4Pompeii Thermal Baths

Public baths were a common feature in even the smallest city in the Roman Empire as few houses had private baths. Known as thermae, the public baths were open to all social classes, including slaves, although men and women bathed separately.

They served as an important place for people to meet, as well as to wash. The system of heating the rooms worked by running heated water through the cavities in the wall. Pompeii had three sets of pubic baths: The Stabian, Forum and Central Baths. The Stabian Baths are the oldest preserved public baths from anywhere in the Roman Empire. Located near the Forum, The Forum Baths are the smallest public baths in Pompeii, and the most elaborately decorated. The Central Baths were still unfinished when Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. The baths had no separate male and female sections, meaning that men and women would have had separate bathing hours.

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