(artists conception of the Baths of Trajan)

Why are they important?

Baths were not simply places to get clean--they were entire complexes devoted to various forms of homosocial bonding, from sports to readings and philosophic discourse, and procuring sex. The Satyricon of Petronius is a 1st C AD source for some of the various sexual and political bonds that are forged in the bath complex. Evidence for sexual activities taking place in bathhouses comes from preserved sexual frescoes, most notably in the Suburban Baths at Pompeii.

Baths at Pompeii

In addition to the Suburban Baths, three other public bath complexes have been excavated so far at Pompeii. The earliest bath complex excavated so far are the Stabian Baths which are one block away from the theater district, while to the north of the Forum are the Forum Baths, which belong to a later date. The Central Baths were under construction when Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE (Ambrosio 113). Since extensive portions of the city remain unexcavated, more baths may have been present in antiquity.

Conclusions:

While baths provided an important public function in being places for bathing, they also served as loci for the negotiation of social bonds. Baths then conflate both physical infrastructure and social infrastructure. In addition, ideas about the proper role of gendered bodies is visible, and indeed, structured by the bathhouses. Male bodies were prioritized and made more visible than female bodies.

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This is the church of Santa Maria Degli Angeli in Rome. This structure was converted by Michaelangelo from the Baths of Diocletian. He added the decoration, but the original structure is the same. This is only one small part--the tepidarium--of the huge bath complex. In addition, there were many other imperial baths at this time of roughly the same, extraordinary size.

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