Page 18 - All About History - Issue 72-18

Through the doors
ROMAN EMPIRE While entry to the thermae wasn’t free, it

hardly cost anything – just a quadrans, which
is the equivalent of mere pennies today.
Depending on the bathhouse and the emperor,
there would either be separate entrances for
men and women or one entrance for everyone.

ROMAN

THERMAE

ROMAN EMPIRE, 200 BCE – TODAY

n ancient Rome personal hygiene was more
of a public affair. From the obscenely wealthy
right down to the poorest of the poor, everyone Time foraworkout
Ineeded to bathe and emperors made it their Before going in to bathe, most would
mission to build public thermae, or baths, for their check out the palaestra, or exercise
citizens. They popped up all over the empire and ground, where they would work up a
while we will never know exactly how many there sweat. But this wasn’t a competitive
were, we do know that there were 170 in 33 BCE, environment – in fact Roman doctors
just before the Roman Empire’s beginning, and prescribed it as a way to maintain good
health, alongwithagooddietand the
the number only grew.
leisurely trek round the interior of the
The early years of the empire saw a somewhat
bathhouse. Wrestling, boxing and ball
conservative society and so men and women
games were often the order of the day.
bathed in separate thermae, sometimes the same
building but split in two, but there is evidence
that this changed over time. For instance, under
Emperor Domitian there was nothing to forbid the
sexes from bathing side by side.
However this changed under Hadrian who had
it written in law that men and women should be
separated in the thermae. In baths that had been Getting cold
built with only one of each room, this meant that The final of the main three rooms, the
men and women effectively had time slots or set frigidarium was the coldest. In this room,
the Romans would plunge themselves
days that they could attend.
into a small pool of cold water as a way
This then begs the question of the opening
hours. We do know that the buildings closed at to refresh themselves and close their
poresaftertheheatofthecaldarium.
sunset – all ancient writers seem unanimous in
After this, bathers would get dressed
their agreement of this – but opening times are a and make their way back outside.
little more hazy.
Juvenal states that they opened at the fifth
hour, while other suggest that eighth or the ninth.
Whatever the time, it was signified by the ringing
of a little bell, or tintinnabulum. Dress for the occasion
Everyone’s progression through the thermae The apodyterium, or changing room, was where the
was the same. From the palaestra, or exercise bathers would get undressed as they bathed naked.
ground, they would change and then make their Allaroundthewallswereshelveswheretheycould
put their clothes and any personal belongings
way through the rooms of the bathhouse from
they’d brought with them, but this did come with
cold to hot. No matter where you were in the
Roman Empire, you followed the same ritual – the risk of theft. As a result, some wealthier citizens
broughttheirslaveswiththemtofollowthem
emperors may come and go, but the thermae
around the thermae and carry their things.
would remain the same through the centuries.

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