Taking a Bath
![Picture](/uploads/6/9/2/1/6921435/1755005.jpg)
In ancient Pompeii, the water systems were very advanced for the time and each house could have a water supply via lead pipes. However people were taxed on the size of the pipes, and for many of the poorer families in ancient Pompeii, it was impossible to afford this luxury. As a result most people used the pubic bath houses and these were very popular and social places, and a big feature of roman life.
The bath houses were big complexes with many different baths which could be anything the size of an average swimming pool to the size of a football field. People could choose to have a cold bath (the frigidarium), a warm bath (the tepidarium) and a hot bath (the caldarium), or even all three. Bigger bath houses might also have a place for exercising (the palaestra), a swimming pool a gymnasium and a place for a massage. One of the public baths at Pompeii had two tepidariums and caldariums along with a plunge pool and a large exercise area.Building bath houses showed how advanced the Romans engineering skills were. Baths required a way of heating up water. This was done by using a furnace and the hypocaust system carried the heat around the complex. The pools were very big and needed a lot of water which was often brought into the bath houses by a series of complex aqueducts one of which was 640 kilometers long. After the water was brought in to the bath house it then needed to be heated up and kept warm or even hot by using furnaces at the venue.
The bath houses were big complexes with many different baths which could be anything the size of an average swimming pool to the size of a football field. People could choose to have a cold bath (the frigidarium), a warm bath (the tepidarium) and a hot bath (the caldarium), or even all three. Bigger bath houses might also have a place for exercising (the palaestra), a swimming pool a gymnasium and a place for a massage. One of the public baths at Pompeii had two tepidariums and caldariums along with a plunge pool and a large exercise area.Building bath houses showed how advanced the Romans engineering skills were. Baths required a way of heating up water. This was done by using a furnace and the hypocaust system carried the heat around the complex. The pools were very big and needed a lot of water which was often brought into the bath houses by a series of complex aqueducts one of which was 640 kilometers long. After the water was brought in to the bath house it then needed to be heated up and kept warm or even hot by using furnaces at the venue.