and ½ as for a man. Mixed bathing
was generally frowned upon, although the fact that various emperors repeatedly forbade it seems to indicate that the
prohibitions did not always work. Certainly women who were concerned about their respectability did not frequent the baths
when the men were there, but of course the baths were an excellent place for prostitutes to ply their trade.
Exercise: Bathing had a fairly regular ritual, and bathhouses were built to accommodate
this.
Upon entering the baths, individuals went first to the dressing room (apodyterium—this
reconstruction drawing shows the men's dressing room in the Forum Baths in Pompeii),
where
there were niches and cabinets to store their street clothes and shoes (in the model
above,
the dressing room is on the left, farthest from the furnace; click here for a closer
look).
Many bathers were accompanied by one or more slaves to carry their gear and guard
their
clothes in the dressing rooms, but the bathhouses provided attendants who would watch
over the
belongings of the poorest for a fee. Sometimes the dressing room did double duty; for
example,
in the Stabian Baths in Pompeii the women's dressing room also served as a frigidarium,
containing a small cold-water pool (note the graffito of a ship scratched into the post
separating two niches in this room). Although the evidence is not clear about exactly
what
Romans wore when bathing, it seems probable that they did not exercise in the nude (as
Greek
males did) and may also have worn some light covering in the baths—perhaps the
subligaculum. Within the baths special sandals with thick soles were needed to protect the feet from the heated floors.
This plan of the Stabian Baths shows the efficient design of a relatively small Republican bathhouse with separate
facilities for men and women. The large central courtyard was the exercise ground (palaestra); it was surrounded by a shady
portico which led into the bathing rooms. They might also take a swim in the large outdoor pool (natatio) such as this one in
the Stabian Baths. After changing clothes and oiling their bodies, male bathers typically began their regimen with exercise,
ranging from mild weight-lifting (as shown in the image at left), wrestling, various types of ball playing, running, and
swimming (click here to find out more about Roman ball games). Although women athletes (like the one at left) are shown in
the famous fourth-century CE mosaics from Piazza Armerina in Sicily, these apparently depict some sort of contest or
competition rather than ordinary practice. Most of those exercising in the palaestrae were likely to be men.
Bathing: After exercise, bathers would have the dirt and oil scraped from their bodies with a curved metal implement
called a strigil. Then the bathing proper began. Accompanied by a slave carrying their towels, oil flasks and strigils, bathers
would progress at a leisurely pace through rooms of various temperature. They might start in the warm room (tepidarium),
which had heated walls and floors but sometimes had no pool, and then proceed to the hot bath (caldarium), which was
closest to the furnace. This room had a large tub or small pool with very hot water and a waist-high fountain (labrum) with
cool water to splash on the face and neck. After this the bather might spend some time in the tepidarium again before
finishing in the cold room (frigidarium) with a refreshing dip in the cold pool. Other rooms provided moist steam, dry heat
like a sauna (laconicum), and massage with perfumed oils.
After their baths, patrons could stroll in the gardens, visit the library, watch performances of jugglers or
acrobats, listen to a literary recital, or buy a snack from the many food vendors. Doubtless the baths were noisy, as the
philosopher Seneca complained when he lived near a bathhouse in Rome,
but the baths were probably very attractive places. Although most of the
fine decor has not survived, many writers comment on the beauty and
luxury of the bathhouses, with their well-lighted, airy rooms with high
vaulted ceilings, lovely mosaics, paintings and colored marble panels, and
silver faucets and fittings. This computer-generated reconstruction of
the frigidarium of the baths of Hadrian at Lepcis Magna in Libya gives
some idea of the splendor of the Roman thermae. The model at right
depicts the baths of Trajan, located near the Colosseum. Enjoy a virtual
bath by visiting these baths in Region III of VRoma, either via the web
gateway or the anonymous browser.)
Heating System: Roman engineers devised an ingenious system of heating the baths—the hypocaust. The floor was raised
off the ground by pillars and spaces were left inside the walls so that hot air from the furnace (praefurnium) could
circulate through these open areas. Rooms requiring the most heat were placed closest to the furnace, whose heat could be
increased by adding more wood. Click here to see the skeleton of a dog found in the hypocaust of a bath in Germany; it had
apparently crawled beneath the floor seeking warmth and been asphyxiated by the fumes.
