BATHS

By the early empire, bathing had become an important social ritual for the Romans that was closely associated with the whole concept of Roman-ization. Wherever the Romans went, they constructed bath complexes, so these structures have been found even in outposts on the very fringes of the Roman Empire. For example, baths are cited by the author Tacitus as one of the hallmarks of Roman civilization in the distant province of Britain and additionally as a method by which savage barbarians were "softened" through exposure to such cultured luxuries.

For a Roman, a trip to the baths involved far more than simply bathing. Baths were a place for exercise, relaxation, education, grooming, socializing, eating, conducting business, showing off to your peers, and even engaging in sexual activity. Bath complexes included facilities for all of these activities as well as for bathing. An important aspect of baths is that the large, public ones were either free or else charged only token admission fees. Thus, these experiences were open to all levels of Roman society. Unlike public entertainments, which were also provided to Rome's populace by its rulers, baths were available every day, not just on special occasions. Romans of all ranks probably spent as much time as possible at baths.

The gigantic public baths constructed by the emperors were known as thermae, while the numerous smaller public or private baths were termed balnea. By the fourth century ad, the city of Rome boasted 11 thermae and 856 balnea. Many of these balnea likely served as neighborhood social centers, where a relatively small group of regular clientele would gather and socialize with their acquaintances in much the same way that neighborhood bars today are often popular with a group of locals. Some of these may even have been private baths open only to a small group of dues-paying members.

The grand public thermae, on the other hand, while being more anonymous, would have offered a greater range of activities and services as well as being attractive simply due to the magnificence of their construction. Baths both big and small would all have included a standard set of basic bathing facilities. When patrons entered, they would probably have first gone to a dressing room where they would remove their clothes. Surviving examples often feature a series of wall niches where each person could stash his or her belongings, and some may have had cabinets or lockers into which you could put your possessions. Judging from incidents mentioned in literature and in Roman law, theft of belongings or clothes seems to have been a problem. Those who did not trust the bath attendant to safeguard their possessions might bring a slave with them whose job was to stand guard while he or she bathed.

All Roman baths included at least three basic types of rooms for bathing. The tepidarium contained a pool of warm water. The caldariiim featured a pool or tub of hot water. And the frigidarium had a pool of cold water. One common bathing sequence seems to have been to go first to the tepidarium, then to the caldarium, and then to end with a quick plunge into the frigidarium, although bathers could go from one room to the other as suited their individual preferences. Sometimes there was an additional room that was heated to a high temperature but did not contain water and thus functioned as a kind of dry-heat sauna. It was also common for the larger bath complexes to have an outdoor swimming pool, which was known as a natatio.

The baths were heated by a furnace system, which heated hot water in tanks that was then directed to the appropriate pools and which forced hot air under the floors and between the walls of rooms such as the caldarium. Rooms that were supposed to be hot were constructed with a double floor, with the one floor separated from the other by columns of tiles. Hot air was then forced into this space between the two floors, heating the entire room and causing the marble floors to be pleasantly warm to the touch. Such an arrangement was known as a hypocaust system.

Figure 8.1 Ruins of the Baths of Caracalla. The size of the remaining walls suggests the massive scale of the original structure.

The first large public baths were built by Agrippa in 25 uc in the Campus Martius, and to provide sufficient water, he also built a new aqueduct, the Aqua Virgo, (n the next several hundred years, the emperors Nero, Titus, Trajan, Caracalla, Diocletian, and Constantine would all construct major public baths for the city's populace, and it is these buildings that were known as the thermae. All of these tended to have roughly the same general design.

The best-preserved of these baths was also one of the largest—-the Thermae Antoninianae, or, as it is popularly known, the Baths of Caracalla. Built in a relatively short period during the third century ad, it was located along the Via Appia farther down the valley from the Circus Maximus. The ground floor covered an area of over 100,000 square meters, and the baths could accommodate probably around 10,000 people at one time. The foundations for this bath consumed 280,000 cubic meters of tufa, 330,000 cubic meters of landfill, and 15 million pieces of brick, while the walls required 210,000 cubic meters of concrete and some 6 million bricks and parts of bricks. The ornamentation of this structure required 6,300 cubic meters of fine marble and decorative stones and 252 columns, and the work is estimated to have employed nearly 10,000 men laboring every day for five years. The floors were completely covered in elaborate mosaics and artworks adorned the entire complex. The caldarium was a gigantic, circular room topped by a dome some 35 meters in diameter—fully four-fifths the size of the great one on the Pantheon.

The central bath complex included dozens of rooms and a natatio 23 by 52 meters in size and 1 to 1.5 meters in depth. This main building was almost 250 meters long and over 100 meters wide but in addition was itself completely surrounded by vast fields and tracts where people could play ball games and run. Finally, these fields were themselves enclosed within walls containing yet more rooms, perhaps including eating establishments and libraries. The complex was stocked with equipment so that people could lift weights, play a variety of games, receive massages, purchase and dine on various foods, get manicures and haircuts, and view artwork. Today the extensive ruins are used to stage operas, including, at one time, a production of the opera Aida featuring live elephants.

Romans bathed in the nude. Women either had separate bathing facilities, or, in some cases, there was a designated time of day when men were allowed in and a separate time when women were admitted. There are some references, however, that indicate that at least at times, mixed bathing was permitted. Not all Romans approved of baths, and some thought they had a degenerative effect on morality. Baths were sometimes seen as sites of overindulgence in luxury, food, or sex. Some Roman medical writers claimed that too much bathing led to a weakening of the body and condemned the practice. Like today, Romans were cautioned not to swim after eating a heavy meal, and one Roman poet relates a story, perhaps satirical, of a person who died as a consequence of bathing with a stomach full of undigested peacock.

People coming to the baths would either bring their own towels, oil, and strigils, or else they could rent these items. A strigil is a curved, metal tool. After Romans exercised or bathed, they would rub olive oil over their bodies and then scrape it off using the strigil. This was the Roman equivalent of using soap, as dirt and grime were scraped off along with the old oil. Rich men would bring their personal slaves to oil and then scrape them down. Others could hire attendants at the bath to perform these services, whereas the impoverished had to do the best they could themselves. On one occasion the emperor Hadrian was in the baths and saw an old veteran of Rome's wars scraping himself against the wall of the building because he was too poor to hire someone to do it for him. Shocked at this scene, Hadrian gave the man several slaves as well as money for their upkeep. The story of the emperor's generous gesture seems to have spread, and the next time he visited the baths, he was greeted by the sight of a bunch of old men energetically rubbing themselves against the walls, plainly hoping to similarly benefit from the emperor's generosity. Hadrian, however, simply remarked that they should scrape one another.