Product Description

For Romans, bathing was a social event. Public baths, in fact, were one of the few places where large numbers of Romans gathered daily in an informal context. They went to meet friends, drink wine, pick up sexual partners, and generally while away the idle afternoon hours. Despite the disapproval of the morally superior, the popularity of the baths endured for over a millennium and spread to every corner of the Roman world.
This book is the first to study the Roman public bathing experience primarily as a historical, social, and cultural phenomenon rather than a technological or architectural one. As a result, many issues are developed here that have to date been addressed only superficially. Fagan reconstructs what a trip to a Roman bath was like. He asks when and why the baths became popular at Rome, who built and maintained the abundant bathing establishments, and what sociological function the baths played in the Roman empire's rigidly hierarchical social order.
To throw light on these everyday topics the author deploys a wide variety of evidence, including literary allusions; the remains of the baths themselves, graffiti scribbled on bathroom walls; and, above all, formal inscriptions that throw light on the ubiquitous bathing culture.
In the course of this study Fagan challenges some widely held beliefs about baths, ranging from such broad notions of baths as palaces of public hygiene or places where the social identity of the bathers broke down, to more mundane matters such as the habitual donning of bathing costumes.
This volume will be of great interest for those studying luxury and public ostentation, municipal life, and the meaning of Roman leisure. Comparative evidence from other bathing cultures will also interest social anthropologists and historical sociologists.
Garret Fagan is Assistant Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Pennsylvania State University.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #746031 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Customer Reviews

Fascinating study
Half of this 437-page book is dedicated to bibliography, epigraphic samples and the like; what remains is not only educational, but highly entertaining. All aspects of ancient roman bathing are covered with great panache and the bawdy commentary of the bathers themselves (particularly Martial) will elicit surprise and laughter.

Men and women often bathed together. They came to socialize, to ogle and comment on various body parts, and to solicit sexual favors while partaking of erotic frescoes and lewd graffiti. They snacked on odd combinations like fish, eggs, and lettuce, sometimes drank until wildly inebriated, and pandered shamelessly for dinner invitations. Thievery was a common complaint so many paid to have their clothing guarded.

Ironically bathing was unsanitary. The customers lathered liberally with oil and then scraped off the resultant mess with metal instruments called strigils. Some of the baths used water recycled from the "public troughs" and those who entered the baths with a slight open wound might subsequently develop grangrene! In addition smoke from the heating furnaces could seep into the rooms, spoiling the gaiety of the occupants.

It's all here-everything you want to know about the ancient bathing experience including 24 pages of b&w photos and bath plans. Breeze through the 220 or so pages of readable text and then scan the footnotes for other enlightening tidbits. Great stuff, but steer clear of this book if you do not enjoy a highly-detailed, scholarly presentation.

Fascinating and scholarly
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It's full of anecdotes from people of the time (particularly memorable was the complaint about how noisy the baths were from the calls of the sausage vendor to the man in love with his own singing voice...) as well as archaelogical finds.

It *is* a scholarly book. I expected it to be full of footnotes and appendices -- and it is. But I found the text engaging and the facts fascinating -- and the subject thoroughly covered. I come away from the book with a clear idea of the who the bathers were, how they bathed, what else they did in the baths and the importance of bathing in their society. Other books I;ve looked at on this subject focus mainly on architecture and aquaducts, but this book answers the questions about ancient baths that I'm interested in -- the people-related questions, and does so with intelligence and a dose of dry humor.

Mr. Fagan makes Roman bathing come to life.
This book shows the value of the bathing experience to Romans, empire wide. He discusses the splendor of the baths,the medical treatises and general interest in bathing which helped to promote the habit. It is clear that the Romans of all classes had fun. They gossiped, gazed and laughed. The frivolous went to wile away their time, the thoughtful mused at sculpture, read books, listened to lectures and thought. Baths existed which catered to different tastes. So there were baths for families, for men, for women and there were baths which catered to those who wished to ogle. This book will enhance anyone's visit to bath ruins throughout Europe.