Latrines: Bathhouses also had large public latrines, often with marble seats over channels whose continuous flow of water
constituted the first “flush toilets.” A shallow water channel in front of the seats was furnished with sponges attached to
sticks for patrons to wipe themselves.
Now answer the questions that follow ……….
ROMAN BATHS
1. On the plan below (of the Stabian Baths at Pompeii), label the following rooms:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
apodyterium
caldarium
tepidarium
frigidarium
palaestra
Furnace
Room
2. Read the following”
Roman Hours
Modern Time
a) An inscription from the Roman baths in Spain:
Hora Prima
Hora Secunda
Hora Tertia
Hora Quarta
Hora Quinta
Hora Secxta
Hora Septima
Hora Octava
Hora Nona
Hora Decima
Hora Undecima
Hora Duodecima
4.27-5.42
5.42-6.58
6.58-8.13
8.13-9.29
9.29-10.44
10.44-12.00
12.00-13.15
13.15-14.31
14.31-15.46
15.46-17.02
17.02-18.17
18.17-19.33
the manager must heat the baths everyday and open them to
women from the first hour to the seventh, and to men from
the eighth hour of the day to the second hour of the night.
Use this source to tell me THREE things about Roman baths (with an explanation!)
[3 Marks]
b) From the Roman author, Seneca, writing in AD 50:
"I live over a public bath-house. Just imagine every kind of annoying noise! The sturdy gentleman does his exercise
with lead weights; when he is working hard (or pretending to) I can hear him grunt; when he breathes out, I can
hear him panting in high pitched tones. Or I might notice some lazy fellow, content with a cheap rub-down, and hear
the blows of the hand slapping his shoulders. The sound varies, depending on whether the massager hits with a flat
or hollow hand. To all of this, you can add the arrest of the occasional pickpocket; there's also the racket made by
the man who loves to hear his own voice in the bath or the chap who dives in with a lot of noise and splashing."
i. From this passage, give four different activities that happened at the Roman baths?
ii. How reliable do you think this source is? WHY?
[4 Marks]
[3 Marks
Compare the following extracts c) and d)
c) From the Roman satirist, Petronius, writing in the 60s AD:
"We quickly undressed, went into the hot baths and after working up a sweat, passed on to the cold bath. There we
found Trimalchio, the ex-slave (libertus), again. His skin was glistening all over with perfumed oil. He was being
rubbed down, not with ordinary linen, but with clothes of the purest and softest wool. He was then wrapped in a
blazing scarlet robe, hoisted into a litter, and trundled off."
d) From the biography of the Emperor Hadrian:
‘Hadrian’s biography relates that the emperor often bathed in the public baths with everyone else. One day he saw
there an old soldier whom he had known in the army, busily rubbing himself against the marble with which the brick
walls of the caldarium were faced, and asked why he was doing this, the old man replied that you had to have money
to keep slaves, whereupon the emperor provided him with both slaves and money. Not unnaturally, the next day
when the emperor’s presence was announced a number of old men set to rubbing against the marble. Hadrian merely
advised them to rub each other down.’
i. What do these sources tell us about the different classes of Roman society who went to the baths?
[3 Marks]
ii. How reliable do you think these sources are? WHY?
[5 Marks]
3. Answer the following questions:
1.
Define the following Latin terms associated with the Roman baths:
a. apodyterium
b. strigilis
c. tepidarium
d. caldarium
2.
3.
4.
5.
[16 Marks]
e. hypocaust
f. laconicum
g. frigidarium
h. palaestra
List three exercises in which male bathers engaged in the palaestra.
[3 Marks]
What duties would slaves do at the baths?
[4 Marks]
What is depilation? Would you have enjoyed this? Why or why not?
[2 Marks]
In your own words explain how important the Roman baths were? Why do you think that?
[8 Marks]
Go here for more information:
http://latin.austincollege.edu/latin/vitaromana/Entertain/bathing/index.html
http://www.dl.ket.org/latin2/mores/baths/history/index.htm
http://www.pbs.org./wgbh/nova/lostempires/roman/day.html