Public thermal baths in Pompeii
Several public baths have been found in the ancient city of Pompeii .
See also the Thermal Baths section of the Pompeii article.
Importance of public thermal baths
In order to understand the peculiarity of the Pompeian thermal baths, one should be aware that the water supply in Pompeii has been a major problem for centuries. The public thermal baths could only come into being through a functioning fresh water system.
Originally, public baths only appeared in connection with a palaestra , a sports facility, and took up only a small amount of space. But the Romans took little to heart the Greek model, which postulated physical fitness as an important element in achieving the ideal of all-round perfection of man. Little by little, the exercises in the palaestra degenerated into a prelude to the bath.
Instead of improving themselves in competition like the Greeks, the Romans viewed sport as a means of heating up the body before taking a bath and thereby gaining greater enjoyment. Accordingly, the bathing area was disproportionately large compared to the palaestra. This can also be well demonstrated using the example of Pompeii.
Three large thermal baths in the busiest and most accessible places speak for their great importance in the life of the Pompeians. The development towards the Roman norm can also be traced in its architecture:
We find the Stabian thermal baths from the Samnite period, the Forum thermal baths from the first years of the Roman colony and the central thermal baths from the last years of Pompeii - they were not yet completed at the time of the volcanic eruption.
Public thermal baths
Stabian thermal baths
When the oldest thermal bath in the city was built was a matter of dispute for a long time. Some researchers put it as early as the 5th or even 6th century BC. Chr. What a competition for the oldest public bathing facility with the thermal baths Olympias would have meant.
Following the deep well dug in the Samnite period, a small athlete's bath was initially built, which had 7 hip baths, a well room, a lutron (bathing pool) and probably a small latrine. This athlete's bath belonged to a palaestra that probably already existed after an earlier eruption of Vesuvius at the end of the 5th century BC. Chr. Fell victim. A large bathing complex was only built here several generations later. The masonry made of tuff and opus incertum dates the construction of the large men's wing to the second half of the 2nd century BC. The complex is conveniently located at the intersection of Via dell'Abbondanza and Via Stabiana. The main entrance is on Via dell'Abbondanza.
In the center there is a large palaestra with a portico on three sides. She owned a swimming pool measuring 22 by 8 by 1.50 m. The main section of the baths is on the south-east side and includes the men's bath, the women's bath and the heating tract (praefurnium) between the two . In the north there is a series of single cabins with bathtubs and latrines. The arrangement of the rooms follows the canonical plan for thermal baths. From the entrance on Via Stabiana you come to a changing room ( apodyterium ) . It is very nicely decorated and has a large, stuccoed barrel vault. Here you could keep your clothes in small niches.
Then the actual bathing began with the tepidarium (leaf room), which is followed by the caldarium (warm bath). Like all other rooms, it is designed according to strict rules: The tub (alveus) with the hot water is located in a rectangular niche near the stove ; Opposite it was an apse (arched niche) with a bronze fountain (labrum) for refreshment. The heat was released into the room by an underfloor heating system (supensura) , which was supplied with hot air by the praefurnium . It represented the axis of symmetry of the entire eastern wing.
The frigidarium (cold bathing room with swimming pool) for cooling down is fed from a round fountain and is an airy construction with a light shaft like a round opening in the azure blue painted vault.
Alternatively, you could go to the laconicum (sweat bath). Like the destrictarium , it was built when the consuls in Rome put out tenders for its construction and the renovation of the porticoes and the palaestra at the time of Cicero .
In the destrictarium, the athletes cleaned themselves of sweat, oil and dust after the exercises in the palaestra . During the renovations, additional entrances were also built in the north and south.
The original bath was fed exclusively by the water from a large fountain that is now in a shop between the two north-west entrances. The water was scooped up with the help of a water wheel and added to a container that was level with the terraces, from where it was distributed. This facility existed until the Augustan aqueduct was built , but later also functioned as an additional water source.
So the bathroom was beautifully equipped. The slightly smaller women's bath was located in the northeast. It only had a tepidarium and a caldarium . Still, women had to pay double the entrance fee.
Forum boilers
The forum baths are located directly north above the forum. Together with the Odeon and the amphitheater, they belong to the group of public buildings that were built in the early years of the Sullan colony.
They were built with public funds in a district that was more central than the location of the Stabian thermal baths . The thermal baths were also maintained by the shops on the outside walls to the north, west and south and the rental of the second floor.
They are laid out according to the same principle as the larger Stabian thermal baths and have two departments, one for men and one for women, which were added later. The palaestra belonging to the thermal baths is a small, uncovered courtyard with a portico , which shows the distance from the Greek ideal. It is also believed that the thermal baths were mainly used by older men who went about their business in the forum . Technically, the thermal baths were up to date.
