New Thermal Bath Complex uncovered at Pompeii

The find was made during excavations of a domus, a private town house, in block (insula) 10 of the Regio IX area of Pompeii.

Experts said the complex, which is connected to a banquet hall, is one of the largest and most sophisticated thermal baths found at a Pompeian domus. The few other examples of such baths include those at the House of Julia Felix, the House of the Labyrinth and the Villa of Diomedes.

The paintings in the Third Style with subjects from the Trojan War, the athletes in the peristyle – everything was meant to give the spaces an atmosphere of Greekness, that is, of culture, erudition as well as idleness. Just as the black hall was meant to transport guests to a Greek palace, so the peristyle with the large pool in the centre and the adjacent thermal complex had the function of creating a Greek gymnasium setting, which was further accentuated by the athletic scenes subsequently added. And so the audience, grateful and hungry, would have applauded with sincere admiration the show orchestrated by the owner of the house and after an evening in his “gymnasium” would have talked about it for a long time. “

Main Image: Courtesy The Pompeii archaeological site