Römerbad Broschüre

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ROMAN BATHS
“Publius Lucanius Quadratus, son of Lucius, from the tribe
Terentina, duumvir (= mayor), quaestor (= treasurer) for
the second time, has donated the baths completely from
his own money”
(inscription from Venafro / Italy, 1st century AD).
At first, the construction of public buildings was
incumbent upon the inhabitants of the civilian settlement
themselves. The facilities and size of a bath-house
(balnearium) depended on the importance of the vicus
and the size of the population, but also on rich citizens
who paid for such buildings or financed their upkeep.
Under the influence of these factors was also the
expenditure for the architecture and the fittings, also the
heating and sanitation systems, which during the Roman
period developed everywhere to an unparalleled tour
de force.
Bathing and the public baths formed an important component
of the Roman lifestyle. The baths did not only act as
a place for health and personal hygiene for all social classes,
but also performed social and communicative roles.
Here news was swapped, sport carried out, one read, ate and
drank, even if it displeased some guests or inhabitants in the
neighborhood:
“
Imagine what a variety of noises reverberates about my ears! I have lodgings right over a bathing establishment.
So just imagine the assortment of sounds, which are strong enough to make me hate my very powers of hearing! When
your strenuous gentleman, for example, is exercising himself by flourishing leaden weights; when he is working hard, or
else pretends to be working hard, I can hear him grunt; and whenever he releases his imprisoned breath, I can hear him
panting in wheezy and high-pitched tones. Or perhaps I notice some lazy fellow, content with a cheap rubdown, and hear
the crack of the pummelling hand on his shoulder, varying in sound according as the hand is laid on flat or hollow.
Then, perhaps, a professional comes along, shouting out the score; that is the finishing touch. Add to this the arresting of
an occasional roisterer or pickpocket, the racket of the man who always likes to hear his own voice in the bathroom, or the
enthusiast who plunges into the swimming-tank with unconscionable noise and splashing. Besides all those whose voices,
if nothing else, are good, imagine the hair-plucker with his penetrating, shrill voice, – for purposes of advertisement, –
continually giving it vent and never holding his tongue except when he is plucking the armpits and making his victim yell
instead. Then the cake-seller with his varied cries, the sausage-man, the confectioner and all the vendors of food hawking
their wares, each with his own distinctive intonation.
”
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (ca. 1-65 nach Christus), Briefe über Ethik an Lucilius 56, 1-3