Here is my favourite place in the whole city: the thermal baths!
If you haven’t been here, don’t worry. Stop for a second before we go in, I will tell you how they work.
The water comes from a well that’s 8 metres deep. It comes to the surface thanks to … a slave’s feet! Yes, the poor slave is forced to walk inside a giant wheel, like a dormouse in a cage. Or like those little animals you have… hamsters, right?
Well anyway, this wheel drives a system of buckets that pull water out of the well and pour it through lead pipes into a tank, then into a cistern. Finally it goes into a series of containers over the hot ovens, which means we get hot water for the thermal baths. And where does the rest of the heat go? Right under your feet!
You see, the floor is hollow, supported by brick pillars that we call suspe’nsurae. The hot air produced by the ovens blows through, then into the walls through terracotta pipes. In winter, there is nothing better than taking off your sandals and putting your bare feet on a well-heated floor…
So now let’s go in. Sorry, we have to split up: men and boys this way, women and girls the other.
Shall we do some gymnastics, or go for a walk or play ball with friends? There is a beautiful gymnasium and a big open courtyard surrounded by columns and frescoes. I don’t mind skipping it though: all that hard work all day kneading flour is quite enough for me!
And now, the baths. First, we have to leave our clothes in the changing room. You can put them there, on the shelf. Don’t worry: there’s a slave on guard, watching people coming in and out.
Ready? Let’s make a tour around the halls. This here is the frigida’rium, with its round basin of cold water. Then we move to the tepida’rium, the ‘middle’ room so you get used to the change in temperature. And now the calida’rium, with a nice warm-water pool.
You can use the pools in any order you like, but I am a cold person: I like to end the day with a hot bath… imagine how much my friends tease me!
This is my favourite time of the day. When I finish at the bakery, all my muscles aching and sore, I’m covered in flour from head to toe, so a bath and massage makes me feel better.
Plus, thermal baths are a luxury everyone can afford. They don’t cost much and all kinds of people hang out there… aristocrats, politicians, fishermen and shopkeepers. It is the perfect place to meet friends, do business, arrange marriages, even do some political campaigning… But I must admit: I would really love to have my own slave to hold my towel by the pool… like the rich people!