CHAPTER XXVIII

_THE BATHS NEAR THE FORUM_

The bathing establishment in the block north of the Forum is smaller and simpler in its arrangements than that described in the last chapter, but the parts are essentially the same. Here also we find a court, with a colonnade on three sides; a system of baths for men, comprising a dressing room (I) with a small round frigidarium (II) opening off from it, a tepidarium (III), and a caldarium (IV); a similar system for women, the place of the frigidarium being taken by a tank for cold baths (2) in the dressing room; and a long narrow furnace room between the two baths (V). On three sides of the establishment are shops, in connection with which are several inns.

[Illustration: Fig. 91.--Plan of the baths near the Forum.

A, A'. Street entrances to court. B. Colonnade. I-IV. Men's baths. I. Apodyterium. II. Frigidarium. III. Tepidarium. IV. Caldarium. V. Furnace room. C. Area. D. Court back of women's baths. 1-4. Women's baths. 1. Apodyterium. 2. Basin for cold baths. 3. Tepidarium. 4. Caldarium. _d._ Sundial.]

These baths were built shortly after 80 B.C., about the time that Ulius and Aninius repaired the Stabian Baths; the characteristic masonry, with quasi-reticulate facing, is similar to that of the Small Theatre and the Amphitheatre. The names of the builders are known from an inscription found in duplicate: _L. Caesius C. f. d[uum] v[ir] i[uri] d[icundo], C. Occius M. f., L. Niraemius A. f. II v[iri] d[e] d[ecurionum] s[ententia] ex peq[unia] publ[ica] fac[iundum] curar[unt] prob[arunt] q[ue]_. Thus we see that the contract for the building was let and the work approved by Lucius Caesius, duumvir with judiciary authority,--his colleague had probably died since election and the vacancy had not yet been filled,--and the two aediles, Occius and Niraemius, who are here styled 'duumvirs,' for reasons already explained (p. 12); the cost was defrayed by an appropriation from the public treasury. Though these Baths are of later construction than the Stabian Baths, they seem more ancient because fewer changes were made in them.

The court here was not a palaestra; it was small for gymnastic exercises, and was not provided with a swimming tank and dressing rooms. The open space was occupied by a garden.

The colonnade on the north and west sides of the court had slender columns standing far apart, with a low and simple entablature; on the east side the columns were replaced by pillars carrying low arches, which served as a support for a gallery affording a pleasant view of the garden. This gallery was accessible from the upper rooms of several inns along the street leading north from the Forum, whose guests no doubt found diversion in watching what was going on below--an advantage that may have been taken into account by the city officials in fixing the rent. There are benches on the north side of the court, and at the middle a deep recess, or exedra (_b_), making a pleasant retreat for quiet conversation. The entrance from the frequented street at the left (A) is so arranged that passers-by could not look in; near the entrance from the street on the opposite side (A') is a closet (_c_). The decoration of the court was extremely simple. Columns and walls were unpainted; on the lower parts, stucco with bits of brick in it; above, white plaster.

From the court a corridor (_a_) led into the men's apodyterium, which could be entered also on the north side from the Strada delle Terme. This room contained benches, as shown on the plan; but there were no niches, as in the dressing rooms of the Stabian Baths, and wooden shelves or lockers may have been used instead. The small dark chamber at the north end (_f_) may have been used as a storeroom for unguents, such as the Greeks called _elaeothesium_. It seems to have been thought necessary here to connect the dressing room with the furnace room (V) by a separate passage.

[Illustration: Fig. 92.--Baths near the Forum: interior of the men's tepidarium.]

Light was admitted to the dressing room through a window in the lunette at the south end, closed by a pane of glass half an inch thick, set in a bronze frame that turned on two pivots. On either side of the window are huge Tritons in stucco relief, with vases on their shoulders, surrounded by dolphins; underneath is a mask of Oceanus, and in the same wall is a niche for a lamp, similar to that seen in Fig. 92, blackened by the soot.

The frigidarium is well preserved. In all its arrangements it is almost an exact counterpart of the one in the Stabian Baths, but the scheme of decoration, suggestive of a garden, is less realistically carried out, the ground being yellow; and the round window at the apex of the domed ceiling has a rectangular extension toward the south in order to admit as much sunlight as possible.

