Römerbad Broschüre

33
THE WARM BATH - TEPIDARIUM
The room was certainly provided with wall-paintings, while
square red tiles formed the floor-surface. The underlying
hypocaust produced a comfortable room temperature of
25° C and enabled a longer stay. The bather could relax on
furniture, such as wicker chairs and wooden divans, or could
indulge oneself at the hands of a masseur (unctor) or hair
remover (epictetus) 32. On small round tables stood flasks of
ointments and oil (ampullae, unguentaria) or food and drink
33.
The warm bath counted as the focal-point of recuperation
and relaxation. The room was also the meeting-point of
all social classes. An anecdote concerning the Emperor
Hadrian narrates his close contact to his subjects:
bath became famous. For on a certain occasion, seeing a
veteran, whom he had known in the service, rubbing his
back and the rest of his body against the wall, he asked him
why he had the marble rub him, and when the man replied
that it was because he did not own a slave, he presented
him with some slaves and the cost of their maintenance.
But another time, when he saw a number of old men rubbing
themselves against the wall for the purpose of arousing
the generosity of the Emperor, he ordered them to be
called out and then to rub one another in turn. His love for
the common people he loudly expressed“
Scriptores Historia Augusta, Hadrian 17, 5-8, translation D. Magie, Loeb
Classical Library [London 1921].
“He (i.e. Hadrian) often bathed in the public baths, even
with the meanest crowd. And a jest of his made in the