The apodyterium of the men's bath was not provided with niches but with benches, and the clothes were presumably stowed on wooden shelves. The frigidarium is round and has four niches, as in the Stabian thermal baths, as well as a domed vault , which is broken in the middle by a light shaft. The walls were decorated in bright colors. The tepidarium was heated with a large bronze brazier, which, like the bronze benches , was donated by N. Nigidus Vaccula . The niches in the walls are separated by muscular, wild-looking atlases , the ceiling is decorated with stucco panels.
The golden yellow caldarium is still well preserved today . It is heated by a suspensura and double walls with tegulae mammatae . The tub with marble steps speaks for the luxury of this bathroom. The prescribed labrum (a small basin with cold water), lit through a window, is also made of marble and cost the colony 5,250 sesterces (approx. 50,000 euros ).
The domed roofs over the bath rooms were provided with ingenious grooves so that the water condensed on the ceiling would not drip onto the heads of the honored bathers.
The smaller women's bathroom had the more perfect heating system; all rooms have suspensura . This can be explained by the later construction of this wing.
The source of the heat was a heating system common to both parts. It had three cisterns that were filled with rainwater and tap water. A large number of slaves were required to heat the thermal baths. What would be called “service” today has not been neglected either. There were servants who were solely there to give showers to bathers who did not want to go into hiding.
The Forum baths were the only ones quickly repaired after the earthquake of AD 62 and returned to service in AD 79 .
Central thermal baths
After the earthquake of 62 AD, new thermal baths, the central thermal baths, were to be built. Its construction indicated a break with the past and heralded a new era in thermal bath architecture. They are the largest public building built after '62 and were supported by an enterprising bourgeoisie . They gave the eastern part of the city its "own" thermal bath. It should take into account the new demands and a new taste. Since many Pompeians no longer had the means after the earthquake to restore their dark, private bathing chambers, a large, light-flooded bathing establishment was to be made available that could accommodate as many bathers as possible.
The architecture made use of brick , which made a lot of things possible, and joined the list of colossal buildings of the Flavian dynasty . The complex takes up an entire insula (block of houses), the buildings that previously stood on the property were demolished; a large wall ensures absolute seclusion. Another innovation is that the thermal baths only had one (swimming) bath, which of course was reserved for men. The facility has three entrances, on the north side you enter a large hall that connects three rooms: a sales room for bathing accessories, food and drinks, a meeting room for clubs and a literary salon.
The gigantomania continues. Instead of one, two doors lead to the apodyterium , which has three windows facing the palaestra ; all floors have suspensura with double walls, the thickness of which allowed large vaults, apses , niches and wall openings. A modern laconicum adjoins the west side of the adjoining tepidarium . The caldarium is disproportionately long and instead of the labrum it has two large heated bathing pools (alvei) that could accommodate up to 28 bathers. The room is the most heated and best lit room in the entire facility thanks to many light sources.
However, the thermal baths were far from finished by the time they fell in AD 79 . The shell was only in place, there was no water connection yet, the swimming pool had not yet been dug, the ovens had not yet been built, the marble cladding had not yet been installed, and there was not yet a single column in the courtyard. However, what was already finished when the volcanic eruption occurred and was thus preserved makes an impression of unbelievable size and confirms the triumph of Vitruvius' prescriptions .
Suburban spas
Immediately outside the city at the port gate in the west, another thermal bath was built in the early imperial era. They were built according to the most modern knowledge of the time and had some technical refinements to offer. Large windows that gave a view of the sea were particularly interesting. Today these thermal baths (also known as suburban thermal baths ) are mainly known for their erotic frescoes.
However, the long held view, therefore to be able to assume a forum prostitution here , is not justifiable. Rather, these paintings in the changing room were intended as an aid to finding one's own clothes and were based on contemporary literature such as Ovid's Ars amatoria . Unfortunately, the suburban thermal baths were badly damaged by robbery graves. At the end of the first millennium, they were even inhabited. They were already found by Amedeo Maiuri , scientifically excavated and reconstructed, however, only between 1987 and 1992.
More thermal baths
The Republican thermal baths were the second oldest, still pre-Roman, but also the smallest in the city. They were opposite the Samnite palaestra . It can be assumed that these thermal baths were mainly used by the local athletes. It is possible that the bathing establishment even belonged to the sports facility at first, as it was in a rather unfavorable location at the time of its creation. Besides, they did not have their own palaestra.
The thermal baths consist of two separate wings. The bigger one also had a sweat bath. This is where the men's bathroom is almost certainly to be found. These small thermal baths seem to have been abandoned at the latest in Augustan times.
literature
- Robert Étienne : Pompeii. Life in an ancient city. Reclam, Stuttgart 1974, 1998 (5th edition), ISBN 3-15-010370-3
- Étienne offers a particularly detailed account of the history of the city and its discovery. In addition, economy, administration, politics, public and private life are dealt with.
- Hans Eschebach : The Stabianer Thermen in Pompeii , Berlin 1979