The tepidarium, as will be seen from our illustration (Fig. 92), is in the condition of the tepidariums of the Stabian Baths before the improved arrangements for heating were introduced. There were no warm air chambers in the walls or the floor. At one end we see the remains of the large bronze brazier and benches (the iron grating is modern) presented by Vaccula, to which reference has already been made (p. 197). The feet of the benches are modelled to represent hoofs, each with a cow's head above.

[Illustration: Fig. 93.--Longitudinal section of the men's caldarium.]

There are niches in the walls, as formerly in the tepidariums of the Stabian Baths, but several of them for some reason have been walled up. Wild-visaged, muscular Atlantes stand out in bold projection on the front of the partitions between the niches, sustaining a cornice upon their uplifted hands. The window, seen in the illustration above the lamp niche, was closed, as that in the dressing room, by a pane of glass in a bronze frame.

The decoration of the ceiling, unfortunately only in part preserved, is well designed. Along the lower edge are arabesques, interwoven in a scroll pattern, in white stucco on a white background. Above these are panels of different sizes, in which raised white ornaments and figures appear on a white, blue, or violet ground; among the motives are Cupid leaning on his bow, Apollo riding on a griffin, Ganymede with the eagle, and Cupids on sea horses.

The caldarium is well preserved; only a part of the vaulted ceiling has been destroyed. The hollow space for hot air in the floor and walls is indicated in our section (Fig. 93). Here we see at the right, the bath basin, lined with white marble, with its sloping back affording a comfortable support for the bathers; at the other end is the apsidal niche (_schola_) with the labrum. The direction of Vitruvius, that the labrum should be placed under a window in such a way that the shadows of those standing around should not fall on it, is here literally observed. There were three other small windows at the same end of the room, and a niche for a lamp.

We learn from an inscription on the labrum, in bronze letters, that it was made under the direction of Gnaeus Melissaeus Aper and Marcus Staius Rufus, who were duumvirs in 3-4 A.D., at a cost of 5250 sesterces, not far from $270. This room seems to have received its final form before the new method of heating the water in the alveus came into vogue; there is no trace of a bronze heater, such as that found in connection with the bath basin of the women's caldarium at the Stabian Baths. The simple decoration is in marked contrast with the usual ornamentation of the later styles. Above a low marble base are yellow walls divided by dark red pilasters, shown in Fig. 93. These support a projecting flat cornice of dark red, whose surface is richly ornamented with stucco reliefs. The ceiling is moulded in flutings running up to the crown of the vault; only in the ceiling of the schola do we find raised figures.

The rooms of the women's baths are small, their arrangement being determined in part by the irregular shape of the corner of the building in which they are placed; but the system of heating is more complete than in the men's baths, for both the tepidarium (3) and the caldarium (4) were provided with hollow floors and hot air spaces in the walls extending to the lunettes and the ceiling. The vaulted ceilings of both of these rooms, as well as of the apodyterium, are preserved; but the caldarium has lost its hollow floor and walls, together with the bath basin, which was placed in a large niche at the right as one entered; only the base of the labrum remains. The condition of this room may be due to the earthquake of the year 63, the necessary repairs not having been made before the eruption. There was no connection between the women's baths and the court at the rear (D), which had a separate entrance from the street. At the women's entrance there was a narrow waiting room for attendants, separated from the street by a thin wall and protected by a roof.

The furnace room could be entered at one end from the street. The three cylindrical tanks for hot, lukewarm, and cold water were arranged as in the Stabian Baths. Beyond the tanks is a cistern (_g_), which was supplied in part by rain water from the roof, in part by a feed pipe connected with the water system of the city. The raised walk (_h_) on the right side of the furnace room is continued to the small court (D) in the corner of which is a stairway leading to the flat roof of the men's caldarium. From this point of vantage, the view over the landscape and the sea must have been beautiful in antiquity, as it is to-day.

A sundial doubtless stood on the larger of the two pillars in the court (_d_), which is about seventeen feet high and nearly five feet thick at the base; on the smaller pillar was perhaps a statue or other ornamental object of the sort frequently seen in wall paintings.

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