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HADRIAN’S BATHS AT LEPCIS MAGNA. Where in the world is Lepcis Magna again?. Hadrian’s Baths were built in Lepcis Magna 126-7 AD. the town had a previous set of Baths known as the Hunting Baths but they were not in the Imperial (symmetrical) style. BATHS IN GENERAL.
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Hadrian’s Baths were built in Lepcis Magna 126-7 AD. • the town had a previous set of Baths known as the Hunting Baths but they were not in the Imperial (symmetrical) style.
BATHS IN GENERAL • going to the baths was a daily routine for most Roman men. • because the baths were a very important part of city life access cost very little, sometimes it was even free. • women had access to the baths but went at different times because there were no separate facilities for them. • these baths were: • a source of civic pride, • a triumph of Roman technology, • a sign of wealth and security in a province, • a sign of Roman might to the local inhabitants, • a sign of Imperial generosity and concern in a province.
DESIGN OF THESE BATHS • the baths are symmetrical and are placed on a north/south axis. • these baths were set up so the bather would naturally progress from the… unheated palaestra and frigidarium to the warmer tepidarium to the super-heated caldarium and laconica.
THE HYPOCAUSTUM • a heated tank (the boiler) of water fed hot water to various parts of the baths. • the hottest rooms were closer to the furnace. • it also heated rooms by: • circulating warm air under the floor which was raised on little piers of bricks under the floor. • or through hollow spaces in the walls (flues).
PARTS OF THE ROMAN BATHS • APODYTERIUM = changing room • FRIGIDARIUM = room with cold pools • TEPIDARIUM = warm room for heating up the body • CALADRIUM = room with hot pools • LACONICUM = steam room for sweating • UNCTORIUM = massage room • LATRINA = toilet • HYPOCAUSTUM = furnace room
find picture of outdoor swimming pool RAA – notes (+ this one) are incomplete….see this swimming pool was 1.75m deep it was the largest area in the baths. it had a vaulted portico of Corinthian columns on three sides and was the base was decorated with a gravel-like mosaic. NATATIO
FRIGIDARIUM • this cold pool was 18.2m x 14.9m. • it was the centre of the complex and the largest and most important room. • it separated the cold rooms from the hot rooms. • the cold plunge pools were entered through arched entrance ways from the frigidarium.
FRIGIDARIUM • the frigidarium’s roof was larger than the other roofs. • the roof consists of cross vaults. • huge arched entrance ways were at the east and west ends. • the walls were originally covered with elaborate marble.
TEPIDARIUM • this was the first warm room. • it was entered via a central door in the southern wall of the frigidarium. • its main feature was a marble plunge bath which was entered through an arched opening flanked by grey marble columns. • two smaller baths were added later on each side of the central bath. These two smaller baths were surrounded by black marble columns.
CALDARIUM • the largest of the hot rooms at 22m x 10.9m and was entered through the tepidarium. • it was the most sourthern of the rooms. • its was roofed with a barrel-vault with five arched windows
LACONICA • these were superheated sweat rooms. • there were four rooms and they were to the north of the caldarium. • these rooms were made for people to sit in and sweat in, they would then be scraped.
IS IT HOT IN HERE…? • the hotter rooms were placed on the southern side of the baths because of the position of the sun in the afternoon. • there were a number of furnace rooms on the south side, close to the caldarium and the laconica.
OTHER ROOMS IN THE BATHS PALAESTRA • a vast exercise yard was to the north of the bath complex. NON-WET ROOMS • a further series of chambers run along the western and eastern sides of the complex that may have: • libraries, • rest areas, • maybe even lecture halls.
LATRINA • the toilets were on the east and west sides of the northern end. • they had three sides of marble seated toilets. • the toilets were also communal. • there was also had an apse in each toilet to hold a statue.
SO IN CONCLUSION… PALAESTRA NATATIO APODYTERIUM LATRINA FRIGIDARIUM TEPIDARIUM LACONICUM CALADRIUM UNCTORIUM FURNACE ROOMS