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The term thermae was the word the Ancient Romans used for the buildings housing their public baths.
Most Roman cities had at least one, if not many, such buildings, which were centers of public bathing and socialization.
Origin of the term
The word thermae is a Latin borrowing from the Greek adjective thermos, therme, thermon (hot).
c.f. Thermopylae (the hot gates, gates of fire) thermae sc. aquae means "hot waters, hot springs".
Building layout
Within the building the baths were divided according to gender. Each gender had three pools: a hot one, a lukewarm one and a cool one. They were respectively called:
- the caldarium (L. cal(i)dus, -a,-um "hot" cf. calor orig, calos, caloris m)
- the tepidarium (L. tepidus,-a,-um "lukewarm" cf. L. tepeo)
- the frigidarium (Latin frigidus,-a,-um "cold")
- sometimes there was also a steam bath: the sudatorium
The baths often included, aside from the three main rooms, listed above, a palaestra, or outdoor gymnasium where men would engage in various ball games and exercises. There, inter alia, weights were lifted and the discus thrown. Men would oil themselves and removes the excess with a strigil (c.f. the well known Apoxyomenus of Lysippus from the Vatican Museum).
The changing room was known as the apotyterium (Greek apotyterion, apo + duo "to take off" here of clothing).
Location
Baths sprung up all over the empire. Where natural hot springs existed (as in Bath, England) thermae were built around them. Alternatively a system of hypocausta (Greek hypocauston < hypo "below" + kaio "to burn") were utilized to heat the waters.
Remains of Roman baths
Algeria
United Kingdom
France
Germany
Italy
Wales
See also
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