The Roman The Roman BathsBaths

The Roman Bathing Process

• bathers would have the dirt and oil scraped from their bodies with a Strigil.Then the bathing began.

• Accompanied by a slave carrying their towels, oil flasks and strigils, bathers would progress at a leisurely pace through rooms of various temperature.

• warm room (tepidarium)• hot bath (caldarium)• spend some time in the tepidarium again • finishing in the cold room (frigidarium). • Other rooms provided moist steam or dry heat like a sauna

(laconicum), and a massage with perfumed oils.

The Roman Baths – Bath, England

• A reconstructed image of the baths and surrounding area from about 200 CE (AD)

• Spring used by Romans as early as about 5 CE

The Sacred Spring

• Center of Temple Sulis Minerva (deity with healing powers)

• About 1 million litres a day rises from the spring, at 46 degrees Celsius

• Offerings thrown into the spring

• Enclosed with barrel vaulted ceiling in about 200 CE (AD)

The Roman Temple

• Corinthian columns sit before the cella (main temple chamber) where a statue of Sulis Minerva was located

• Point of worship until about 391 CE

• Emperor Theodosius closed pagan temples throughout the empire

The Temple Courtyard

• This was a place of worship and sacrifice

• ceremonies took place around the great altar

• In one corner the Sacred Spring poured out a supply of hot water that was more than enough to serve the huge baths complex to the south.

The Bathing Complex

• Completely out of proportion to size of town• Meant to service needs of locals, and travelers/pilgrims

Great Bath -

Iaconicum -

- Circular Bath

- West Baths

- Sacred Spring

The Great Bath

• 1.6 meters deep• Lined with 45 lead

sheets• Heated water

pumped directly from the Sacred Spring

• Luxurious warm swim enjoyed by many locals on a regular basis

• Ceiling changed around 200 CE

The East

Baths

• East baths were more tepid (pipes ran from Great Bath)

• Series of heated rooms developed = Roman invention called the Hypocaust

• Hot steam pumped through crawlspaces beneath supported floors (seen here)

• Decorated walls added as modern part of the museum

The West Baths• Contain well preserved Pilae – piles of tiles that supported floor

• Heated rooms and plunge pools

• East and West Bath similarities could allow simultaneous (but separate) use of the baths by both men and women

The Iaconicum

• Small room of extreme dry heat• Could be like a sauna with addition of a splash of water• Prepare you for oil and strigil treatment

The Circular Bath

• Cold plunge pool used to invigorate you after treatments in warm and hot rooms. Probably wouldn’t linger here.

• 1.6 meters deep

The Spring Overflow• System

engineered almost 2000 years ago is still in use today

• Allows spring water that is not used in the baths complex to flow into Roman drain and out into nearby River Avon

The Baths Today

Above: The Victorian TerraceRight: The Sacred Spring &

The King’s Bath