Suburban Baths (Pompeii)

Buildings in Pompeii, Italy

Suburban baths near the Porta Marina Heated pool next to caldarium

The Suburban Baths (Italian: Terme Suburbane[1]) are a building in Pompeii, Italy, a town in the Italian region of Campania that was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, which consequently preserved it.[2]

The Suburban Baths were publicly owned, as were also the Stabian, Forum, and Central baths in the city.[3] They were built in the early empire, possibly under the Emperor Tiberius (14–37 AD),[4][3] much later than the others and thus were built outside the city walls near the Porta Marina, one of the city gates. By this time, land was more easily available outside the city as the walls had lost their defensive role after the town became a Roman colony.[5][6][3]

The baths also benefitted from the increased supply of running water after the connection of the city to the Aqua Augusta aqueduct in 30–20 BC.[6][7][8]

The bathhouse was renovated after the earthquake of 62 AD, when a piscina calida, a heated swimming pool, was added to the north of the complex.[9][10][11]

The baths were discovered in 1958, much later than the rest of the city, though a systematic excavation had to wait until 1985–1987.[9][12][13]

Although publicly owned, these baths seem to have been reserved for a private clientele unlike the other public baths.[14]

The building is notable for its surviving erotic wall paintings, the only set of such art found in a public Roman bath house.

## Structure

[edit]

The building was a two-storey structure: the upper floor, as in the Palaestra/Sarno baths, was divided into three apartments for rent, with views towards the port and the Bay of Naples through the large glass windows.[6][3][11][15] These rooms may also have provided space for the selling of sexual services.[15][16] This upper floor was either accessed by a staircase from the floor below or via a door on the Via Marina.[6][3][11][15]

The baths were built to a higher standard of luxury and thermal effectiveness than the earlier baths in the town and have many hallmarks of the "newer" bath architecture of the first century AD: "single-axis row" type (with rooms in a linear increasingly warm arrangement promoting a particular route through the baths and bordering a palaestra),[3][9] large windows facing southwest, and an outdoor pool with a fountain.

Nymphaeum with waterfall cascades in frigidarium

Construction was first limited to the apodyterium (dressing room), frigidarium (cold room), tepidarium (warm room), laconicum (hot dry room) and caldarium (hot room); the natatio was added later as three rooms, including a nymphaeum with a water cascade,[7][17] providing an alternative route to the existing one of the tepidarium followed by the caldarium.[18] The entrance to the bathhouse is through a long corridor that leads into the apodyterium. The bathers would also have had access to a latrine, seating between six and eight people.[19]

The piscina calida (hot pool) used an innovative heating system called a samovar, a domed metal plate which was part of the pool floor above the furnace to heat the pool water directly.[20]

Only one apodyterium or dressing room has led to speculation by archaeologists that both men and women shared these baths,[21] or that it was male-only or time-shared[21] with females bathing at one time and males bathing at a different time. If it had been time shared the dressing room that contains the erotic wall paintings would have been used by everyone when they attended.[21]

## Erotic art in the Suburban Baths

[edit]

The dressing room in the suburban baths.[22][23] It is thought that a wooden shelf may have extended along two of these walls and that on this shelf were placed boxes were bathers could place their clothes.[22]

See also: Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum

Further information: Sexuality in ancient Rome

A room that is thought to be a dressing room in the suburban baths has on a wall inside it seven wall paintings of sexual scenes and one wall painting of a figure with an enlarged scrotum.[23][21] These wall paintings were found in 1986[22][21] when the room was first excavated. The paintings are dated to 62 to 79 CE.[22][21]

The erotic wall paintings in the Suburban Baths are the only set of such art found in a public Roman bath house. Explicit sex scenes of group sex and oral sex are depicted in these paintings and these scenes cannot be easily found in collections of erotic Roman art. As the sexual acts portrayed are all considered "debased" according to the customs of ancient Rome, it is possible that the intention behind their reproduction was to provide a source of humour to visitors of the building.[24]

A wall in the dressing room in the suburban baths. On this wall there are seven paintings of sexual scenes located above paintings of numbered boxes on a shelf.[22] An eighth painting is of a nude male. 62 to 79 CE

Each wall painting of a sexual scene has a painting just below it of a box with a number on it. It is thought that there were actual boxes that were placed under these paintings of boxes.[23]`[22] These boxes would have been placed on a wooden shelf.[23][22][21] This wooden shelf would have run along two walls of this dressing room just underneath where the paintings of numbered boxes are.[23]`[22] There are some holes in the rear and right wall where brackets that held the selves could have been.[23]` [22] It is thought that these boxes that were sitting on this wooden shelf under these paintings would have been where people attending the baths would have put their clothes after they had undressed in this room.[22] The only remains of the boxes themselves are metal straps.[21] In the wall paintings of the boxes you can see an "X" shape at the front of the boxes that indicates where the straps were.[21] The wall painting also shows the wooden shelf underneath the boxes.[22]

