BAT 



B A T 



from the vapour-bath : it may therefore be presumed to 

 li.i\ i- ben always connected with it in hi* time, although in 

 the therina' constructed liy the later emperor* it appear* 

 always to have formed a separate apartment. In the baths 

 .ipt-u they are united, and adjoin the tcpidorium, in this 

 respect exactly agreeing with the description of Vitruvius. 



The laconicum is a largo semicircular niche, seven feet 

 wide, and three feet six inches deep, in the middle of which 

 was placed a vase, or labrum. The ceiling was formed by a 

 quarter of a sphere ; and it had on one side a circular open- 

 ing one foot six inches in diameter, over which, according to 

 Vitruvius, a shield of bronze was suspended, which, by means 

 of a chain attached to it, could be drawn over, or drawn 

 aside from the aperture, and thus regulate the temperature 

 of the bath. 



The lacomcum at Pompeii does not exactly correspond 

 with the luroiiieum painted on the walls of the baths of 

 Titus, and the laconicum described by Vitruvius. In the 

 laconicum of Pompeii there is no cupola, such as we sec 

 represented in the painting of the baths of Titus, nor aper- 

 ture in the floor, although the flue in the hypocaustum runs 

 beneath it. The brazen shield also is applied to regulate 

 the escape of heat through the roof, not to admit or exclude 

 the smoke and flame coming direct from the furnace, as 

 appears to have been the case in the baths of Titus. The 



latter was a clumsy and dirty way of heating a room, and 

 strangely at variance, if it were really practise.!, with the 

 implied elegance and luxury prevailing in every- part of the 

 Roman baths. The cupola in the baths of Titus might. 

 however, have been & contrivance similar t our modern 

 stoves for heating with hot air. Where this cupola did not 

 exist, the room probably was heated, as at Pompeii, by a 

 large brasier. The proper meaning of the word laconicum, 

 liether it should be applied to the cupola and clypcus, or 

 to the room in which they were plarcd, has been much 

 ili-puicd. It seems pretty certain that the name laconicum, 

 wlueii meant, iii the first instance, the small cupola with 

 the clypeus, became afterwards the name fur that part of 

 the room for which it was originally placed, even afier the 

 cupola had fallen into disuse, possibly from the discovery of 

 a better method of heating the room. 



Where the ceiling of the laconicum joined the ceiling of 

 the vnpour-bath, there was immediately over the centre of 

 the vase, or labrum, a window three feet four inches wide ; 

 and there were two square lateral windows in the ceiling of 

 the vapour-bath, one foot four inches wide, and one foot 

 high, from which the light fell perpendicularly on the labrum 

 as recommended by Vitruvms that the shadows of those 

 who surrounded it might not be thrown upon the \i---rl. 

 (Vitruv.) 



r _Kr]>ref*nution of Maths, from the pAinting* discovered in the Batha of Titus. j 



The labrum was a great basin, or round vase of white 

 marble, rather more than five feet in diameter, into which 

 the hot water bubbled up through u pipe in its centre; it 

 served for the partial ablutions of those who took the vapour- 

 hath. It wag raised about three feet six inches above the 

 level of the pavement, on a round base, built of small pieces 

 of stone or lava, stuccoed and coloured. In the Vatican 

 there is a magnificent porphyry labrum, found in one of the 

 imperial baths; and Baccius, u great modern authority on 

 baths (see bis work De Thermit, Venice, Ii88, and Rome, 

 i. speaks of lubra made of gloss. This apartment, 

 like the others, is highly enriched. The hot bath (J2) on 

 the plan, occupied the whole end of the room opposite the 

 laconicum and next to the furnace. It was four feet four 

 inches long, and one foot eight inches deep, constructed 

 entirely of marble, with only one pipe to introduce the water, 

 and was elevated two steps above the floor, while a single 

 step led down into the bath itself, forming a continuous 

 bench round it for the convenience of the bathers. 



The Romans, who, according to Vitruvius, called their 

 vapour-baths caldaria, or sudationes concamcratoe, con- 

 structed them with suspended or hollow floors, and with 

 hollow walls communicating with the furnace, that the smoke 

 and hot air might be spread over a large surface, and rea- 

 dily raise them to the required warmth. The temperature 

 was regulated by the clypeus or bronze shield already de- 

 scribed, which acted as a ventilator. 



In the baths of Pompeii, the hollow floors are thus con- 

 structed : upon a floor of cement, made of lime and pounded 

 brick, were built small brick pillars, nine inches square, 

 and one foot seven inches high, supporting strong tiles, 

 fifteen inches square; the pavement was laid on these tiles, 

 and incruHled with mosaic. The hollow walls, the void 

 spaces of which communicated with the hollow of the sus- 

 pended pivement. were, constructed in the following man- 

 ner. Upon the walls large square tiles were fastened, by 

 means of iron clamps. These tile* were made in a curious 

 manner ; while the clay was moist, some circular instrument 



was pushed through the tiles, so as to make a hole, at the 

 same time forcing out the clay, and forming a hollow pro- 

 jection or pipe, about three inches long, on the inside of the 

 tile : these being made at the four corners, iron clamps 

 passed through them, and fastened them to the wall. 

 The sides of the apartments being thus formed, were after- 

 wards carefully stuccoed and painted. The hollow space in 

 the walls of the bath at Pompeii reaches to the top of the 

 cornice: but the ceilings are not hollow, as in the baths 

 which Vitruvius described, and which he distinguishes, for 

 that reason, by the name of concameratic. The ceilings of 

 the apod} luriuin, tepidarium, and the culdarium arc arched. 



[Tiauivrisv Seclion of the Apoitytrium.J 



The women's bath resembles very much that of the men, 



and differs only in being smaller and less ornamented : for 



nn account of it, we refer to Cell's Pompeii, the Miueu Jinr- 



. and I'ompeii published by the Society for the Dif- 



f Useful Knowledge. 



V itruvius recommends a situation for baths, which is de- 

 fended from the north and north-west winds, and he gays 

 that the windows should be opposite the south, or, if the 

 nature of the ground will not permit this, at least towards 

 the south, because the hours of bathing among the Romans 

 being from after mid-day till evening, those who bathed 



