Bathing complexes in Pompeii

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Bathing complexes in Pompeii (Also called
thermae)
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Pompeii- ArchitectureWHAT CAN THE BATHS AT
POMPEII TELL US ABOUT ROMAN LIFE?

• 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

Caldarium of Forum Baths, Pompeii
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Pompeii- ArchitectureWHAT 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
CENTRAL BATHS
FORUM BATHS
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Pompeii- ArchitectureWHAT CAN THE BATHS AT
POMPEII TELL US ABOUT ROMAN LIFE?
Bathing was quite a process! 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 from hot to
cold.
Caldarium
Frigidarium
Tepidarium
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Pompeii- ArchitectureWHAT CAN THE BATHS AT
POMPEII TELL US ABOUT ROMAN LIFE?
EXERCISE Many Roman baths had areas for exercise
contained within the complex. Training the body
was an important part of daily life. Highlighted
on the floor plan of the Stabian Baths is the
Natatio (swimming pool) and the Palaestra, an
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.
Natatio (Swimming pool)
Palaestra (exercise yard)
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Pompeii- ArchitectureWHAT CAN THE BATHS AT
POMPEII TELL US ABOUT ROMAN LIFE?
Palaestra (exercise yard) of Stabian Baths
Portico of Palaestra
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Pompeii- ArchitectureWHAT 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 below-
completely separate facilities were provided for
women.
Forum Baths
Stabian Baths
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Pompeii- ArchitectureWHAT 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
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Pompeii- ArchitectureWHAT 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
Caldarium- Forum Baths
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Pompeii- ArchitectureWHAT 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
Apodyterium- Stabian Baths
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• 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

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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

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Imperial Style
Republican / Pompeian Style

• earlier style, smaller
• asymmetric
• No laconicum
• different facilities for men and women

• larger scale
• bilateral symmetry (mirror image)
• same facilities for both sexes

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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 womens section the mens
  section was much larger and more ornately
  decorated
• Palaestra in mens section
• Three entrances to the mens section Via delle
  Terme, Via del Foro, Vicolo delle Terme. Only one
  entrance to the womens section.

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Forum Baths
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 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 fur
naces 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 open-a
ir courtyard.
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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.
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Stabian Baths- Locate on your town map
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• Stabian Baths
• 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 mens 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 womens section.
  Here the rooms follows the same sequence as in
  the mens section, but theres no frigidarium.

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Strigils - Used for scraping off oil and dirt on
the body
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