THE BATHS OF POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM

1. THE BATHS OF POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM • The thermal Baths were an important part of Roman life, and it was a Roman custom to visit the baths daily, both for reasons of cleanliness and to conduct business or meet friends. Upper class men spent considerable time here not only to bathe but also to socialise and conduct business. • Poorer townspeople took their daily baths here as their homes did not have baths. • Both men and women visited the baths • The location and layout of the baths reflects these functional features.

2. Location and layout • The baths are located in accessible parts of the two towns- in your notes name the two major baths in each town and identify the location of each. • They are divided into sections for the men and the women (except for the suburban baths of Herculaneum) • They include five parts: • The waiting room or change room (apodyterium) • the cold bath ( frigidarium ) • the tepid bath (Tepidarium ) • the hot bath ( caldarium) • The palaestra • Baths could also include a large swimming pool (piscina) and luxurious vaulted rooms in which to relax. • The floors were decorated in mosaics and marble and the walls and ceilings with stucco paintings.

3. terms • Thermae (hot baths) • Frigidarium (cold water room) • Caldarium (hot steam room) • Tepidarium (warm water room) • Apodytarium (dressing room) • Laconicum (dry heat room) • Piscina (pools) – outdoor pools

4. Pompeii – the forum baths and the Stabian baths. Pompeii had a number of baths – the Stabian baths are the earliest. In addition to the Stabian and Forum baths, there are the remains of the Central, Suburban, Sarno and Amphitheatre baths.

5. THE two main BATHS OF POMPEII The Latin word thermae means "hot baths." These public baths were like spas. The forum baths on the Via del terme The Stabian baths (on the route to the Stabian gate) on the Via dell’Abbondanza

7. THE STABIAN BATHS • The entrance was on the Via dell’Abbondanza. • These are the largest and oldest of the baths, built as soon as the Romans entered Pompeii. • These baths had been damaged in the earthquake of 62 so only the women’s section was in use at the time of the eruption. • The complex is build around a large peristyle with tuff columns of the Samnite period covered with plaster during the Imperial age. • The eastern part contains the men’s bathing area, the women’s sections and a heating plant in the middle. • An innovation of the Imperial age was gymnasium equipment and a swimming pool on the western side of the palaestra.

8. The palaestra of the Stabian baths Go to the CD web page and click on the hotspots for more images from these baths..

9. THE FORUM BATHS OF POMPEII • One of the thermae in Pompeii. The Latin word thermae means "hot baths." These public baths were like spas. • The Forum Baths appear to have been built soon after Pompeii became a Roman colony. There are separate areas for men and women, the men's baths being far more elaborate and spacious. The forum baths The Stabian baths (on the route to the Stabian gate). 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 neighbourhood would bathe here daily at public expense but the building was intended mainly for visitors to the city. This building was found well preserved when excavated in 1823

10. The floor plan of the Forum Baths 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. 1 men's apodyterium, or dressing room. 2frigidarium, or cold bath. 3tepidarium, or warm bath. 4caldarium, or hot bath. 5palaestra, 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. B women's entrance. 10 women's dressing room. 11 tub for cold bath. 12tepidarium. 13caldarium. 14 open-air courtyard.

11. The main entrance is on the via delle Terme. • The baths were for visitors from outside the city and were smaller than the Stabian baths • The forum baths were built in the early period of Romanisation after Sulla’s attack, paid from public funds. • They have all the features of Roman baths – separate areas for men and women, three bath areas and dressing areas. Each room was heated, and the walls were decorated. • Go to the CD web page for baths and click on the hot spots for more images of these baths.

12. Thermal / central baths Suburban baths – overlooking the seafront

13. The thermal baths – urban or forum baths of Herculaneum 1. Entry to men’s section 2. Apodyterium of the men’s section 3. Frigidarium 4. Tepidarium 5. Entry to the palaestra 7. Palaestra 8. Entry to the women’s section 9. Hall of the women’s section 10. Apodyterium 11. Tepidarium 12 Frigidariumof the section of the women 13. Service entry 14. Praefurium

14. Suburban baths of Herculaneum Entry Small baths. No separate areas for men and women.

15. Frigidarium of the Suburban baths of Herculaneum

16. A visit to the baths • The entry area. Baths were meeting places for friends, politics and business. The baths combined health, social activities and lobbying. • The baths had vaulted entry areas and the men’s entry area and change room was elegant.

17. The suburban baths at Herculaneum had a vestibule with a marble basin, herm and overhead a light well

18. The men’s entry to the Forum baths of Herculaneum

19. The entrance with light well and font, at the central baths of Herculaneum.

20. Apodyterium • The waiting room was finely decorated. In the urban baths at Herculaneum the floor was marble with white marble benches. Stucco decorations covered the walls. • In the change room (apodyterium), clothes were left on shelves.

21. The Apodyterium of the Pompeiian Forum Baths

22. The palaestra • The men entered the exercise area first (palaestra) where they could swim in the piscinum (large pool), play a game of bowls or work up a sweat at wrestling or running. • Attendants then scraped the dirt and sand using strigils, and gave a massage. • Before entering the caldarium, the men acclimatised themselves to heat by using the tepidarium.

23. PALAESTRA OF STABIAN BATHS Bathers at larger baths could also exercise in the palaestra facilities such as playing ballgames in the rectangular court and swimming in an open air pool.

24. Piscina and change room of the Stabian Baths – with artist’s drawing.

25. Bath tools strigil oil

26. Having exercised, a man was ready for the baths. • The hot bath was used first, then the cold • The tepidarium was an intermediate bath used to become acclimatised to heat before the hot bath, and to cool down before the cold bath.

27. 1. Caldarium (hot room) of the Forum Baths Hot baths . The bather first entered the hot room, heated to 40 degrees celcius. The hot bath is a rectangular marble lined tub. The room contained a cold water basin for bathers to drink. Because the floor was hot, clogs were worn. Some bathers used the hot pool, others sat in the steam

28. The ribs on the ceiling drew water condensation away from the centre

29. Artist’s impression showing the luxurious decoration

30. The hypercaust or heating system. Water for the hot and warm baths was heated in three tanks. The heated air in this boiler room circulated under the floor and between the walls. Notice the floors are raised on brick columns. Under-floor heating, and air ducts built into the walls, meant the whole room was 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 so that bathers could cool off when they wanted.

31. Remains of heating systemStabian baths

32. WOMEN’S CALDARIUM Sunken tub in women’s caldarium

33. Tepidarium of the Forum baths in Pompeii 2. Tepedarium. This was a moderately hot room in which the bathers became used to heat before entering the Caldarium, and cooled down after the Caldiarum. Bathers could have a massage of oil and scrap dead skin off with a strigil.

34. Tepidarium- suburban baths Herculaneum

35. 3. Frigidarium- forum baths Pompeii Finally the bather cooled down completely with a cold bath. The frigidarium was a round room with a domed ceiling and a circular cold bath. .

36. The stucco decorations – in a state of disrepair The Stabian baths walls were covered with idyllic garden scenes

37. WOMEN’S BATHS The quality of decoration of the public baths is shown by this mosaic of a Triton surrounded by fish and dolphins, from the women’s section of the Urban Baths of Herculaneum.

38. Women’s caldarium

39. Floor of women’s change room in central baths of Herculaneum