Transcript pps

HADRIAN’S BATHS
AT LEPTIS MAGNA
Date: 126-127AD
Location: Leptis (or Lepcis)
Magna, a Roman Colony in
North Africa
Architect: The Emperor
Hadrian (probably)
Imperial Style
Republican / Pompeian Style
• earlier style, smaller
• larger scale
• asymmetric
• bilateral symmetry (mirror
image)
• No laconicum (sream room)
• same facilities for both sexes
• different facilities for men and
women
BATHS IN GENERAL
• going to the baths was a daily routine for most Roman
men.
• because the baths were a very important part of city life
access cost very little, sometimes it was even free.
• women had access to the baths but went at different
times because there were no separate facilities for them.
• these baths were:
– a source of civic pride,
– a triumph of Roman technology,
– a sign of wealth and security in
a province,
– a sign of Roman might to the
local inhabitants,
– a sign of Imperial generosity and
concern in a province.
2. Apodyterium
Palestrae – exercise field
sea facing side
3. -Natatio
(Changing rooms)
(Swimming pool)
1. Cooler
Latrina
rooms are at
northern end of
complex
4. Frigidarium
(cold room)
5. Cold
plunge
baths
Tepidarium
(warm room)
7. Laconica
(Steam rooms)
Additional rooms are
for dining, reading,
6.Caldarium
Hotter rooms at 8. Hypocastum
massage
(hot room) southern end
(furnaces)
Concrete
crossvaulted
ceiling
Painted
ceiling
Corinthian
columns
Marble
floors
Cold plunge
pools prob.
added by
Commodus
DESIGN OF THESE
BATHS and are placed
• the baths are symmetrical
on a north/south axis.
• these baths were set up so the bather
would naturally progress from the…
unheated palaestra and frigidarium
to the warmer tepidarium
to the super-heated caldarium and
laconica.
THE HYPOCAUSTUM
• a heated tank (the boiler) of water fed hot water to
various parts of the baths.
• the hottest rooms were closer to the furnace.
it also heated rooms by:
circulating warm air
under the floor
which was raised on
little piers of bricks
under the floor.
or through hollow
spaces in the walls
(flues).
PARTS OF THE ROMAN
BATHS
• APODYTERIUM = changing room
• FRIGIDARIUM = room with cold pools
• TEPIDARIUM
= warm room for heating
up the body
• CALADRIUM
= room with hot pools
• LACONICUM
= steam room for sweating
• UNCTORIUM
= massage room
• LATRINA
= toilet
• HYPOCAUSTUM = furnace room
NATATIO
• this swimming pool
was 1.75m deep
• it was the largest
area in the baths.
• it had a vaulted
portico of
Corinthian columns
on three sides and
was
• the base was
decorated with a
gravel-like mosaic.
FRIGIDARIUM
• the frigidarium’s roof was larger
than the other roofs.
• the roof consists of cross vaults.
• huge arched entrance ways were
at the east and west ends.
• the walls were originally covered
with elaborate marble.
TEPIDARIUM
• this was the first warm room.
• it was entered via a central door in the
southern wall of the frigidarium.
• its main feature was a marble
plunge bath which was entered
through an arched opening
flanked by grey marble columns.
• two smaller baths were added
later on each side of the central
bath. These two smaller baths were
surrounded by black marble columns.
CALDARIUM
• the largest of the hot rooms at 22m
x 10.9m and was entered through
the tepidarium.
• it was the most sourthern of the
rooms.
• its was roofed with a barrel-vault
with five arched windows
LACONICA
• these were superheated sweat
rooms.
• there were four rooms and they
were to the north of the caldarium.
• these rooms were made for people to
sit in and sweat in, they would then
be scraped.
IS IT HOT IN HERE…?
• the hotter rooms were placed on the
southern side of the baths because of the
position of the sun in the afternoon.
• there were a number
of furnace rooms on
the south side, close
to the caldarium and
the laconica.
OTHER ROOMS IN THE BATHS
PALAESTRA
• a vast exercise yard was to the north of the bath
complex.
NON-WET ROOMS
• a further series of chambers run along the
western and eastern sides of the complex that
may have:
– libraries,
– rest areas,
– maybe even lecture halls.
LATRINA
• the toilets were on the east and
west sides of the northern end.
• they had three
sides of marble
seated toilets.
• the toilets were
also communal.
• there was also
had an apse in
each toilet to
hold a statue.
HOW THE FUNCTION OF THE COMPLEX
DETERMINES ITS ARCHITECTURAL FORM.
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Reflected in the planning of the complex is the hot-to-cold bathing process; the central
bathing facilities were arranged in sequence eg the laconica are arranged on either side of
the caldarium, then bathers moved to the tepidarium before entering the frigidarium .
The caldarium was placed at the southern end of the complex to take full advantage of the
afternoon sun.
The windows of the caldarium were placed at the southern end of the complex to take full
advantage of the afternoon sun.
The hypocaust was placed directly behind the laconica and the caldarium; furtherest away
from cool rooms.
The floors of the laconica and caldarium were raised to allow the circulation of hot air
underneath.
The bathing process was facilitated by the provision of framed views into other bathing
areas provided through artfully arranged screens of columns
The palaestra and the natatio are both used for exercise therefore they were placed next to
each other.
The apodyteria and toilets positioned next to each other.
There was space in the frigidarium for social intercourse.