Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/403

 BATH 383 room served as an apodyterium for those who were to use the warm baths, and here the bathers, previous to entering the caldarium, Apodyterium at Pompeii were rubbed and anointed with some of the immense number of fragrant oils and ointments which were employed by the ancients. Having left his dress in the tepidarium, the bather passed directly into the caldarium. The floor- ing of this apartment, which, in accordance with the directions of Vitruvius, is twice as long as it is broad, is placed upon small pillars {suspensurce), so that the heat from the furnaces had ready and free admission beneath it. The walls, too, were hollow, the inner being con- nected with the outer wall by strong clamps of iron and brick, and they thus formed one large flue for the circulation of the heated air. At one end of this room was placed the hot Tepidarium at bath. This was a shallow cistern (alveui), 15 ft. in length by about 4 ft. <n breadth, and 2 ft. and half an inch in depth ; it was elevated above the level of the floor, and the bathers ascended to it by means of two steps, the top one serving for a seat ; on the inside another seat surrounded the whole of the cistern at about half its depth. The hot water was fur- nished by caldrons placed upon the other side of the wall. At the end of the room, opposite the alceus, was the labrum, a huge vase or tazza of white marble, 8 ft. in diameter, and having a depth internally of not more than 8 77 VOL. H. 25 in. From the centre projected a brass tube, probably throwing up cold water. This was perhaps received upon the head of the bather, before he quitted the heated atmosphere of the caldarium. Adjoining the caldarium was placed the furnace over which was set the caldron for supplying hot water to the baths. The arrangement will be explained by the an- nexed copy of a fresco discovered in the baths of Titus at Rome. The women's baths resem- Baths of Titus. bled those of the men, except that the different apartments were much smaller, and the ar- rangements less complete. The great therm erected by the emperors at Rome were much more extensive and magnificent structures. The baths of Oaracalla were 1,500 ft. long by 1,250 ft. broad. At each end of the building is a large oblong hall, a, having on one of its sides a semicircular tribune, b. The halls were probably designed for exercise, as was also the large open space f before the baths. From the tribunes orators and poets spoke to those assembled at this favorite place of resort. The large central apartment c is called the pinaeotheca, but excellent authorities believe it to have been the cello, calidaria. The cir- cular apartment e was the laconicum, or room for the vapor bath ; while the apartment d, at the other side, was the cello, frig idaria. The water for all the building came from the ele- vated reservoir h, passing under the rows of seats g, from which spectators witnessed the ^liiiiiiiiiiihiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiini Plan of Baths of Caracalla. athletic exercises below. All the apartments of the bath were magnificently ornamented with mosaic, and profusely adorned with