One idea that has been speculated is that spintria tokens were used as locker tokens in this dressing room.[25][26] These tokens have on one side an image of a sexual scene and on the reverse side a numeral between I - XVI.[27]

It is speculated that the sexual scenes and numerals on the tokens related[25] to the wall paintings of sexual scenes and numerals.[25] When the token was given to a person it then gave them access to a place to put their clothing.[25] Possibly they may have put their clothing inside the box that was sitting on the wooden shelf in the dressing room.[22]

It is also speculated that the paintings possibly served as way for the bathers to remember the location of their box (in lieu of numbering).[15][28]

The presence of these paintings in a public bathhouse shared by men and women gives some insight into Roman culture and suggests that people would not have found this offensive, and possibly humorous.[24]

It has been commented that "Graffiti from Pompeii, Herculaneum and 2nd century Ostia Antica, often refer to group sex, although none describe the pose of scene VI [from inside the dressing room of the suburban baths that shows sex between a female and two males].".[29][30]

* Wall paintings from the dressing room in the suburban baths
* Fresco showing a cowgirl position. A ferret is on the knee of one of the figures. Suburban baths, Pompeii. 62 to 79 CE

* An erotic scene on a bed. Wall painting. Suburban baths, Pompeii. 62 to 79 CE

* Fellatio. Wall painting. Suburban baths, Pompeii. 62 to 79 CE

* Fresco depicting cunnilingus. Suburban baths, Pompeii. 62 to 79 CE

* Lesbian sex scene. The patches of dark green color are remains of the repainting of the wall. Suburban baths, Pompeii. 62 to 79 CE

* Sex between a female and two males. Wall painting. Suburban baths, Pompeii. 62 to 79 CE

* Cunnilingus, fellatio and anal sex between two females and two males. Wall painting, Suburban baths. Pompeii. 62 to 79 CE

* A nude male with an enlarged scrotum holding a scroll. Wall painting. Suburban baths, Pompeii. 62 to 79 CE

## See also

[edit]

* Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum
* Homosexuality in ancient Rome
* Sexuality in ancient Rome

