Thermal baths
As spas (plural, Latin thermae ) greater public baths were in the Roman Empire called. According to a count around AD 400, there were eleven publicly accessible thermal baths in Rome alone . There were also 856 private baths; however, these are only referred to as baths and not as thermal baths.
term
The Latin expression thermae - thermal baths - for large public baths spread to the end of the 1st century AD. The term is derived from ancient Greek θερμὸν λουτρόν thermon loutron "warm bath" (to θερμός thermos "warm") and replaced or supplemented the older name balneum (plural balnea , contracted from balineum ; this borrowed from the Greek βαλανεῖον balaneion "bath").
The Romans also named a single bathhouse with the plural term thermae , for which there was no singular form ( plural tantum ). In contrast to this, the singular form Therme is common today in German for modern thermal baths .
overview
Since the middle of the 2nd century BC The construction of public baths is known in Rome. The Roman thermal baths developed from various predecessors, such as the Greek bath (balaneion) - see bathing culture - and local sweat cures. These had already arisen in the early days of the Roman Republic on the Phlegraean Fields near Naples through the use of volcanic thermal springs and fumaroles . According to Valerius Maximus , the entrepreneur and senator Caius Sergius Orata (140–91 BC) came up with the idea of using the hypocaust technology that already existed for heating purposes for steam baths and introduced the balneae pensiles in Rome.
During the 1st century AD, bathing in public baths became very important as the social center of life and a ritual that was part of the daily routine. The thermal baths were places of communication and pastime: Here people met, relaxed from the hustle and bustle of the city and from the stress of the day. Thermal baths offered numerous services, such as massages, gymnastics, manicures and beauty treatments. The thermal baths were heated by the hypocaust , a network of pipes under the floor and in the walls for heated air that was fired by slaves.
There were numerous smaller private thermal baths in the Roman cities that could be visited for a small fee, but which mostly could not offer the luxury of public thermal baths. Public thermal baths such as the Agrippa thermal baths in Rome or the Stabian thermal baths in Pompeii were more generously equipped. In the Roman Empire , the construction of large public thermal baths, the "Imperial Baths", became prestige projects for the rulers. It began with the Nerotherms and the Titus thermal baths . Soon after, the architect Apollodorus of Damascus revolutionized the concept. With its Trajan thermal baths , the largest public bath ever built was created, for which he cleared ten hectares of building space in the heart of the capital with over one million inhabitants. Later emperors tried to outdo this with the Diocletian Baths and the Caracalla Baths . In terms of dimensions and furnishings, they were true “palaces for the people”, with magnificent columns, colorful marble floors, stuccoed ceilings, statues, fountains and murals, equipped with swimming pools, outdoor sports facilities, walkways, libraries and snack bars. Everyone met indiscriminately in the thermal baths of Rome: men and women, old people and children, craftsmen and soldiers, rich citizens and slaves. Wealthy merchants cultivated or made contacts here and concluded deals. Even the Roman emperors visited the thermal baths to be close to the citizens. Admission was cheap, but you had to pay extra for guarded cloakrooms, massages, etc. One wore a wrap around the hips, the subligaculum , for the ball games outdoors also the tunic , women often wore a kind of bikini . Originally there were separate baths for women, but Cicero already complained about the decline in morals because the gender segregation was mostly disregarded; Hadrian introduced separate bathing times in communal bathing facilities, for women in the morning and for men in the afternoon, but this was often not strictly followed in practice. The presence of women on sports fields has been the subject of sharp polemics for centuries.
history
The first simple public bathhouses based on the Hellenistic model, supplied by the aqueducts , existed as early as 400 BC. The oldest known Roman bathing facility today is a seat bath in the Stabian thermal baths in Pompeii from the 3rd century BC. Chr. Hypocausts and row baths with a fixed sequence of rooms are attested from the 2nd century BC.
These early baths could be used for a small fee (1/4 As ) and were not of great luxury. Seneca described such a bath:
"The bathroom is, in the old way, small, cramped and dark: our ancients believed that a bathroom wouldn't be warm if it wasn't dark."
Agrippa thermal baths
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa built the first large thermal baths in Rome, which, in contrast to the previous baths, of which there were already 170 in Rome alone at that time, had rooms for wrestling and other sports (taken from the Greek gymnasium , cf. . E.g. Samos ), was equipped for conversation and even for teaching, which were connected to the warm baths. The construction work lasted from 25 BC. Until probably 19 BC The Agrippa thermal baths on the Marsfeld were supplied by a specially built aqueduct , the Aqua Virgo . This was the first time that the wasteful water consumption of the later thermal baths became possible. A channel called Euripus ran from the thermal baths to the Tiber, which emptied at the Pons Agrippae (near today's Ponte Sisto ).
