Leisurely Activities
by C. Kramer
To this day making time for leisure activities has been an important part in every ones lives, always trying as far as their means would allow. Today there are now possibly as much as 10 percent of our towns that have been given up to sports and entertainment facilities such as, exercise grounds, theatres and public baths. In addition a number of taverns and inns can be found in some towns. If you’re looking for a good time or just some relaxation a tavern and inn would be a good place to visit where you are offered simple meals of cheese, bread, sausages and wine – either cold or mulled, which make agreeable accompaniments to games of dice or board games similar to draughts. Going to a public bath is also another place where if they can people try to spend their afternoons. These baths promote a very relaxed approach to your health. Beginning around noon, patrons will enter the baths to bathe, swim, or simply relax after undressing in the apodyterium, they then proceed through a series of increasingly hotter rooms, from the warm tepidarium through to the hot caldarium, with perhaps a visit to a laconicum, if present. In the baths slaves will serve as your masseurs, rubbing you with olive oil after you have visited the caldarium, and would then scrape the oil and accumulated dirt off of your back with a strigil. You would then have a final dip in the frigidarium which seals the pores and invigorates the body. If you are a more serious athlete however you may be familiar with the palaestra, but for anyone who is not, it is an open are, generally with a central pool, surrounded by colonnades with adjoining rooms. Here is where all different athletes practice their choice of sport whether it be, running, jumping, wrestling, boxing, javelin, etc. There are also some sports with more of a military flavor such as running in full army.For those not so fond of sports you can attend a theatre or amphitheatre, here you can view plays of pure comedy, pure tragedy or a mix of both. If you are interested more in the tragedy, the tragic plays of Seneca are very popular, and even more so were the comedies of manners based on works by Menander. Another popular genre is farces that caricature all kinds of familiar professions, from painter to fortune tellers. If you’re not interested so much in plays there are also performances marking the tow’s many religious festivals, concerts, readings and orations. Then for the action seekers, a trip to Pompeii provides the amphitheatre, a place of institutionalized violence, where fighting is not uncommon to spill over into the stands. These games are organized by wealthy residents and involve not only gladiatorial combat but also fights between men and lions, along with other domesticated animals. Over a period of about four days as many as forty pairs of gladiators will fight. Contrary to popular belief these fights are not always to the death, the magistrates often choose to spare the best gladiators.So if you have the time you may want to check out one of these many activities if you haven’t already.