Bath houses

From Rome

This is the Roman Bath House page!

1 What Happened At A Bath House.
2 Quotes
3 Technology of the bath house
4 Reasorses

What Happened At A Bath House.

These baths were a marvel of roman architecture and engineering.

Did you know that Pompei had really big bath houses? They had two warm baths, two hot baths, and a swimming pool. They also had a exercise area(the palaestra) where they ran before their baths to work up a sweat and get themselves dirty enough to take a bath. There were three different bath times. One for woman, one for men, and one for unisex. The unisex bath was cheaper and was a warm bath. The three different types of baths were a cold bath(the frigidarium), a warm bath(the tepidarium) and the hot bath(the caldarium). Each sex had one of each baths. Roman citizens would usually have a bath every day, and for a long time. The bath houses were "the place to hang out" politicians, government officials, gladiators, and slaves would come to talk to one another that were in the same class. The water in the roman baths constantly had to be resupplied, if they didn't then everyone would be bathing in dirty water that someone probably peed in it so basically you'd be bathing in someone's urine. Some baths were as big as a football field! All baths were a monument in a city, so they filled the floor with mosaic tiles. See this for roman patterns and marble figures. Some used in bath houses[1]. There were statues of gods and of the more important people that worked on it. Before you go into a bath, you get a massage and then your skin would be rub with scented olive oil, sometimes slaves would do it.

Quotes

"We quickly undressed, went into the hot baths and after working up a sweat, passed on to the cold bath. there we found Trimalchio again. His skin was glistening all over with perfumed oil. He was being rubbed down, not with ordianry linen, but with clothes of purest and softest wool.He was then wrapped in a blazing scarlet robe, hoisted into a litter, and trundled off." -Petronius.

Vocabulary Words:

palaestra- exercise area

caldarium-Hot bath

Technology of the bath house

You have just learned about what the average Roman did in a bath house. The bath house was one of the first buildings constructed in a new Roman town. These baths were a wonder of Roman architecture and engineering. The baths were not outside, they were held in specially-built structures and surrounded by exercise and relaxation facilities. Roman arches and mosaics were found on all of the buildings including the bath house. Although the bathhouse was the main attraction there were other buildings including food stands, gyms and exercise areas. Other surrounding facilities included public latrines or toilets. These toilets had water running underneath them to carry away waste. The interior of the bath house was just as beautiful as the outside if not more. In every bath house, big or small, there were four kinds of rooms. The Apedriterium was where you got dressed and undressed. Next there was the Tempiderium, a warm dry room with warm baths. After the Tempiderium there was the Scalderium, a hot wet room that had lots of steam and hot baths. The Frigiderium was the coldest of all the rooms and had cold pools. The rooms on the outside of the bath house had large glass windows to take advantage of the sun’s rays. The floor had large mosaics. High ceilings and Roman arches were a common sight in bath houses. There were marble pools in the floor and mirrors on some walls. The floors were heated in the bath houses. Some of these floors were so hot you would have to wear wooden sandles to walk on them. The technology of the baths was an essential part of what made the Roman bath experience so enjoyable. To create the heated floors, hot and warm baths and steam rooms, there had to be a heating sytem under the floor. The floor of the bath house was supported by Roman columns. In this sub level there was a furnace which radiated heat to the outer reaches of the bathhouse. So the farther you were from the central furnace the colder the room was. The heat from the furnace also heated the boiler. Water was delivered by a smaller aqueduct to the boiler which heated water for the warm and hot baths. The boiler also made steam for the Scalderium. In larger bath houses the boiler was used to make other rooms steamy. The system of pipes that carried water from the boiler to the baths was simple--water was pulled by gravity in gently sloping pipes to the baths. Cold water flowed in some pipes to cold baths and in others to warm baths where it was used to slightly cool the hot water.

Bath houses were one of the main attractions of a Roman town. Many businesses could thrive around them because so many people gathered there. In the interior of the bath houses there were four types of rooms, all of which were very beautiful. The main structural features were the mighty Roman arches that supported the walls and the columns that supported the floor. Under the floor there was a furnace that radiated heat to the floors and boiler. The boiler heated water for warm and hot baths. As you can tell the Roman baths were truly a marvel of architecture and engineering. See also the technology reference (technology page) for more on aqueducts. The following Internet site www.exeter.gov.uk/timetrail/02_romanfortress/bath_house.htm has a virtual tour of a small Roman bath house. See the tecnology reference TechnologyCheck out other pages on this site for more on ancient Rome.

Bathhouses are still around and are still very popular.

They are now called spas and getting a spa discount card to a spa is a great gift.

See link for interactive learning. NOT EASY: 'http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/htmlContent/game.htm

See a Small bath house tour