In the vast ruins of the Caracalla thermal baths, in Rome, hundreds of seagulls go around in circles. Their haunting cries echo the voices of 1,800 years ago. Today, the empty shell of what was one of the largest bath complexes in Rome is practically deserted, occasionally welcoming opera representations.
But what were the thermal baths of ancient Rome at the time? And why did Romans love public baths so much?
Thermal baths everywhere
When I lived in Rome for almost a year, I noticed the remains of old baths (Thermæ in Latin) everywhere. Practically all the emperors have built it, and in the middle of IVe A century, the city had 952 public baths.
The largest were the thermal baths built by the Diocletian emperor (284-305). About 3,000 people a day could bathe in this 13 hectare complex. These thermal baths, like most others, contained a hot bathroom (caldarium), heated by an ingenious air duct system in the walls and floors. The ground was so hot that you had to wear wooden taps.
It led to a lukewarm bathroom (the Tepidarium), which formed like a airlock before the bathers enter the cold room, the frigidarium, with its pool of cold water. An outdoor swimming pool of 4,000 square meters was the central element of the building.
The public thermal baths also included sports fields, ball games, hair salons and shaving, libraries, restaurants and bars.
“Bains, wine and sex make life are worth living”
The Philosopher Seneca, also adviser to the Emperor Nero, lived above a complex of public baths around the year 50 of our era. He described activities in the thermal baths that could be noisy:
“Imagine all the kinds of voice that can make you take your ears in hatred; When the athletes exercise and work on the dumbbells, during their effort, or their semblance of effort, I hear groans, and, each time they take breath, it is a whistling and an acute breathing. Also add the people who jump into the pool in the middle of a crash of splashed water. But in addition to these people, whose voice is at least normal, imagine the acute and sour voice of the epislais, who want to be better heard, and suddenly grow cries, without ever being silent, otherwise when they make an armpit and then make others scream in their place. And then, the varied cries of the pastry chef, and the sausage merchant, and the seller of small pâtés, and all the boys of tavern who announce their goods with a characteristic meloped. ”
A story of IVe century AD described how aristocrats sometimes arrived at the thermal baths accompanied by fifty servants. Certain parts of the thermal baths were reserved for these rich visitors, who seem to be their most beautiful clothes and their most precious jewelry.
The baths were the scene of an intense social life, privileged places of meetings and exchanges, and they allowed those who wanted to exhibit their bodies and all their attributes.
The large public bath complexes were built and funded by Roman wealthy or the emperor, but there was a crowd of small private baths. Entrance was often free during public festivities and political campaigns, and generally cheap the rest of the time. Thus, all social classes could enjoy the baths.
Women and men bathed separately and used the baths at different times of the day. Some public baths included areas reserved for women. The Soranos doctor of Ephesus, who wrote a gynecology treaty in IIe A century AD, recommended women to go to the baths to prepare for childbirth.
In a overcrowded and polluted city like Rome, the baths were a haven of peace. Hot water, odors of scented ointments, massages and the thermal environment were all pleasures to which everyone could indulge.
An inscription of Ier century AD declared that “Bains, wine and sex make life are worth living”.
The baths and the sad reality of slavery
The baths were the scene of an intense social life, privileged places of meetings and exchanges, and they allowed those who wanted to exhibit their bodies and all their attributes.
Some archaeological vestiges even show that your teeth could be cleaned.
Baths were often built in military camps to ensure the comfort of soldiers during their service.
Behind these attractive images, however, hid the sad reality of slavery. It was to the slaves that the dirty work in the baths was coming back. They cleaned the rooms and the hearts, emptied the toilets and watched over the water flow.
The slaves went to the baths with their masters, which they flicked with oil and whose skin they cleaned with strigiles, names which designates a sort of bronze scraper for the skin. They entered the baths by a separate entrance.
Baths in the entire empire
The baths were popular in all the cities of the Roman Empire. The thermal complex in the city of Bath (Somerset, England), which was under Roman domination for hundreds of years and was formerly called Aquae Suliss, is a famous example. A source of natural hot water fueled these baths which honored the goddess Minerve Soulis.
Remains of similar thermal baths have been discovered in North Africa, Spain and Germany. Besides, the vast vestiges of a Roman bath in Baden-Baden in Germany are among the most impressive. Similarly, in Toledo, Spain, a complex of Roman public baths measuring nearly one hectare was discovered.
Baths were often built in military camps to ensure the comfort of soldiers during their service. Remains of military baths have been discovered throughout the Empire. Researchers have discovered and searched the baths of the Hadrian wall military camp, a wall built to defend the northern border of the Roman Empire, in what is today modern Great Britain.
Chester baths include hot rooms (caldaria), cold rooms (frigidaria) and a sweating room (Sudatoria), similar to a sauna.
A long story
The Romans were not the first to use public baths. Their Greek ancestors already had it. But the Romans extended the public baths to the whole Empire. They have become a marker of Roman culture wherever they went.
Public baths have continued during Muslim domination and have become very popular again under the Ottoman Empire, which lasted from 1299 to 1922. Turkish hammams (baths) remain an important public institution to date and they are a heritage of the Romans. Istanbul still has sixty active hammams.
The Roman thermal baths were not only distinguished by their technical ingenuity, their remarkable architecture and their refinement, they also created social ties between individuals from all walks of life and were the vibrant heart of the life of ancient Rome. When the seagulls turn over the Caracalla thermal baths in Rome, their haunting cries connect to this world of exchanges, mixtures and pleasures.
