Roman Bath Houses
by T. Yanushefski
Throughout Roman life, there are many important things that could arguably be considered more important than personal cleanliness. Regardless of this, Romans have invested many amounts of both money and man power to create ornate and sophisticated buildings primarily for the purpose of self hygiene. The Roman bath houses were massive buildings that acted as gymnasiums, bathrooms, bath houses, libraries, and lecture halls.
For the wealthy Romans, a bath room of sorts could simply be added into the wide assortment of rooms within their houses or villas. For the other Romans who are less fortunate to have rooms like that, the city provides bath houses for all to use. The Roman bath house is open to all citizens and, depending on the bath house, is open all day. Usually, the morning hours would be set aside for the women to go and spend some time taking a bath, reading, and/or exercising. The bath house then would close at or a little after noon to clean up or do some maintenance to prepare for the men showing up, which would happen around 2 or 3 o'clock. The men can stay from about 2 or 3 o’clock to about sundown, though this time can vary from place to place.
There are two main types of bath houses, one called balneae and the other called thermae. The first bath house mentioned is usually a privately owned house that is much smaller than the large, public bath houses. They are commonly opened up to a few people for a predetermined fee. On the other hand, the thermae are the large bath houses that are open to the public, also for a fee. They are much larger than the first bath houses, commonly taking up multiple city blocks.
It was common for the people going to the bath houses to begin by exercising. The bath houses offered a gym, certain sports that could be played with others, weight lifting, and swimming. After doing some desired form of exercise, oil and dirt would be scraped from their bodies using a tool called a strigil. The bathers would then make their way through different rooms with different temperatures. Not all of the rooms have pools or baths in them, for example, the tepidarium or warm room would have no pool but would have heated walls and floors. Ultimately, they would reach a room with the hot bath, caldarium, being the closest to the furnace and also being the hottest. It would be a rather small bath with very hot water that the people could relax in and clean off in. In the middle of the pool would be a small fountain, called the labrum, that the bathers can use to spray cold water on themselves. The bathers finally finish in the cold room, called the frigidarium, which has a cold water pool in the center for a invigorating quick bath. Following this, the bathers can spend time in the steam rooms and saunas or get a massage.
After the bathers complete their bathing rituals, they get dressed and can either leave or further extend their visit by spending time in the library, gardens, or be entertained by the many different shows provided by the bath houses.