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Results for caldarium:

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caldarium

CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: The heat room of a Roman bath house. An attached plunge bath made it very humid.

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baths, Roman

SYNONYM: bathhouse
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: The Roman baths featuring a combination of steaming, cleaning, and massage appeared wherever the Romans made conquests. In Rome itself the aqueducts fed sumptuous baths such as those of Caracalla, which covered 28 acres (11 hectares). From the 1st century BC onwards, the Romans built establishments called balneae or, later, thermae incorporating suites of rooms at different temperatures. A typical installation would include a tepidarium (warm room, probably without bath), a caldarium (hot, with plunge bath), a frigidarium (cold, also with bath), and an apodyterium (changing-room). Elaborate examples might also include a laconicum (room with dry heat), a swimming bath, an exercise area (palaestra), gardens, and a library. These complexes were important social meeting-points and were not limited to high society. Most large private houses from the 2nd century BC onwards had their own bath suite. The four large series of baths at Rome were built by Titus, Trajan, Caracalla, and Diocletian. Baths existed as early as the 4th century BC.

labrum

CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A Latin term used to describe a large, shallow basin on a pedestal, usually carved from marble, granite, or a fine-grained stone, and found in the caldarium (and sometimes the frigidarium or tepidarium) of a Roman bath-house. It held hot water.

strigil

SYNONYM: Latin strigilis
CATEGORY: lithics
DEFINITION: A narrow curved scraper, made of horn or metal (bronze, silver), used by Roman and Greek bathers for the cleansing of the skin. A strigil was used to remove olive oil applied after bathing or exercising. Romans used them particularly in the hot room (caldarium) and the task was often performed by slaves. On Athenian pottery, strigils are shown in the hands of athletes.