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Roman thermae

Bathing has played an important role in the life of the ancient Rome, as significant part of its culture and its society. In Rome, it represented a “social” activity, conducted mostly in the public baths called thermae. Thermae were not just a place for bathing, but the people there socialized, painted, read or exercised. Besides the “bathing area”, thermae had special rooms for massage, libraries, little theatres for poetry readings and music, parks or assembly rooms…and food and drink at disposal. They have often included palaestra, an outdoor gymnasium where men were engaged in various sport activities, as wrestling, exercises or ball games. Bathing in thermae was the everyday regime for everyone, men of different classes and for women as well. These public baths were mainly possessed by the state and often they spread over several city blocks. One of the largest, Baths of Diocletian in Rome had a capacity of more then 3,000 persons. In some thermae men and women bathed together, dependent upon local costumes. In Pompeii, on of the most preserved Roman thermae today, men and women bathed separately. These public baths were standing out by exceptional luxury, with numerous elements made of precious marble, silver and gold, as well as mosaics of exceptional value. By the 150 BC there were around 150 thermae in Rome.

The structure of thermae

Public bathing was practiced by the both, the rich and the poor. The difference is that the patricians, the reach citizens were accompanied by one or more slaves serving them during the bathing in thermae. They were also bringing their own bathing implements: brushes, oils for massage, dish for scooping water and the strigil (a small, curved, metal tool use to scrap dirt and sweat from the body).

The building structure of thermae was very complex, but it had three “principal” rooms: caldarium, tepidarium and frigidarium. Sometimes they have also had laconicum – a hot, dry area for inducing sweating.

The bathing process in therame

The bathing process often begun with some workout in the palestra where different sports and activities took place, in order to stimulate the circulation and keep the body in a good condition. Afterwards, the bathers were passing the three rooms of different purposes. Firstly, they would go to tepidarium – normally the largest room in thermae, decorated with the most precious mosaics and marbles. This was the place where the bathers firstly assembled and spent an hour or more, relaxing and being “oiled” (mostly using the olive oil). The following step was caldarium, very hot and steamy room, heated by the under floor heating system, with the bath of hot water (swimming pool). Very often, the laconicum was an integral part of the caldarium, where bather would stay for a short time and prepare its body for the massage. Afterwards, the vigorous massage was the next, followed by removing off the dead skin with the earlier mentioned strigil. The final phase of the bathing process was frigidarium where bathers would plunge into the large pool of cold water, refreshing themselves and withdrawing themselves to the one of the relaxing areas, library or assembly room to continue with the socializing and intellectual discussions.

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