STABIAN BATHS - POMPEII

The town’s oldest bath complex opens onto Via dell’Abbondanza at the corner of Via Stabiana, not far from the Forum and probably dates from the 2nd century B.C. The establishment covers a total surface area of over 3,500 square metres and is divided into two adjacent section, respectively reserved for men and woman and includes a courtyard which was used as a gymnasium. Three sides of the courtyard have colonnades with stuccoed tuff-stone pillars, while the fourth side borders onto a large swimming-pool one and a half metres deep. Separated from the gymnasium by a low wall, the latter could be reached from two side-rooms where the bathers would probably get changed for the bathing rite. The bathing establishment proper occupies the longer side of the peristyle. A door in the right-hand corner of the colonnade leads to the men’s section. The first room on the left is a chamber for cold bath (frigidarium), which is round in shape, with four corner niches and a pool in the centre. The water used to feed the pool flowed from another niches in the north-facing wall. The fact that this room came before the one where the bathers undressed may suggest that it was actually used as a laconicum, a steam room in which the air was heated by means of bronze braziers. From the entrance hall the bather entered the changing room (apodyterium), which is plastered in white except for a red band running all round the lower half of the walls. The next room is the tepidarium, in which warm bath were taken. It was heated by hot air which circulated under the floor and trough cavities in the walls themselves. Follows the calidarium, where the tube on the right-hand side was used for hot baths. Walking along the gymnasium colonnade, we reach the entrance door to the women’s section. Here the rooms follows the same sequence as in the men’s section, but there’s no frigidarium.

 

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This is the oldest existing Basilica, dating back to the 2nd century B.C. The seat of the law courts was here and commercial and financial transactions also took place. After a portico comes the main entrance, which opened on the forum and, differently from the majority of basilicas, is located on one of the building’s short sides. The tribunal, part of the Basilica where the law-courts were, was on the short side, opposite the entrance, and consisted in a two meter high podium on top of which were six Corinthian columns. There are no stairs to the podium, this suggests that it could only be reached through wooden stairs, which could be removed in order to separate the ... continue

(Apic. 8, 8, 3) Ingredients:

• 1 whole hare or rabbit
• 225 g whole pine kernels
• 100 g shelled almonds
• 100 g chopped mixed nuts
• 25 g peppercorns
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Rue (or celery leaves)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 100 g stoned dates, chopped
• 1 tbsp Liquamen (or soya sauce)
• 2 tbsp spiced wine (basically mulled wine)

Instructions:
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Mix together the pine kernels, almonds, chopped nuts, peppercorns and the chopped giblets of the hare or rabbit. Bind this mixture with ... continue

Love was a common topic of conversation in Pompeii. Feelings, passions, poetic love, sex, homosexuality, prostitution and so forth were all part of daily life and not a source of prejudice. The concept of “obscenity” seems to have been unknown. Love and sex were considered earthly practices of a man’s life that were encouraged by the benevolence of Venus. The thousands of examples of graffiti found on the town’s walls are unequivocal proof of what the people of Pompeii thought about love and sex.