JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post The History of Lines series
The public baths of Caracalla served Romans for about 400 years--the complex was complex, and massive. I've long liked this architectural plan of the place--it is necessarily neat and orderly, and fits a lot of data and detail on a 11x8" sheet of paper while at the same time still having a lot of white breathable space on the page. Here's a sample of the detail, which in real life is less than one square inch:
And the full engraved sheet (printed in 1820 for Rees' Dictionary):
The following quote is from the great work by Rodolfo Lanciani, Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries, Boston/New York, Houghton, Miflin & Company, 1898, pp 91-2, on the Caracalla baths (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/Lanciani/LANARD/4*.html):
"Next to forums I must speak of the baths as places of public resort. At the end of the third century after Christ, Rome numbered 11 large public thermae, and 926 smaller ones conducted under private enterprise. The baths of Caracalla alone could accommodate, at one time, 1,600 people; the baths of Diocletian, 3,600. Taking 1,500 as the average accommodation of each of the public thermae, and 50 as that of each of the private baths, we learn that in ancient Rome, at any minute, 62,800 citizens could restore their strength in baths of every nature and description; and this, without bringing into the calculation the Tiber, the Anio, the Lake of Agrippa, and the bathing accommodations with which every Roman house was abundantly furnished..."
"These dry figures and statistics concern only cleanliness and bodily health. But for those who frequented the great thermae bathing was the very last thought, — I mean for the fashionable habitués of imperial times; since the earlier generations, those which had made Rome the queen of the world, had always considered the bath as the most important event and the most essential requirement in the every-day life. In course of time, and under the corruption which began to contaminate Roman society after the conquest of the East, bodily health and cleanliness, although the original object, had long ceased to be the only one; for the thermae, decorated with prodigal magnificence, and supplied with all the comforts, conveniences, and novelties that a voluptuary could desire, had become places of amusement, whither people repaired for pastime and enjoyment. They were, in a word, gigantic clubs, where the elegant youth passed the whole day, at least the hours in which the establishments were open. Of course, the number of hours varied according to the season, or the good-will of the Emperor. The opening was announced by the sound of a bell heard at a great distance. Sonat aes thermarum! was the exclamation popular among the anxiously awaiting habitués. A great deal has been written by Salmasius, Marini, Becker, and other antiquarians about the hours for opening and closing the public baths. The truth is that they varied at different periods, from sunrise until sunset. p91Pliny the younger says that his friend Spurinna bathed in winter at the ninth hour, in summer at the eighth. Vopiscus mentions the ninth as the opening hour. Thermae apud veteres non ante nonam aperiebantur. The Emperor Hadrian made a new regulation. He ordered that nobody should enter the thermae before the eighth hour of the day except those provided with a certificate from the attendant physician, and absolutely no one after sunset. Severus Alexander not only caused the gates to be opened again at sunrise, but ordered them to be kept open until late at night, defraying the expense of illumination from his own private purse. The Emperor Tacitus again restricted the time to the length of the day, as the concession made by his predecessor had given occasion to great nocturnal disturbances; but probably this did not continue long in force, for we find again in the Codex of Justinian a certain sum allotted to the cost of lighting. Thermae became by degrees places of the most foolish debauchery. Suetonius relates of Caligula that he imagined unheard-of refinements in bathing and eating, and that he carried the luxury of bathing to such an extent that he took his bath, not in water, but in tepid perfumes. Helagabalus, the mad youth who put vases of murrha (the costliest and most precious material known to the ancients) to the vilest uses of the imperial household, used to swim in basins the water of which had been mixed with the oil of saffron."
"With regard to the custom of allowing both sexes to bathe at the same time, the regulations were changed under different emperors. There is no doubt that Roman women, even the noblest of them, visited the public baths; but, as a rule, they were provided with separate rooms. Atia, the mother of Augustus, after the fabulous rencontre in the Temple of Apollo, bore on her person the indelible p92mark of a serpent, to conceal which from indiscreet eyes she was obliged to give up frequenting public baths. Juvenal and Martial allude very often to the gross immorality of the men and women bathing together; but we must not believe that the immorality was general. Hadrian was the first Emperor to put an end to this shameful disorder, though only for a brief period; because the periodical renewal of these interdicts shows that the evil could not be eradicated. In 1870, an inscription was found near some private baths in the Trastevere, containing the following notice: "By order of the mighty god Sylvanus, women are prohibited from stepping into the swimming basin reserved for the men." This inscription shows that police regulations were not enough to keep fast women in order, and that the owners of baths, responsible for the decency of their establishments, were obliged to resort to the intervention of the gods. The last thing we hear on this subject is a general decree promulgated by Heliogabalus, by which promiscuous bathing was allowed everywhere and at all hours. Let us follow one of the elegant youths of Rome into one of the great thermae. He is welcomed at his entrance by the ostiarius, or porter, a tall, majestic fellow with a sword at his side, and by the capsarius, or wardrobe-keeper, who takes charge of his wraps. Then follows a general salutation and kissing of friends, exchange of the last topics and scandals of the day; reading of the newspapers, or acta diurna. The visitor then selects the kind of bath which may suit his particular case, — cold, tepid, warm, shower, or perspiration bath. The bath over, the real business begins, as, for example, taking a constitutional up and down the beautiful grounds, indulging in athletic sports or simple gymnastics to restore circulation, and to prepare himself for the delights of the table."
"The luxurious meal finished, the gigantic club-house could supply him with every kind of amusement: libraries, concerts, literary entertainments, reading of the latest poems or novels, popular or Barnum-like shows, conversation with the noblest and most beautiful women. Very often a second bath was taken to prepare for the evening meal. All this could be done by three or four thousand persons at one and the same time, without confusion or delay, because of the great number of servants and slaves attached to the establishment.
"The excavations and discoveries which Abel Blouet made in 1824, Guidi in 1878, and ourselves during the last fifteen years in the baths of Caracalla, show clearly how the service was organized. It was carried on entirely underground, by means of crypto-porticoes, which allowed the servants to appear suddenly everywhere, and to meet the requirements of the visitors without crossing the halls and without interfering with the circulation of the noble crowd. In fact, we have discovered a fragment of the "order of the day," or programme of the distribution of service on the nineteenth day of April, A.D. 226."
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