Take a Bath
Take a bath- public baths were common in Ancient Rome. 4 stages of an Ancient Roman bath:
1. Steam room
2. A slave will get the dirt and sweat off a person using a ‘metal scraper'.
3. They would then go to the tepidarium (lukewarm water).
4. They would then go to the frigidarium (cold water).
Women bathed in the morning, men bathed in the afternoon.
Olive oil was used instead of soap
Slaves heated the baths-fire stoked by them. Baths included palaestra (training room), porticoes (a porch/ extension to a building), laconicum (the sweating room), destrictarium (sweat and dirt is removed here), apodyterium (changing room), fridgidarium (cool bath), tepidarium (warm bath), caldarium (hot bath) and labrum (round basin). Roman public baths were quite elaborate as there were stuccoes on the ceiling. Thermae is the Latin word for bath.
Stabian baths- oldest baths in Pompeii, some parts date from around 4 B.C. while other parts date from around 1 B.C. This is an example of the different sections in a Stabian baths. The apodyterium (dressing rooms) were only included after the earthquake in A.D. 62.
Forum baths- the smallest baths in Pompeii, date back from just after 80B.C.
Central baths- built after the earthquake in A.D. 62, never completed because of the eruption in A.D. 79. The difference with these baths was that the men's and women's sections were not divided. It also had a laconicum in the place of a fridgidarium.
After the earthquake in Pompeii, in A.D. 62, the Forum baths were the only baths still working.
Bathing was not only for keeping clean, it was also for religious purposes. Public baths were for people whose houses did not contain baths, the poor people. Ancient Romans would bathe at a public bath every 9 days. Men would go in the afternoon. Women would go in the morning. Below is the layout of the Stabian baths.
1. Steam room
2. A slave will get the dirt and sweat off a person using a ‘metal scraper'.
3. They would then go to the tepidarium (lukewarm water).
4. They would then go to the frigidarium (cold water).
Women bathed in the morning, men bathed in the afternoon.
Olive oil was used instead of soap
Slaves heated the baths-fire stoked by them. Baths included palaestra (training room), porticoes (a porch/ extension to a building), laconicum (the sweating room), destrictarium (sweat and dirt is removed here), apodyterium (changing room), fridgidarium (cool bath), tepidarium (warm bath), caldarium (hot bath) and labrum (round basin). Roman public baths were quite elaborate as there were stuccoes on the ceiling. Thermae is the Latin word for bath.
Stabian baths- oldest baths in Pompeii, some parts date from around 4 B.C. while other parts date from around 1 B.C. This is an example of the different sections in a Stabian baths. The apodyterium (dressing rooms) were only included after the earthquake in A.D. 62.
Forum baths- the smallest baths in Pompeii, date back from just after 80B.C.
Central baths- built after the earthquake in A.D. 62, never completed because of the eruption in A.D. 79. The difference with these baths was that the men's and women's sections were not divided. It also had a laconicum in the place of a fridgidarium.
After the earthquake in Pompeii, in A.D. 62, the Forum baths were the only baths still working.
Bathing was not only for keeping clean, it was also for religious purposes. Public baths were for people whose houses did not contain baths, the poor people. Ancient Romans would bathe at a public bath every 9 days. Men would go in the afternoon. Women would go in the morning. Below is the layout of the Stabian baths.