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ "Pleiades Gazetteer: "Suburban Baths (973204925)". pleiades.stoa.org. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
2. ^ David Fredrick (3 October 2002). The Roman Gaze: Vision, Power, and the Body. JHU Press. pp. 152–. ISBN 978-0-8018-6961-7.
3. ^ a b c d e f Koloski-Ostrow, A. O. (2007). "The City Baths of Pompeii and Herculaneum". In Dobbins, J. J. (ed.). The World Of Pompeii. Abingdon: Routledge. pp. 224. ISBN 9780415173247.
4. ^ L.Jacobelli,"Lo scavo delle Terme Suburbane. Notizie preliminari," Rivista di studi pompeiani, 1987, vol. 1, pp. 151–4
5. ^ Ling, R. (2011). Pompeii: History, Life and Afterlife. Stroud: The History Press. p. 130.
6. ^ a b c d Berry, J. (2007). The Complete Pompeii. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd. pp. 152. ISBN 9780500051504.
7. ^ a b Manderscheid, H. (2000). "The Water Management of Greek and Roman Baths". In Wikander, O. (ed.). The Handbook of Ancient Water Technology. Leiden: Brill. pp. 526–528.
8. ^ Ling, R. (2011). Pompeii: History, Life, and Afterlife. Stroud: The History Press. p. 72.
9. ^ a b c Fagan, G. G. (1999). Bathing in Public in the Roman World. United States of America: University of Michigan Press. pp. 64–65.
10. ^ Berry, J. (2007). The Complete Pompeii. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd. pp. 238. ISBN 9780500051504.
11. ^ a b c Nielsen, I. (1990). Thermae et Balnea: The Architecture and Cultural History of Roman Public baths. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press. pp. 47–48.
12. ^ Dobbins, John; Foss, Pedar (2007). The World of Pompeii. New York: Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group. p. 241
13. ^ Alison E. Cooley; M. G. L. Cooley (1 October 2013). Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Sourcebook. Routledge. pp. 60–. ISBN 978-1-134-62449-2.
14. ^ H. Jacobelli, “Die Suburbanen Thermen in Pompei: Architektur, Raumfunktion und Ausstattung,” Archaeologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 1993, vol. 23, pp. 327–35; J. DeLaine and D. E. Johnston (eds), Roman Baths and Bathing. Part 2. Design and Context, JRA Suppl. Ser. no. 37.2, 2000.
15. ^ a b c d Beard, M. (2010). Pompeii. London: Profile Books Ltd. pp. 248–250.
16. ^ Fagan, G. G. (1999). Bathing in Public in the Roman World. United States of America: The University of Michigan Press. p. 36.
17. ^ Jones, R.; Robinson, D. (2005). "Water, Wealth, and Social Status in Pompeii: The House of the Vestals in the First Century". American Journal of Archaeology. 109 (4): 696. doi:10.3764/aja.109.4.695. S2CID 194104842.
18. ^ Luciana Jacobelli, The erotic paintings of the Suburban Baths of Pompeii , Rome, L'Erma di Bretschneider, 1995. ISBN 88-7062-880-9 p. 13
19. ^ Koloski-Ostrow, A. O. (2010). The Archaeology of Sanitation in Roman Italy: Toilets, Sewers, and Water Systems. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 10.
20. ^ Carolina Barzacchini et al. 2018. The Island Ventotene: From a Story of Mediterranean Isolation to the Digital Survey and Interpretation of the Baths Area in Villa Giulia. Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies 2018. P 1.12, CHNT 23, 2018 (Vienna 2019) http://www.chnt.at/proceedings-chnt-23/ ISBN 978-3-200-06576-5
21. ^ a b c d e f g h i John R Clarke (1998). Looking at Lovemaking. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520229044.
22. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l John R. Clarke (2007). Looking at Laughter Humor, Power, and Transgression in Roman Visual Culture, 100 B.C.- A.D. 250. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520237339.
23. ^ a b c d e f Luciana Jacobelli (1989). ""Le pitture e gli stucchi delle terme suburbane di Pompei" Inhalt 4. Internationales Kolloquium zur Römischen Wandmalerei Köln". Kölner Jahrbuch für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (in German). 24 (published 1991): 72–74\. ISBN 978-3-786-11682-0. Retrieved 16 March 2024. `{{cite journal}}`: Cite journal requires `|journal=` (help)
24. ^ a b John R. Clarke (2014). "Chapter 31: Sexuality and Visual Representation". In Thomas K. Hubbard (ed.). A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. pp. 509–533\. ISBN 978-1-4051-9572-0.
25. ^ a b c d Fishburn, Geoffrey (11 July 2007). "Is that a Spintria in your Pocket, or Are You Just Pleased to See Me?" (PDF). Regarding the Past. 20th Conference of the History of Economic Thought Society of Australia. Brisbane: University of Queensland Printery. pp. 225–236\. ISBN 9781864998979. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2022.
26. ^ Duggan, Eddie (October 2017). "Stranger Games: The life and times of the spintriae". Board Game Studies Journal. 11 (1): 101–121\. doi:10.1515/bgs-2017-0005. S2CID 67801461.
27. ^ John R Clarke (1998). Looking at Lovemaking. University of California Press. p. 244\. ISBN 9780520229044.
28. ^ Berry, J. (2007). The Complete Pompeii. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd. pp. 109. ISBN 9780500051504.
29. ^ Scene VI is a scene of sex between a female and two males in the suburban baths
30. ^ John R. Clarke (April 2001). Looking at Lovemaking Constructions of Sexuality in Roman Art, 100 B.C. – A.D. 250. University of California Press. p. 234\. ISBN 9780520229044.

## References

[edit]

* Berry, J. (2007) The Complete Pompeii, London: Thames & Hudson Ltd. ISBN 9780500290927
* Fagan, G. G. (1999) Bathing in Public in the Roman World, United States of America: The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 9780472088652
* Garret G. Fagan, "The Genesis of the Roman Public Bath: Recent Approaches and Future Directions", American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 105, No. 3. (July 2001), pp. 403–426.
* Jacobelli (1995). Le pitture erotiche delle Terme Suburbane di Pompei. Rome: 'L'Erma' di Bretschneider. ISBN 9788870628807. (See review by John R. Clarke's in: The American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 100, No. 2 (April 1996), pp. 431–432.)
* Koloski-Ostrow, A. O. (2007) ‘The city baths of Pompeii and Herculaneum’, in The World of Pompeii, ed. by J. J. Dobbins and P. W. Foss (Abingdon: Routledge), pp. 224–256. ISBN 9780415475778
* Roger Ling, Review: "Le pitture erotiche delle Terma Suburbane de Pompeii" by L. Jacobelli, The Classical Review, New Ser., Vol. 46, No. 2 (1996), pp. 390–391.
* Ling, R. (2011) Pompeii: History, Life and Afterlife, Stroud: The History Press. ISBN 9780752414591
* Manderscheid, H. (2000) ‘The Water Management of Greek and Roman Baths’, in Handbook of Ancient Water Technology, ed. by O. Wikander (Leiden: Brill), pp. 467–538. ISBN 9789004111233
* Inge Nielsen (1990). The Architecture and Cultural History of Roman Public Baths, Aarhus University Press. ISBN 9788772885124
* Roy Bowen Ward, "Women in Roman Baths", The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 85, No. 2. (April 1992), pp. 125–147.

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