Further information

Supplying the town with fresh water

Drains took away dirty water from the public baths and toilets - most peoples' houses did not have drains and they used a bucket or pot for a toilet.

The Romans ensured the supply of fresh water to their towns by building a reservoir, distribution tanks and walled conduits. There is evidence of such a water supply and sewage system at Venta.

A section of wooden water pipe has been recovered during excavation and the locations of drains and sewers can be seen running along the streets in aerial photographs' (Davies 2001).

Baths & bath-houses

Only large houses owned by the wealthy had baths, so most people went to the public bath-houses. They were a favourite place to go for gossip, gambling and exercise.

Town baths usually had three or more rooms, heated to different temperatures. The Romans had a kind of central heating system, called a hypocaust, to do this.

How the townspeople bathed

Someone who wanted to take a bath would undress in the apodyterium (cloak room). If they were rich they would bring their slave to help them undress and bathe. He or she would then go and exercise in a special courtyard for wrestling and sports.

After this the bather would go to the tepidarium (every room was named to describe its temperature). Here he could sit in two pools of warm water. According to the writer Pliny, one pool was big enough to swim in.

The calderium (steam room)

Then the bather would go to the caldarium. This was a hot and steamy room where a slave would rub oil into the bather's body, then scrape it and all the dirt and sweat off with a strigil. This was a scraper made out of bone, wood or metal. The idea was to clean the body in the same way as we use soap today.

The bather would next have to plunge into a very hot bath - the writer Seneca said it felt like a bonfire! Finally he would have to plunge into the frigidarium, or cold bath, before getting dressed again.

Caistor also had a laconicum, or very, very hot room, which was used for invalids. A tub of boiling water kept the room hot and steamy

The Hypocaust (Roman central heating)

The Romans heated their baths with what was very advanced technology for their time. In warm countries, like their homes in Italy, the central heating system was only used for baths. In cooler countries like Britain, the hypocaust could be found in town houses and country villas.

When the house or bath was being built, fire-grates were built in the basement. A floor would then be made on top of pillars of concrete or brick. When fires were lit, the warm air would heat up the floor and pillars.

Sometimes the floor could become so hot that people would have to wear wooden sandals to prevent their feet from being badly burned.

Related pages on this website

• Life under the Romans