The Care Taken in the Ancient Roman Baths

Posted by Cindy on December 1, 2009

The people of Ancient Rome did no wash with soap.  They bathed by covering themselves in oil and the scraping their bodies with bone, and then when from bath to bath in the complexes.  Each of the tubs were kept at different temperatures, which allowed one to to move to a cooler hot tub should they become over heated.  Today this is a modern form of water therapy, which stimulates not only the circulation, but the healing of many different kinds of injuries, from sprains to sore or torn muscles.  There were more than nine hundred bath houses, some of the smaller houses being able to accommodate up to three hundred people at one time, and the largest being able to accommodate just about fifteen hundred.  This was a daily event, and as you can see by the numbers of people attending, this was a social event as well as a time to bath.  The houses were extravagantly decorated with sculptures and columns and marble walk ways, very lavish.

Many of them were central meeting places for those conducting business, or for those wanted to take in the gardens, the restaurants, the galleries and the shops.  This was as a bit like our shopping malls of today, but filled with much more style and elegance.  Many of the Romans took care of their physical bodies by regular exercise, and would soak after a long work out of either running or wrestling, again just as many people do today in the modern spas and health clubs.  These were noisy and active complexes, that provided people with a way to connect, to clean, to relax and even do a bit of shopping or get their hair done.  This is becoming a popular way for many other people to take care of their bodies, not in the ancient bath houses of course, but right in one’s own backyard.  So many wonderful models, in all shapes and sizes, are now available for this ancient practice, in the comfort and the privacy of your own home.  And what a treat it is to come home from a long day, and soak your cares away.