Alveus 1

vol. I p.1704-1705

Alveus, a trough-shaped container, and specifically:

1) A bathtub

Namely, the large shared one for warm baths, in the caldarium. If there weren’t specific reasons for it to have to be in a different place, it tended to be connected to the narrower side of the room, opposite the schola labri; the Central Baths in Pompeii have an alveus on each narrow side. Its length is the same as the width of the room, <50> and according to Vitruvius its width is no less than 6 feet, of which 2 are used for the inside steps to get in and for the slope (pulvinus) on the back side, for those sitting in the bath to lean against; the alvei in the baths in Pompeii match up completely with this. The hot water fell in in one or more streams, and had a drain on the upper edge; the alveus could be emptied through a drain on the floor, and the water would be used to clean the floor of the caldarium; <60> it was kept warm using a metal stove in the form of a horizontal semi-cylinder over the opening which lead from the hypocaust under the hollow floor; the water flowed from this stove which opened into the alveus back into the same stove, and was constantly reheated there. Overbeck Pompeji⁴ 211. 229. 236. v. Duhn u. Jacobi Der griech. Tempel in Pompeji 33. Mau Röm. Mitt. VI 1891, 267. Marquardt Privatl.² 288. <page break 1704/1705> As an exception, in the Stabian Baths in Pompeii, there was also an alveus in the tepidarium later. Overbeck⁴ 227. Nissen Pomp. Stud. 151. In Celsus (I 3. 4. II 17. III 22. XVI 29. XVII 23) and Petron 92, the alveus is called solium: the idea that this word only refers to a tub for one person (Festus 298 b 22), which is actually the case in Suet. Aug. 82. Vitr. IX praef. 10 and probably Cels. VII 26, 5, is probably based on false etymology. <10> The alveus should be differentiated from the warm swimming pool (calida piscina Plin. ep. II 17, 11; cf. Galen. meth. med. 7, 6 = X 473 K.), which Maecenas first set up in Rome, Dio Cass. LXV 7.

([Mau.])

This article is referenced by: Baths, Caldarium