Roman Bath Houses

While popular belief before the 19th century was that showering was unhealthy and would cause illness, the Romans were actually very concerned about cleanliness and health. Because of this concern, the Romans created Bath Houses or thermae. These houses were places that people could go and wash themselves and well as do business and socialize. People could buy refreshments at the houses as well as have public slaves give them massages  The water for the baths was brought up from outside of Rome through pipes. The water was then heated up from boilers underneath the baths. Not all of the baths were heated though. There were hot, warm, and cold baths as well as separate baths for men and women. The floors of the Roman bath houses were covered in mosaics and people would gather in the entrance around two or three large fountains.

While the Romans were concerned about health and cleanliness, people still had to pay to use the baths. Women had to pay the highest fee to gain entrance into the bath houses because they did not go as often as men. However, if you were a child, slave, or soldier, the baths were free. While the idea of a public bath would embarrass and make most people uncomfortable because of the nudity, none of the Romans ever went into the baths naked. They had on at least something in the shape of shorts or a loin cloth to cover their private parts. Some people even chose to leave their tunics on while the bare minimum was a black thong worn by both men and women. Since the Romans didn’t have any soap, they used oils to clean their bodies and sticks called strigils to scrape any dirt off of their bodies.

These bath houses were a major part of Roman culture and their everyday lives.

This is an artistic rendering of what the bath houses would have looked like.

This is a picture of the most famous bath house which is actually located in Bath, England