BATHS EXCAVATED IN THE YEARS 1824 AND 1858

AFTER the excavations at Pompeii had been carried on to a considerable extent, it was matter of surprise that no public baths were discovered, particularly as they were sure almost to be placed in the most frequented situation, and therefore probably somewhere close to the Forum. The wonder was increased by the small number of baths found in private houses. That public baths existed, was long ago ascertained long from an inscription discovered in 1749, purporting that one Januarius, an enfranchised slave, supplied the baths of Marcus Crassus Frugi with water, both fresh and salt. At length an excavation in the vicinity of the Forum brought to light a suite of public baths, admirably arranged, spacious, highly decorated, and superior to any even in the most considerable Of our modern cities. They are fortunately in good preservation, and throw much light on what the ancients, and especially Vitruvius, have written on the subject. Inscription in the Court of the Baths. DEDICATIONE. THERMARUM. MUNERIS. MEL ALLEI. NIGIDII. MAII. VENATIO. ATHLETE. SPARSIONES. VELA. ERUNT. AIAIO. PRINCIPI. COLONIC. FELICITER. Facsimile, of the above inscription. from VIAE TVICIT D I D I C XTI 0 N _7:V1A1S On occasion of the dedication of the baths, at the expense of Cn us Alleius Nigidius Maius, there will be the chase of wild beasts, athletic contests, sprinkling of perfumes, and an awning. Prosperity to Maius, chief of the colony."

This announcement of a public entertainment is written on a wall of the court of the baths, to the right hand on entering.

The provincial towns, imitating the example of Rome, and equally fond of all sorts of theatrical and gladiatorial exhibitions, of which we shall hereafter speak at length in describing the various theatres of Pompeii, usually solemnized the completion of any edifices or monuments erected for the public service by dedicating them. This ceremony was nothing more than opening or exhibiting the building to the people in a solemn manner, gratifying them at the same time with largesses and various spectacles. When a private man had erected the building, he himself was usually the person who dedicated it. When undertaken by the public order and at the public cost, the citizens deputed some magistrate or rich and popular person to perform the ceremony. In the capital vast sums were expended in this manner; and a man who aspired to become a popular leader could scarcely lay out his money to better interest than in courting favour by the prodigality of his expenses on these or similar occasions. It appears, then, that upon the completion of the baths, the Pompeian committed the dedication to Cn us Alleius Nigidius Maius, who entertained them with a sumptuous spectacle. There were combats (venatio) between wild beasts, or between beasts and men, a cruel sport, to which the Romans were passionately addicted; athletic games (athletoe), sprinkling of perfumes (sparsiones), and it was further engaged that an awning should be raised over the amphitheatre. The convenience of such a covering will be evident, no less as a protection against sun than rain under an Italian sky; the merit of the promise, which may seem but a trifle, will be understood by considering the difficulty of stretching a covering over the immense area of an ancient amphitheatre. We may observe, by the way, that representations of hunting and of combats between wild beasts are common subjects of the paintings of Pompeii. A combat between a lion and a horse, and another, between a bear and a bull, have been found depicted in the. amphitheatre. The velarium, or awning, is advertised in all the inscriptions yet found which give notice of public games. Athlet and sparsiones appear in no other. We learn from Seneca that the perfumes were disseminated by being mixed with boiling water, and then placed in the centre of the amphitheatre, so that the scents rose with the steam, and soon became diffused throughout the building. There is some reason to suppose that the completion and dedication of the baths preceded the destruction of the city but a short time, from the inscription being found perfect on the wall of the baths, for it was the custom to write these notices in the most public places, and after a very short season they were covered over by others, as one billsticker defaces the labours of his predecessors. This is abundantly evident even in the present ruined state of the town, especially at the corners of the principal streets, where it is easy to discover one inscription painted over another. But to return to the Baths. They occupy almost an entire island, forming an irregular quadrangle; the northern front, facing to the Street of the Baths, being about 162 feet in length, the southern front about 93 feet, and the average depth 174 feet. They are divided into three separate and distinct compartments, one of which was appropriated to the fireplaces and to the servants of the establishment; the other two were occupied each by a set of baths, contiguous to each other, similar and adapted to the same purposes, and supplied with heat and water from the same furnace and from the same reservoir. It is conjectured that the most spacious of them was for the use of the men, the lesser for that of the women. The apartments and passages are paved with white marble in mosaic. It appears, from Varro and Vitruvius, that baths for men and women were originally united, as well for convenience as economy of fuel, but were separated afterwards for the preservation of morals, and had no communication except that from the furnaces. We shall call these the old Baths by way of distinction, and because they were first discovered; but, in reality, the more recently discovered Stabian Baths may probably be the more ancient.

