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Description of the Baths (Reg VII, Ins 5, 2, 5, 7, 24)
The Forum Baths
lie at the junction of the Via del Foro and the Via delle Terme. They
were built in the early years of the Roman colony from public funds by
the duovir Lucius Caesius and the aediles Caius Occius and Lucius
Niraemius.
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The layout of
the baths appears to be based on the older Stabian Baths. The complex was divided into two
separate parts with the central furnace or praefurnium providing hot water and steam to both.
(The service area, coloured blue on the accompanying plan, had its own
entrance (E) on the Via delle Terme).
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The men's baths are
still in remarkably good condition. Entrance (A) leads directly to the apodyterium
(F) or dressing room (pictured right). The room has a pavement of white
mosaic framed with a black band and a vaulted ceiling decorated with
stuccoes, of which, sadly, little remains. No niches were found in which
clothing could be kept, but nail holes in the wall seem to indicate that
wooden lockers were used instead.
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As
well as being a dressing room, the apodyterium
also acted as a vestibule, giving access to other parts of the complex.
The south east doorway (the left hand door in the photograph) leads to
the palaestra
(G) through a short vaulted passageway (pictured below).
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The
palaestra
consists of a courtyard with colonnaded porticoes (pictured upper
right) on three sides and arches on piers on the fourth (pictured
right). The palaestra
was used as a general exercise area and as the first stage in the
bathing process, where the bather could start to work up a sweat with a
view to flushing out his pores.
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Leaving the palaestra,
the bather would then proceed to the tepidarium,
an intermediate room both in temperature and location, set between the apodyterium
and the caldarium
or hot room.
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The
rectangular tepidarium
(H) (pictured right) has a vaulted ceiling decorated with coffering and
medallions with subjects relating to the gods and mythology. This
stucco decoration belongs to the restoration work carried out after the
earthquake of AD62.
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Niches
along the middle part of the walls are framed with atlantes figures in
clay covered with stucco. The purpose of these niches, which are part of
the original decoration, is uncertain, but perhaps they held bathing
goods such as oils and unctions. The tepidarium
was heated simply by braziers which would have made the room warm, but
not overly hot.
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The
next room, the caldarium
(I), however, was heated from the furnaces, with the floor raised up on
suspensurae (brick piers) and the walls lined with air spaces to allow
the circulation of hot air. The caldarium
has a vaulted ceiling decorated with a strigil
design in stucco.
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The
apse at its southern end contains a labrum or marble basin (pictured
right and below) provided, according to the inscription, by the duoviri
Cn. Melissaeius Aper and M. Staius Rufus for the not insubstantial sum
of 5,250 sesterces.
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final room involved in the Roman bathing process was the frigidarium (J), which is accessed off the apodyterium.
It is a domed circular room with four semicircular niches (pictured
right). In its centre is a stepped tub used for cold baths. The walls
are decorated with frescoes of garden scenes and above the niches there
is a richly decorated stucco frieze (bottom right).
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The
entrance to the women's baths (above) leads directly to the apodyterium
(K) which gives access to the frigidarium
(L) and the tepidarium
(M) and caldarium
(N) beyond.
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The men's baths had three entrances, (A) (pictured left), (B) and (C), whilst the women's had a
single entrance (D). The courtyard (O)
adjoining, but not connected to, the women's baths had a separate
entrance off the Via del Foro.
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....At the opposite end of the caldarium
is a large bath (pictured above), raised on two
steps, which, in use, was filled with hot water. Along its length,
the bath has a bench seat which would have allowed a dozen or so
bathers to sit in the heated water. ....
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* Images ©Jackie and Bob Dunn are
reproduced by permission from their website at
www.pompeiiinpictures.com
(Su concessione del Ministero per
i Beni e le Attività Culturali:
Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di
Napoli e Pompei)
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