Roman Baths

1. Visiting the public baths was an important part of Roman life.

2. Almost all Roman towns had public baths and they were very cheap to use.

3. Most people liked to visit the baths each day in order to relax, keep clean, exercise, meet friends and conduct business.

4. Roman baths could be huge and some of the larger baths even had a gymnasium, restaurant and a library.

5. Small baths held about three hundred people, large ones up to one thousand five hundred.

6. Water at the Roman baths was heated by a furnace using the hypocaust system.

7. Men and women were not allowed to bathe together.

8. In some areas there were separate baths for men and women.

9. Often sessions at the baths were split, with the women bathing in the mornings.

10. There were four main rooms at the Roman baths, the first being the undressing room.

11. The tepidarium was the warm room.

12. The caldarium was a hot and steamy room.

13. The frigidarium contained the cold water pool.

14. When visiting the baths a person would undress and take part in some exercise to work up a sweat.

15. After the exercise they would go to the tepidarium, where they could sit in the warm water pool chatting.

16. They would then move to the caldarium where they would sweat and get rid of the dirt from their body.

17. After this a slave would rub scented olive oil into their skin and then scrape it off with a strigil.

18. A strigil was a curved metal tool used to make the skin clean.

19. They then went back to the tepidarium for a dip in the warm bath.

20. Following this they would visit the frigidarium to plunge into the cold water pool.

21. Finally the visitor could then use the main pool for a swim, stroll in the gardens or just meet with friends.