The Bath: Focus of Roman Life
One
of the main points of focus in Roman life was the bath. The
Romans bathed fully only once a week. But because their arms
and legs were exposed, the Roman people bathed those
extremities daily. Many baths were private, but the public
bath became a part of everyday life. Men usually bathed with
other men; women usually bathed with other women. In the
villages and smaller towns, mixed baths were permitted. But
usually, decorum ruled. And it wasn't just bathing, either.
People could get a massage as well.
Bath
houses were huge and housed much more than pools. Exercise
grounds, gymnastic apparatus, courts for games, libraries,
rooms for reading and conversation--all these things could
be found in the Roman bath house. The people made a point of
going to the bath to meet their friends and
associates.
The
more luxurious baths started with time in a dressing room
(apodyterium), usually unheated. This room, which can be
seen in the picture at right, usually had compartments for
bathers to store their clothes. The bather then moved into
the first room of all common baths, the warm anteroom, or
tepidarium. Here, they waited until perspiration started, so
they wouldn't pass suddenly from cold or normal temperatures
to the very hot temperatures of the bath. Once the bather
was sufficiently warmed up, he or she passed into the hot
room (caldarium) for a hot bath and then went on to the cold
room (frigidarium) for the cold bath. Finally, the bather
entered a room for rubbing and anointing with oil
(unctorium). In this way, the bathing experience could take
quite a bit of time and allow for much interaction between
bathers.
Much
has been made of the unique way in which these baths were
heated. The earliest baths were heated by charcoal stoves.
Later, the hypocaust (a primitive furnace) was used to heat
both rooms and water. The bath had two stories, in between
which was two feet of space through which the heat passed.
The heated bath rooms were closest to the furnace. Even so,
they needed the heat to carry from the furnace to the rooms.
Hot air circulated under the floors and through spaces in
the walls. In this way, the hot rooms were kept hot and the
cool rooms were kept cool (by being farthest away from the
hypocaust).
The
Romans knew that their people would spend much time at the
baths, and the artists took great pains to make the bathing
experience as rewarding and relaxing as possible.