The Romans expanded upon the Greek concept of the bath to create an elaborate architectural masterpiece that has been described as a "microcosm of life."" The first Roman encounter with these phenomena is in the fourth century before Christ; they were established and reserved for the private use of the very wealthy. Eventually, in the second century BC, baths became more common, growing both in size and number; they also evolved from a private privilege to a leisure enjoyed by all of the people alike. As baths became more prevalent in society, a change in design and location of buildings in towns, and rooms in houses, was required. Although the structural and technological features of baths are important to the development of Roman architecture, the true significance of baths lies in the cultural influence they had on the personal, social and political aspects of life.
The baths of the ancients were small, private and dingy; the attitude toward the bath was one of duty rather than one of luxury. In a letter, Seneca the Younger wrote of the bath of Scipio Africanus; he commented that Scipio's bathing area was small and dimly lit. Unfortunately, archaeologists have not found any evidence of these early baths.
Over time and generations, attitude toward this activity evolved into one of extravagance and with it the concept of the size, style, and function matured and expanded. The bath began as a sitz-bath (hip bath) in the fourth century BC, but in the second century the bathing area was enlarged by the addition of the hot bath (caldarium), warm bath (tepidarium), and the cold bath (frigidarium). Finally, in the first century BC sweating rooms (laconicum) and windows were added. Looking at the development of the Stabian Baths of Pompeii (ill. 1), one can see an example of such a transformation. The original baths, dating from the fourth century BC, consisted of a row of sitz-baths found on the north side of the sports grounds (palaestra), a dressing room (apodyterium) and a latrine.
Many people left wills now, and historians know more about material possessions rather than spiritual and personal lives. ... Fasting was believed to be a way of personal purification to get God on one's side. ... Each money maker had his own die or coin stamp so that he could give the coins his own personal detail. ...
