Transcript Slide 1

Hadrian’s Baths at Lepcis
Magna
Let’s go
Swimming!
AD 126-127
How appropriate is this powerpoint background?!!
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10.
During what years was the colosseum made?
Which 3 emperors contributed to making it?
What was on the floor of the arena?
What was its purpose of the floor being covered in
that?
What is the word for the passages to the seats?
What is the word for the awning that protected the
spectators from the sun?
What is the word for the seating?
How many arched entrances were there?
How did people know which arched entrance to go
through?
Name the column types on the exterior from the
ground up.
70-80AD
2. Vespasian, Titus, Domitian
3. Sand
4. To soak up the blood
5. Vomitoria
6. Velarium
7. Cavea
8. 80
9. They had a wooden ticket with a number on it
which matched the number on the entrance?
10. Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Corinthian pilaster
1.
In which city are the baths located?
2. What country is the city in?
3. Which Emperor had them built?
4. What is the word for the cold room?
5. What is the word for the warm room?
6. What is the word for the cold outside
swimming pool?
7. What is the word for the hot room?
8. What year were the baths made?
9. What does bilateral symmetry mean?
10. What order did the Romans take a bath?
Cold to hot OR hot to cold?
1.
Leptis (Lepcis) Magna
2. Libya
3. Hadrian
4. Frigidarium
5. Tepidarium
6. Natatio
7. Caldarium
8. AD 126-127
9. The design is equal and symmetrical on both
north and south and east and west
10. Cold to hot
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questions….hmmm…
 Think
of all the words for ‘cold’’
 Think of all the words you know for ‘warm’
 What features/types of pools/extra
elements would your ultimate pool
complex have?
a list of Emperors
Julio-Claudian dynasty
 Augustus 27BC- AD14
 Tiberius AD14 - 37
 Caligula AD37 – 41
 Claudius AD 41- 54
 Nero AD54- 68
Year of 4 emperors
(AD 68 –AD69)
 Galba
 Otho
 Vitellius
Flavian Dynasty
 Vespasian AD69-79
 Titus AD79-81
 Domitian AD 81-96
Trajanic Dynasty
 Nerva AD96-98
 Trajan AD98-117
 Hadrian AD117-138
Antonine Dynasty
 Antoninus Pius AD138-161
 Marcus Aurelius AD161- 180
 Lucis Verus AD161-169
 Commodus AD177-192
Severan dynasty
 (11 emperors)
Emperors during the height of
crisis AD 235-268
 Philip the Arabian
 Many others (constant change)

Constantine AD 337-307
the background on baths

The Function of the baths in Roman times was
much bigger than the function of swimming
pools today. The Roman ones were for
swimming, washing, medicinal, therapeutic &
exercise.
 In a way, the modern gym is like the ancient
baths.
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Action: Read & highlight ‘public baths’ in your
workbook.
NB; it discusses caracalla’s baths as an EXAMPLE. We study
Hadrian’s baths in Leptis Magna
There were 2 types of baths:
 Pre-imperial baths: they have no symmetry, a
separate section for women, small, privately
owned,restrained decoration.
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Imperial baths (like this one), rigid, bilateral
symmetry, logical layout, large, publicly owned,
lavish decoration, no separate area for women.
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Hadrian’s baths are one of the earliest surviving
examples of bathing complexes, which are
symetrically designed. (first were trajan’s baths,
109AD). It was the first major public building to make
use of imported marble as structural & decoarative
material
 Bilateral Symmetry
means:
 rooms/areas on either side of a central line,
similar in layout, shape & function. They are
symetrically designed along a north/south axis
 The cold to hot process adopted by the
Romans is reflected in the design
 Bathers are lead from one area to another by
the sequential arrangement
 This is helped by the framed views from one
room to another by the screen of columns
 North = cold. South = warm
Swimming fun in your workbook!
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Location: Leptis Magna, Libya
Architectural type: Functional, public baths
Purpose: Erected as a
Public service – so people
could go to the baths. To show
that even in distant parts of the
Empire, they are still under the
Personal care of the Emperor. To
Show Roman power, also to remind the
people that they are part of the empire
- propaganda & to glorify Leptis Magna
Dates of construction:
C.AD 126-127.
Built by Emperor Hadrian
Room
Function/Location/Temp/Detail
Natatio = outdoor swimming pool, for exercise & enjoyment. First
pool in building.29m long x 15m wide. 1.5m deep. surrounded
on 3 sides by a covered portico of corinthian columns made of
pink marble. 4th side was decorated with arched niches inlaid
with glass mosaics. Bottom of the pool is decorated with a
mosaic that imitates gravel
Frigidarium = cold room, 18.2m x 14.9m. Largest
room.Located in the centre of the building, between the
horizontal & vertical axis of the building. transitional cool
down after exercise area that separated the hot rooms
from the cold rooms. Higher ceiling than other
rooms.Roofed with 3 concrete cross-vaults decorated
with elabourate mosaics. Vaults sprang from engaged
pediments. Walls of it were originally covered in marble
& decorated with mosaics. 2 cold plunge baths at ends
of the hall were entered through arched doorways
Arched doorway into plunge pool
Cross vault supported by engaged pediments
Surrounding
Black columns
Walls
Covered
In marble
Cold plunge bath
Modern reconstruction of what the frigidarium would look like
Room
Function/Location/Temp/Detail p.69
Tepidarium = the first warm room. Had a marble plunge bath as its
central feature. This room was entered through an arched
opening flanked by grey marble columns. Purpose of this room
was for bathing
Caldarium = the largest of the hot rooms.22m x 10.0m. Roofed
with a barrel vault. Walls had 5 glazed windows (3 largest
windows were on southern wall, to take advantage of afternoon
sun). The windows had a water basin in front of them.
Approached by steps
Laconica = super heated rooms. Set in 2 chambers either side of
the caldarium. The floor was raised to allow hot air to circulate
underneath. This was the equivalent to our sauna – for people
to sweat, open their pores & they would be scraped afterwards.
How were the rooms so hot? Caldarium & Laconica
Were heated by furnaces directly behind each room,
built into the back of the south wall

Toilets
 Located on both sides of the complex. They had
marble benches around the 3 walls, on 4th side
were statues & niches. Marble benches had key
shaped holes cut into them. It was a sign of the
wealth of the city – marble toilets!! And easy to
clean. They had a narrow trough where users
washed their ‘toilet paper’
Latrines
 Toilet paper – sponge on a stick
Apodyteria – changing rooms, either side of the
natatio
 Colonnaded halls & chambers are on eastern &
western sides of the complex. There were libraries,
rest areas & lecture halls.
 Palaestra- exercise yard outside the complex by the
natatio. This was a common feature of imperial bath
complex
 It was covered by a portico of corinthian columns with
a large apse at either end
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Other features
Look at the sky in Leptis Magna!
Key words – flip notes!
 Palaestra
 Frigidarium
 Tepidarium
 Caldarium
 Laconica
 Natitio
 Apodyteria
 Latrines