baths
bathsone of the most characteristic and widely distributed types of Roman buildings, had their origins in the Greek world where public baths were common from at least the 4th cent. bc. Surviving 3rd-cent. Greek baths centre on a series of hip-baths arranged around the walls of one or more rooms, often circular (tholoi), with niches above the tubs, and were furnished with hot water which was poured over the seated bather. Baths of this type are found in southern Italy (e.g. Stabian baths, Pompeii, first phase) and Sicily, where, together with local traditions of therapeutic baths at volcanic springs and fumaroles, they were instrumental in the development of the purely Roman type. These replaced the individual tubs with communal pools, and often incorporated the dry sweating-rooms (laconica) and exercise grounds (palaestrae) of the Greek gymnasium in the same establishment...
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