Roman baths,
The Epitomé of Communal Sensual Perception
- Part 2
There are no surviving written tracts, which record the exact opening hours of the baths, but it is known they were open from early morning until late in the evening. The bath bell decreed that the baths were open for business. Male bathers often entered the exercise grounds before the bell and stayed for hours, both exercising and then lying in the baths. It was normal for them to leave to dine late at night.
Each bath was divided into main areas, the palaestra was the area, where the men exercised and then the thermae cleansed the body. The bathing area was often in the centre of these vast complexes, and their social impact was reinforced by the fact that the baths were surrounded by shops. The baths had a heating system designed to heat both the water and the bathing area. Exercise, sauna, massage, bath, relax and network, was the strict order of bathing, which meant that in function the ancient Roman baths were not unlike the modern health clubs or spas. It is to be remembered that all free men and women could afford a bath and the public baths attracted the lower class opportunists, and prostitutes.
The heating area was the praefurnium, or furnace and it was always sub terranean and run by slaves. Each floor of the baths had a gap between them allowing the hot air to circulate and warm the marble floors and walls. For practical usage the caldarium, or hot bath, was directly above the furnace, while the frigidarium, or the cold bath, was the farthest from it.
The decoration in the thermae rooms was lavish, they were light airy with towering marble columns. In true Roman style, fabulously rich mosaics decorated the marble floors. Large public latrines contained marble seats positioned above intricate water channels flushed away any waste. An extra decadent touch in some of the Roman baths was an extra smaller drainage channel in front of the sewage channel. In this channel, there were sticks with a sponge attached so that one could conclude one’s ablutions properly and ancient touch which many a small child would wish was still in use today. Additionally, small, decorated balconies were huge unroofed courtyards allowed various ball playing, with smaller balconies for private sun bathing
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