The Ancient Romans loved their baths — this is a circular pool from the baths in the eponymously named town of Bath in England. Although the custom of public bathing had come from Ancient Greece, by the early 400s CE Rome had 856 bathouses throughout the Empire.
These were places of beauty and comfort — heating systems called Hypocausts pushed hot steam into the floors and walls; variously temperatured pools provided different sorts of swimming experiences; and one could see mosaics, high ceilings, and arched windows.
The experience was highly social, and Romans bathed, exercised, got massages, and talked among friends as they made their way through the bathhouse complex. Archaeological studies of materials that Romans had lost down the bathhouse drains shows that they played games, did weaving, and perhaps had medical procedures done during their stay.
It was commonplace for high-minded moralists to criticise the bathing culture, as they critiqued all habits of pleasure that they felt were making Romans overly fond of luxury. But these ancients so loved the bathhouses that a common graffiti went as follows: “The baths, wine, and sex destroy our bodies, but the baths, wine, and sex are what make life worth living.”
“Balnea vinum Venus corrumpunt nostra corpora, sed vitam faciunt balnea vinum Venus.”
