Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/199

ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. I4I THERMÆ.

The Thermæ or great public baths are quite as characteristic of Roman civilization as the amphitheatres, being probably derived from the Greek gymnasia.

The principal existing remains are found at Rome and Pompeii in a ruined state, but much can be learned from the published drawings of the Italian architect, Palladio, made in the sixteenth century, when they were better preserved, and from the restora- tions of French students sent to Rome as prize winners of the École des Beaux-Arts.

The Thermæ supplied the place of the modern daily papers for the dissemination of news and gossip, and also answered in a measure the purposes of a modern club as a rendezvous of social life. A small charge of a quadrans (½ farthing) was sometimes made, but in later days they were opened free as a bribe to the populace by Emperors in search of popularity.

In general arrangement they usually consisted of three main parts:—

(a.) A great central block. This was planned for the baths proper, the processes of bathing resembling the modern Turkish bath. The Tepidarium (warm room for bathers to rest in), Calidarium (hot room, usually containing a warm water bath), Laconium or Sudatorium (the hottest room, usually a circular domed apart- ment), and a Frigidarium (cool room, usually containing a cold swimming bath—"piscina") were the most important apartments; added to which there were the Apodyteria (rooms for undressing), Unctuarium (rooms for oils, pomades or ointments, where the "aliptæ" anointed the bathers and performed the rubbing down, shampooing with the "strigillus" or scraper, oiling and sanding the body). The Sphæristerium (place for the games of ball), libraries, and small theatre occasionally formed part of the central structure.

(b.) A large open space. This surrounded the central block and was frequently laid out as a stadium, with raised seats for spectators. It was also used for various athletic exercises (such as wrestling, races, boxing), or for lounging, and portions were planted with trees and ornamented with statues. (c.) An outer ring of apartments. These consisted of lecture rooms for the hearing of discourses, open colonnades, exedræ or recesses for the philosophers, poets and statesmen, and other necessary apartments. A large reservoir frequently occupied one side, being supplied by a special aqueduct from a distance. This reservoir supplied the Frigidarium, Tepidarium and Calidarium in succession. The external apartments were frequently let off as shops or utilized for the accommodation of the numerous slaves who formed part of the establishment.

The whole block was frequently raised on a high platform,