Roman Art & Architecture

Baths or Thermae

Baths

• The baths, or Thermae, their Greek name, brought the exercise of the body together with its cleansing.

• In building huge bath complexes the emperors put personal hygiene and health on the daily agenda.

• The Bath buildings also gave the Roman’s the opportunity to experiment beyond the utilitarian with their building techniques.

Baths

• It is the most common source of the Roman Cross or Groin vault.

• Up to now we have heard of domes and barrel vaults. However because of their continual outward thrust they created dark sombre interiors.

• The cross vault allows the thrust to be concentrated in four corners, and for two high clerestory windows to be inserted

Baths

• Importantly it was another social activity available to all, even the very poor.

• It was only in the second century B.C that the prudish Roman finally allowed bathing to move from small family bath houses at home to more public arrangements.

• According to Pliny there were 170 baths in Rome by 33B.C

Baths

• This number had breached 1000 by the early second century AD.

• The baths were a huge part of Roman daily life. Business meetings took place here. People socialised with friends. We have already mentioned exercise and hygiene. Shopping and reading took place in the later arcades and libraries. Lectures were also performed.

Baths

• On top of all this the baths were used for wild parties at night. Over eating, drinking and bacchanalian orgies gave these magnificent buildings a questionable name.

• It was probably a mixture of the prudish citizen and these wild stories that saw Hadrian pass a decree sometime during his reign to separate the sexes during bathing.

Bathing Process

Near the entrance, would be the changing rooms known as the apodyteria. Here bathers and those exercising would deposit their clothing in small cubicles along the walls. The richer patron would have a slave to guard their belongings; the rest would have to take a chance.

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Bathing Process

• The route taken by bathers around the baths was quite formal.

• After changing most went to the gymnasia or the palaestra to exercise and build up a sweat. This was important in the cleaning process. Before exercising olive oil would be rubbed on to the skin.

• Many of these exercises involved ball games. One called trigon is described by Petronius in his Satyricon. One of the characters Trimalchio plays this game with some “long haired boys”. It involved three people in a triangle throwing balls at each other, the object being not to drop them.

Bathing Process

• Other games involved running, a type of tennis, and wrestling. Everything except wrestling was done wearing a tunic.

• Those who were unable to exercise went to take a Turkish bath or sauna instead, laconia. Those who had exercised may also come in here to encourage the sweating process further.

• From here the bather entered the caldarium. This was the hottest room beside the laconia. The bather scraped off all the dirt and sweat, which had been captured between the skin and the olive oil. This scraping was done using an instrument known as a strigil.

• Cleansed and dried the bather would then enter the tepidarium. Here they would gradually cool off perhaps playing some board games or having some wine.

Bathing Process

Bathing Process

• Finally the bather would take a plunge into the frigidarium. Freezing cold water was excellent for closing up the skins pores at the end of the process.

The Baths

• The baths were heated using the hypocaust system. A furnace was used to heat a boiler to provide hot water. All the extra heat from the furnace was fed down a system of tunnels under the floors of the baths. The heat also went up flues in the walls. In the hotter rooms every surface would be hot so much so wooden sandals were used to walk in the caldarium.

• These buildings became so popular that they were built by the most important people of the community. They became places to display wealth, power and culture. Their sheer size, their mosaics, murals, and sculptures make them an ideal place to study our topic.

Stabian Baths-Pompeii__A-entrances, b-small private baths, c-latrine, d-men’s and women’s changing rooms, e-tepidarium, f-caldarium, g-furnace, h-frigidarium, j-palaestra, k-swimming pool.

Baths

• The Stabian baths at Pompeii were built in the second century B.C to an untidy and immature plan.

• Note especially the site of the frigidarium so close to the heating system.

• It was difficult to graft the formal style of bathing into the architectural spaces.

• It is thought that it was first century AD before the symmetrical solution was discovered.

Hadrian’s Baths-Lepcis Magna___A-swimming pool, b-frigidarium, c-plunge baths, d-tepidarium, e-central and smaller baths, f-caldarium, g-laconia, h-furnaces, j-latrines

Baths

• These baths were built in AD126-127.• The many different types of Roman interior

had finally found a way of existing in harmony.

• We have groin vaults, tunnel vaults, porticoes, and open air rooms.

• Also we can clearly see how the hot rooms are grouped around the furnace and the cold rooms are kept far away.

Stabian Baths PompeiiStabian Baths Pompeii

Hadrian’s baths at Lepcis Hadrian’s baths at Lepcis MagnaMagna

Compare

• Open area

• Frigidarium

• Tepidarium

• Caldarium

• Furnaces near edge

• Hypocaust system

Contrast

• Latrines

• Entrances/Corridors

• Frigidarium position

• Vaulting systems

• Wall thickness

• This is an established institution in the Roman World learning from its 300 years of mistakes