The thermal baths were the first baths in Rome to have a domed central building; the dome diameter of the rotunda was an impressive 25.00 m. Their ruin, the Arco della Ciambella , is located in the street of the same name 100 meters south of the Pantheon . In his will, Agrippa made it possible to visit his thermal baths free of charge. The Cardinal Andrea della Valle was looking in the early 16th century, the remains of thermal baths for treasures. An imperial crown found in the process gave the name to the church of San Benedetto della Ciambella , just a few meters away , from which the Arco della Ciambella also takes its name.
The literary and epigraphic sources show that the popularity of bathing among the Romans grew strongly in the period between Cicero (106–43 BC) and Martial (approx. 40–104 AD). The question of the reasons for this growing popularity is difficult to answer, as many factors may have played a role: On the one hand, the increase in the population in Rome in the 1st century AD led to an increased need for cleanliness and for opportunities to escape from poor living conditions . On the other hand, medical theories propagated bathing as health-promoting. The importance of this facility is confirmed by the large number and splendid furnishings of the Roman bathing buildings - be it private or public.
Kaiserthermen
The construction of the thermal baths was perfected during the imperial era. The individual rooms have now been arranged symmetrically and lavishly furnished. Also, at the latest now, the importance of bathing has shifted from the necessary body cleansing after work and sport to a ceremonial of relaxation, the so-called otium , in which sporting activity was only one aspect besides well-groomed contact or pure idleness. In addition to sports grounds, the large imperial thermal baths that were now built also had Latin and Greek libraries and columned walkways with shops. Martial wrote about the thermal baths of Nero , which were destroyed in the Great Fire :
“Quid Nerone peius? Quid thermis melius Neronianis? "
“What's worse than Nero? What's greater than Nero's thermal baths? "
Trajan had his architect Apollodor von Damascus build monumental thermal baths with a floor area of about 340 m × 300 m on the site of Nero's Domus Aurea right next to the Subura between 104-109 . For the first time, the Trajan thermal baths contained, in addition to open sports fields ( palaestra ), covered sports halls, so-called basilicas , which were arranged symmetrically to the right and left of the actual bathing rooms, which were aligned in an axis and were probably heated with the waste heat.
In the following centuries the thermal baths were continuously expanded and improved. The Baths of Caracalla, built in 212–216, and the Baths of Diocletian (built in 298–306) still show the monumentality that the Roman bathing temples grew to.
Private baths
In addition to the balnea publica , public baths, whose enormous operating costs for water, firewood and maintenance were financed solely by taxes or donations from the rich and which, in the tradition of the Agrippa, did not cost any entry, there were the private balnea meritoria , whose tenants charge a low entry fee were allowed to.
The thermal baths had a permanent place in the imperial villas, for example in the Villa Jovis of Tiberius . Rich private individuals also bought bathhouses with pools of different temperatures. Pliny the Younger offers vivid descriptions in his letters of such a bath with different temperature-controlled rooms and basins as well as a ball game room ( sphaeristerium ) .
In the provinces
The importance of bathing as part of a Roman's life is also evident from the many baths that have sprung up in new provinces. If one takes the north-west provinces as an example, it becomes clear that thermal baths were built almost everywhere soon after the Roman conquest. This bathing custom and the associated buildings were introduced by the Romans, who did not want to do without this amenity for long and also built thermal baths or at least small balnea in their military camps . Their rapid spread in the province, even in places that were not exclusively inhabited by Romans, shows that the local population soon adopted the custom. The inhabitants of the province of Bithynia et Pontus were very impressed by the work of the governor Pliny the Younger in building new baths, as Pliny 's correspondence with Trajan shows.
Medicinal baths
The use of hot steam, mineral and thermal springs for therapeutic purposes was already widespread in pre-Roman times, as Livius ' report on the (unsuccessful) spa stay of the consul Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Hispallus in 176 BC. Confirmed in Baiae . Often such sources were associated with sanctuaries of Asclepius and medical institutions.
Medicinal baths such as Aquae Sulis in Britain, Pautalia in Thrace , Aquae in Baden-Württemberg and especially Baiae resembled today's health resorts. Martial, for example, mocked Kurschatten and unfaithful wives, and Seneca complained about noise.
