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Baths & Bathing as an Ancient Roman |
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written
by kjw2 / 09.13.2004 |
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Introduction |
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| from <http://people.clemson.edu/~elizab/rdlimages.htm> |
| Diagram of a Hypocaust |
| The hypocaust was a furnace which efficiently heated the baths from under the floor. |
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| from <http://people.clemson.edu/~elizab/rdlimages.htm> |
| Ruins of an Ancient Hypocaust |
| This isn't the hypocaust at the Stabian Baths, but it is a good example of what they look like. You can see the pillars which supported the floor, and the remains of the floor. The arch at the rear of the room was where the furnace was, and where the hot air from the furnace entered the space under the floor. |
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Bathing was a custom introduced to Italy from Greece towards the end of the 3rd century B.C. Early Romans washed their arms and legs everyday, which were dirty from working, but only washed their whole bodies every nine days. They also swam in the Tiber. Some took occasional hot baths in the lavatrina- a room next to the kitchen. Later, when the custom of daily bathing in hot baths took hold, Romans began to build bathrooms (balnea) in their houses. In the 2nd century B.C. the first bathhouses were built. In 33 B.C. there were 170 small baths in Rome; by early 5th century that number had climbed to 856.
Baths in the Roman Empire were provided water by the extensive aqueduct systems built by the Romans. Water supplies for public baths usually took priority over water for private use. Baths that needed to, such as small baths or baths in arid areas, could function with very little water input, keeping water in reservoirs and cisterns. Other baths, in areas where water was more readily available, used a generous supply of water from the aqueducts in order to maintain their stylish displays such as fountains and cascades. During the time of Trajan (AD 100), there were nine aqueducts that supplied Rome with about 1 million cubic meters of water daily, an estimated 300 gallons per person per day. Rome has not seen anything near this impressive a supply of water until modern times.
A key invention in the history of baths was the hypocaust which was invented at the end of the 2nd century BC. Though evidence of the floor heating systems exists in earlier models, it seems that the Romans really developed and perfected this technology. Since cold baths could hardly gain the popularity that hot baths could, the invention of the hypocaust caused bathing to take off as a cultural phenomenon. The hypocaust is a furnace, and the hot gasses from the hypocaust were allowed to circulate in a 2 foot space beneath the floors of the baths. The floor was usually supported by pillars of bricks, terracotta or stone, with 0.6 meter square tiles resting on top. Chimneys and pipes circulated the hot air through the space under the floor so that the fire from the furnace never touched the floor of the baths. Later on, Romans began to make the walls of the baths hollow allowing the hot gasses to circulate within the walls, after heating the floor, heating them to about body temperature. This allowed Romans to put windows in the wall because they could use the hot air within the walls to compensate for the heat lost throught the windows. Holes in the walls allowed them to control the temperature and moisture, making the baths pleasant and luxurious to be in. The hypocaust thus allowed the Romans to heat the water, walls and air of their baths efficiently, turning a hygienic chore into a cultural phenomenon, truly establishing bathing as a daily necessity.
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