vol. I p.1704-1705
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.
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