It should be observed here that the old Pompeian thermoe are adapted solely to the original purposes of a bath, namely, a place for bathing and washing. They cannot therefore fora moment be compared to the baths constructed at Rome during the period of the empire, of which such magnificent remains may still be seen at the Baths of Diocletian, and especially at those of Caracalla. In these vast establishments the bath formed only a part of the entertainment provided. There were also spacious porticoes for walking and conversing, halls and courts for athletic games and gladiatorial combats, apartments for the lectures and recitations of philosophers, rhetoricians, and poets. In short, they formed a sort of vast public club, in which almost every species of amusement was provided. In the more recently discovered baths, called the Therm Stabian , which will be described further on, there is indeed a large quadrangular court, or pahestra, which may have served for gymnastic exercises, and among others for the game of ball, as appears from some large balls of stone having been found in it. Yet even this larger establishment makes but a very slight approach to the magnificence and luxury of a Roman bath.

The piscina, or reservoir of the old Pompeian baths, is separated from the baths themselves by the street (W) which opens into the north-western corner of the Forum, now called Vicolo delle Terme. The pipes which communicated between the reservoir and the bath passed over an arch (to) thrown across the street. This arch was perfect when the excavation was made; now only the shoulders remain, in which the pipes above mentioned are still visible. There were three entrances to the furnaces which heated the warm anti baths. The chief one opened upon a court (r) of an irregular figure, fit for containing wood and other necessaries for the use of the establishment, covered in part by a roof, the rafters of which rested at one end on the lateral walls and at the other on two columns constructed with small pieces of stone. From hence a very small staircase led to the furnaces and to the upper part of the baths.

Plan of the Baths.

Another entrance led to a small room (h) (proefurnium), into which projects the mouth of a furnace (i). In this room were the attendants on the furnace, or stokers (fornacarii), whose duty it was to keep up the fires. Here was found a quantity of pitch, used by the furnace-men to enliven the fires. The stairs in the room (h) led up to the coppers. The third entrance led from the apodyterium of the men's baths by means of a corridor (x). It is to be remarked that there is no communication between these furnaces and the bath of the women, which was heated from them. The furnace was round, and had in the lower part of it two pipes, which transmitted hot air under the pavements and between the walls of the vapour baths, which were built hollow for that purpose. Close to the furnace, at the distance of four inches, a round vacant space still remains, in which was placed the copper (caldarium) for boiling water; near which, with the same interval between them, was situated the copper for warm water (tepidarium); and at the distance of two feet from this was the receptacle (k) for cold water (frigidarium), which was square, and plastered round the interior like the piscina or reservoir before mentioned. A constant communication was maintained between these vessels, so that as fast as hot water was drawn off from the caldarium, the void was supplied from the tepidarium, which being already considerably heated, did but slightly reduce the temperature of the hotter boiler. The tepidarium, in its turn, was supplied from the piscina, and that from the aqueduct; so that the heat which was not taken up by the first boiler passed on to the second, and instead of being wasted, did its office in preparing the contents of the second for the higher temperature which it was to obtain in the first. It is but lately that this principle has been introduced into modern furnaces, but its use in reducing the consumption of fuel is well known. It is necessary to apprize the reader that the terms frigidarium, tepidarium, and caldarium, are applied to the apartments in which the cold, tepid, and hot baths are placed, as well as to those vessels in which the operation of beating the water is carried on. The furnace and the coppers were placed between the men's baths and the women's baths, as near as possible to both, to avoid the waste of heat consequent on transmitting the heated fluids through a length of pipe. The coppers and reservoir were elevated considerably above the baths, to cause the water to flow more rapidly into them.