The normal thermal baths have also been used for health care since Asklepiades of Bithynia introduced balneology in Rome. The doctor Rufus of Ephesus recommended 100 steam baths or a stay in the laconium as a remedy for gout . Galenos described in detail the order in which one should use the individual rooms and facilities, with what constitution and state of health.
Decline and change
With the turmoil of the 5th century , the decline of the Roman bathing culture began in the west . The new rulers of the former western Roman provinces initially adopted the custom of using the thermal baths, as can be seen particularly in the Vandal Empire ; In view of the general economic decline and the ever-decreasing division of labor, however, there were no longer enough craftsmen in many places who could handle the complicated technology of water supply and heating, and finally the decaying thermal baths were used as quarries. The few remaining bathing facilities were much smaller than before and were only visited by the upper class. In Rome, the destruction of the aqueducts during the siege by the Goths in 536 ended the great time of bathing culture, after the strict moral concepts of Christianity had already led to a decline. At a lower level, however, the ancient bathing culture persisted in some places into the early Middle Ages . In the Byzantine Empire, however, the tradition was retained; and even in the eastern provinces that were lost to the Islamic conquerors in the 7th century , it was continued uninterrupted by the new masters ( hammam ).
Construction and bathing process
The thermal baths always had the same sequence of rooms that already existed in the Hellenistic row baths:
In the apodyterium , the changing room, one undressed and stowed his clothes in the lockable niches, the loculi , or gave them to his slave or the Capsarius (slave who guards the clothes) for safekeeping. While people in Greece played naked sports and bathed, in Rome at least women wore a kind of bikini when doing sports.
The temperature in the individual rooms probably corresponded to that in the Turkish hammam , as the sequence of the bathing procedure is similarly described.
The first thing to do was to cool off in the frigidarium , the cold bathing room, and then jump into the cold water pool. The frigidarium was the largest room in the thermal baths and therefore probably the main lounge. In the Caracalla thermal baths there were 1,600 marble armchairs on which you could sit and let yourself be doused with cold water. There were also small pools ( piscina ) here. You cleaned yourself with the strigilis and after bathing in the aleipterion (Latin: unctuarium ) you could oil and massage yourself . The frigidarium of the Diocletian Baths has been preserved as a church to this day. Connected to the frigidarium was the palaestra , the sports field, so that after exercising, such as ball games or muscle training with dumbbells, you could refresh yourself in the cold water. Large pools also offered a real swimming pool ( natatio ) , some of which were even covered, but were only so deep that you could always stand as only a few people could swim.
This was followed by the tepidarium, also heated by hypocausts, with mild heat. The tepidarium usually did not contain a basin. It isolated the heated rooms from the cold ones, making it easier to adapt.
Then you entered the caldarium , the hot bath room with a hot water basin , which was heated by hypocausts and wall heating and was mostly facing south. The floor temperature there could easily be over 50 ° C, which is why wooden shoes were worn in the bathroom. In the caldarium there were mostly apses in which the baths filled with 40 ° C hot water were located. While enjoying the view through the large windows, you could let yourself be showered with warm showers by a slave.
Finally, in some baths - but never in women's baths - there was a laconicum or sudatorium , a sweat bath with dry heat without a basin, which was heated by a charcoal stove and was therefore much hotter than the caldarium . Luxury bathrooms also contained snack bars and shops, libraries and lecture halls as well as lobby halls, loungers and gardens for mental diversion. At least in the spas, doctors also had their practice rooms in the adjoining rooms of the thermal baths. Latrines were almost always part of the thermal baths.
The visit to the large thermal baths often lasted several hours, usually from the 9th hour , i.e. from midday or afternoon until late in the evening, depending on the season, and was considered an important part of daily life. Seneca complained about the noise in the thermal baths, which should have been comparable to today's swimming pools and fun pools.
Construction
Vitruvius gave precise instructions for the construction of thermal baths in his work De Architectura .
The walls were mostly made of brick or rubble stones bonded with mortar . For the filling mainly opus caementitium was used, which considerably increased the load-bearing capacity of walls and vaults . Even a kind of lightweight concrete was already known. To prevent the moisture from attacking the wooden roof structure, Vitruvius suggested building the vault twice so that the water vapor can escape in between. The lighting should fall into the pool from above.
