DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0231
CHAPTER XXVI
THE BATHS Al" POMPEII. —THE STAB IAN BATHS
In comparison with the great bathing establishments of
Rome, the baths at Pompeii are of moderate size. They have,
however, a special interest, clue in part to their excellent pres-
ervation, in part to the certainty with which the purpose of the
various rooms can be determined; and their remains enable
us to trace the development of the public bath in a single city
during a period of almost two hundred years. From this
source, moreover, most of our knowledge of the arrangements
of the ancient bath is derived, without which the imposing but
barren remains of Rome itself would be for the most part unin-
telligible. It is not easy for one living under present conditions
to understand how important a place the baths occupied in the
life of antiquity, particularly of the Romans under the Empire;
they offered, within a single enclosure, opportunities for physi-
cal care and comfort and leisurely intercourse with others, not
unlike those afforded in the cities of modern Europe by the
club, the cafe, and the promenade.
Though the Roman baths differed greatly in size and in
details of arrangement, the essential parts were everywhere
the same. First there was a court, palaestra, surrounded by
a colonnade. This was devoted to gymnastic exercises, and con-
nected with it in most cases was an open-air swimming tank.
The dressing room, apodyterium, was usually entered from the
court through a passageway or anteroom. A basin for cold
baths was sometimes placed in the dressing room; in large
establishments a separate apartment was set aside for this pur-
pose, the frigidarium. To avoid too sudden a change of tem-
perature for the bathers, a room moderately heated, tepidarium,
was placed between the dressing room and the caldarutm, in
which hot baths were given. At one end of the caldarium was
180
THE BATHS Al" POMPEII. —THE STAB IAN BATHS
In comparison with the great bathing establishments of
Rome, the baths at Pompeii are of moderate size. They have,
however, a special interest, clue in part to their excellent pres-
ervation, in part to the certainty with which the purpose of the
various rooms can be determined; and their remains enable
us to trace the development of the public bath in a single city
during a period of almost two hundred years. From this
source, moreover, most of our knowledge of the arrangements
of the ancient bath is derived, without which the imposing but
barren remains of Rome itself would be for the most part unin-
telligible. It is not easy for one living under present conditions
to understand how important a place the baths occupied in the
life of antiquity, particularly of the Romans under the Empire;
they offered, within a single enclosure, opportunities for physi-
cal care and comfort and leisurely intercourse with others, not
unlike those afforded in the cities of modern Europe by the
club, the cafe, and the promenade.
Though the Roman baths differed greatly in size and in
details of arrangement, the essential parts were everywhere
the same. First there was a court, palaestra, surrounded by
a colonnade. This was devoted to gymnastic exercises, and con-
nected with it in most cases was an open-air swimming tank.
The dressing room, apodyterium, was usually entered from the
court through a passageway or anteroom. A basin for cold
baths was sometimes placed in the dressing room; in large
establishments a separate apartment was set aside for this pur-
pose, the frigidarium. To avoid too sudden a change of tem-
perature for the bathers, a room moderately heated, tepidarium,
was placed between the dressing room and the caldarutm, in
which hot baths were given. At one end of the caldarium was
180