Baths of the Seven Wise Men
The Baths of the Seven Wise Men ( Terme dei Sette Sapienti (III, X, 2)) are located in the western part of Ostia (original port city of ancient Rome ) and are a well-preserved example of a medium-sized Roman bathhouse from the 2nd century.
The thermal baths were built under Hadrian and are located between two blocks of houses. The center of the complex is a round hall that once had a dome. The floor shows a black and white mosaic depicting hunting. There was also a cold bath in this room. From here, arches led to the other bathrooms. A second room, a warm bath ( caldarium ) is equipped with a mosaic with the representation of erotes on seahorses, in a third bath room, a frigidarium , the cold bath room, there is the wall painting of a bathing Venus . The bathroom was once richly decorated with sculptures.
The building is particularly noteworthy because of the good preservation of the numerous wall paintings. In the apodyterium (changing room) one finds the pictures of the seven wise men , which are identified by means of Greek inscriptions. Thales , Solon and Chilon are still legible. Other inscriptions are meant to be more humorous: Thales makes a great effort to cure constipation . This room with the pictures of the wise men was originally its own cookshop and was only later incorporated into the thermal baths.
gallery
The central round room
The bathing Venus
Wall painting
literature
- G. Calza, G. Begatti: Ostia , Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Roma 1977, pp. 40-41
Web links
Coordinates: 41 ° 45 ′ 11.5 ″ N , 12 ° 17 ′ 6.6 ″ E