The floors were often laid with mosaics , the walls plastered to protect against moisture and decorated with frescoes or - like the basins - laid out with marble . Large window panes and vaults made of glass or glass mosaics let in light and warmth.
Since the Agrippa thermal baths, Roman builders have preferred to use the dome technique to vault the large interior spaces. The thermal bath domes were among the largest in the entire Roman Empire .
heater
_retouched.jpg)
The Romans used both floor and wall heating with hot air ( hypocaust ) in their thermal baths . Both techniques were initially developed and used for the thermal baths. The heated rooms could look very different depending on the size and type of bathroom. What they had in common was that they were mostly facing south in order to take advantage of the sun's warmth. In order for the warmth of the underfloor heating to spread better, the floor of the hypocaust should have a slight incline, according to Vitruvius's recommendation. The walls were often made of hollow bricks, through which hot air was also passed.
In the Caracalla thermal baths, the caldarium (hot bath) was round and covered by a large dome. The caldarium of the Trajan Baths was flanked by arched underground passages, which were often only 2 meters wide and 2.5 meters high and were illuminated through rectangular holes in the ceiling.
From such corridors under the actual bathrooms, slaves operated the wall heating through numerous stoke flaps that were embedded in the base of the main walls of the building. The working conditions in these corridors must have been appalling, as the smoke was slow to escape through the holes in the ceiling. The heating chambers ( praefurnia ) were regularly filled with charcoal by the slaves. Later, wood that was as dry as possible was preferred. The hot air rose through the cavities and heated floors and walls. The heating had to be kept on day and night. The temperature could be varied through ventilation flaps in the roof.
The heat of the Roman baths was almost always steam heat, with the exception of the laconicum which was sometimes present , in which a dry heat prevailed. In this room, similar to a sauna , it could be much hotter than in the traditionally heated caldarium , which is why the length of stay here was shorter.
See also
- Hygiene in the Roman Empire
- Roman bath - historical replica of a Roman bath (World Exhibition Vienna 1873)
literature
- Erika Brödner: The Roman thermal baths and the ancient baths . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1983, Theiss, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-534-08783-6 , ISBN 3-8062-1317-8 .
- Peter Connolly, Hazel Dodge: The Ancient City, Life in Athens and Rome. Könemann Verlag, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-8290-1104-0 .
- August Mau : Baths . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 2, Stuttgart 1896, Sp. 2743-2758.
- Ernst Seidl (ed.): Lexicon of building types. Functions and forms of architecture . Philipp Reclam jun. Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-15-010572-6 .
- Marga Weber: Ancient bathing culture . CH Beck, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-406-40099-X .
- Fikret Yegül: Bathing in the Roman world . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2010, ISBN 0-521-54962-0 ( review ).
- Werner Heinz: Bathing, ointments and healing in Roman antiquity. Office for Museums and Archeology of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft, Römermuseum, Augst 1993, ISBN 3-7151-1013-9 [1]
- Mónica Morales-Segura: The Skylight in the Roman Baths: The Construction (PDF). In: Karl-Eugen Kurrer , Werner Lorenz , Volker Wetzk (eds.): Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Construction History . Neunplus, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-936033-31-1 , pp. 1057-1063
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Notitia regionum urbis Romae
- ^ Karin Heiligmann: Sumelocenna - Römisches Stadtmuseum Rottenburg am Neckar. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-8062-1073-X (Guide to archaeological monuments in Baden-Württemberg).
- ↑ Alberto Angela: A day in ancient Rome , everyday, mysterious and perplexing facts. Riemann Verlag, 2009, p. 308
- ↑ Seneca: Ad Lucilium epistulae morales 86.9.
- ^ Robert B. Lloyd: The Aqua Virgo, Euripus and Pons Agrippae. In: American Journal of Archeology Vol. 83, No. 2 (April 1979), pp. 193-204.
- ↑ Werner Heinz: Roman thermal baths. Bathing and bathing luxury in the Roman Empire , Munich 1983, ISBN 3-7774-3540-6 , pp. 60–64.
- ↑ Pliny to Apollinaris (V, 6, 23ff)
- ^ Livius 41:16: Cn. Cornelius consul ex monte Albano rediens concidit et, parte membrorum captus, ad Aquas Cumanas profectus ingravescente morbo Cumis decessit.
- ^ Seneca, Ad Lucilium epistulae morales 56, 1-3 .
- ^ Vitruvius: De Architectura , Liber V, 10. ( Eng. ).