Lauren Lokre
Professor Bowes
11/20/17
An Investigation into the Popularity of Roman Bathing: Baths and Good Health
Bathing was a core Roman institution. Bathing was not only a deeply rooted habit, it was a physically, mentally, and socially satisfying experience. Roman bathing quickly became, in the town and the country alike, a custom ensconced in the daily schedule. Romans possessed an extraordinary devotion to bathing, by why did it become an inveterate ritual? And what accounts for the intense popularity of the baths? While no single source can claim the attraction of bathing, there is strong evidence that the vast majority of Romans who visited the facilities were greatly motivated by its professed health benefits. As early as the era of Hippocrates, the connection between bathing and good health has been inseparable. The habit and practice of bathing has genesis beyond simply a desire for indulgence and relaxation. The widespread acceptance of bathing reveals the Roman’s yearning to live with an optimally healthy body and mind. The enormous popularity of Roman public bathing was principally grounded in the ancient perceived connection between consistent bathing and good health.
For a Roman, the average life expectancy was rarely more than 30-35 years, in part due to the high rate of infant mortality. In the ancient world, healthy individuals could fall ill and die with very short notice due to a variety of fatal ailments. The Roman preoccupation with wellbeing can be observed in letters which regularly attended to the state of a correspondent’s health. It was convention to both open and close a letter by addressing the recipient’s health. The opening formula for a Roman letter, “Si vales, bene est; ego valeo”, translates to, “If you are well, that is fine; I am well”. Correspondingly, a traditional farewell was a statement expressing concern for the others’ well-being, such as “Take care of your health.” In such an environment where illness was common, civic hospitals did not exist, and means of combatting disease was limited, the potential curative and preventative powers of bathing were emphasized. Due to the awful hygienic conditions and toxic Roman urban environment, any means to cure or prevent illness was attractive to all classes. Health was actively sought after, even by the poorest. Bathing held appeal to slaves and upper echelons alike, accounting for the vast popularity of the baths. Particularly among the lower class who did not have the means to pay for a professional doctor, bathing provided an accessible way to remediate their ailments. While the proclaimed curative properties of bathing appealed to the ill, the touted preventative effects of bathing impelled those who were otherwise healthy to daily frequent the baths as well. Bathing entered into the Roman everyday routine as more than just an act of hygiene or pleasurable custom, but because it was considered to be a means of staying well. The habit of bathing became accepted as a healthy thing to do. No matter your social status or health, bathing was thought to help you reach optimal condition. In a rigidly stratified society, the appeal of bathing and its health benefits unified all, causing its mass popularity.
The prescription of baths by medical specialists of the time act as direct evidence of the Roman’s perceived connection between bathing and good health. Bathing, from its earliest history, has received full support from ancient medicine. The use of baths for medicinal purposes originated in Greece. Hippocrates, a Greek physician who is widely considered ‘the father of medicine’, recommended daily bathing and massage for optimum health. Greek Hippocratic medicine and the emphasis on the benefits of bathing was introduced to Rome principally through Greek medical writers of the Imperial period, Celsus and Galen. In the only surviving of Celsus’ written works, De Medicina, Celsus mentions baths and bathing some 81 times. His work was peppered with recommendations for medicinal bathing. A regimen of bathing modes for the treatment of various disorders had been worked out by Roman doctors and health specialists. Physicians prescribed some mode of bathing to an extensive range of ailments including inflamed intestines, fevers, loss of sight, and urinary and bowel problems. Bathing was not only prescribed for the ill, but it was also recommended for the healthy in order to ward off illness. In Celsus’ book on the regime for the healthy person, he cites bathing as an element of ‘daily business’ for ‘the man in excellent health’. As is highlighted in the works of medical writers and physicians of the time, the remedial and preventative effects of bathing were highly regarded. We can presume that this trend in medical thought would have certainly spread across the Roman empire, impelling the upper and the lower classes alike to make bathing a part of their daily routine.
Asclepiades was the first physician to establish Greek medicine in Rome. Asclepiades lived in Rome during the end of the second and the beginning of the first centuries B.C., which not coincidentally is the same period in which the popularity of bathing was incited. During his lifetime, Asclepiades gained great fame and prominence in Rome. Pliny the Elder, who regarded him as the founder of professional Roman medicine, remarked that Asclepiades “brought around to his view almost the entire human race, in a fashion no different than if he had arrived by dropping out of the skies”. As one of the greatest influencers of the time, is important to note that Asclepiades ardently endorsed bathing as a healthy practice. Asclepiades’ remedial therapies included hydropathy, sweating, and hot water– all of which are elements of bathing. It is documented that Asclepiades spoke of his medical philosophies in public lectures, which would have been a direct outlet through which he was able to spread his ideas to the masses. Although there is no definitive evidence of which social strata attended such lectures, it is presumed that the lower class attended in addition to the elite. However, if initially only the elite were exposed to his ideologies, it is very likely that they filtered down to the lower class as well. As everyone, regardless of class, had an interest in health the news would have spread quickly by word of mouth or by imitation of behavior. As it is shown that Asclepiades lived in Rome at the cusp of bathing’s popularity and as he boldly encouraged bathing as a health practice, it is reasonable to assume that Asclepiades played a large role in spurring the widespread use of baths. Asclepiades’ emphasis on the relationship between bathing and good health helped to catalyze the trend.
The archaeological remains of the baths serve as concrete testament to the strong link between bathing and good health. The Baths of Caracalla, the largest bath complex in the city of Rome, was lavishly decorated with free standing and relief sculpture. While a huge amount of the surviving sculpture has been identified, the current records only represent a small fraction of the total. Of all the statues at the baths of Caracalla, the largest was the colossal sculpture of Asclepius, the ancient Greek god of medicine, of which only the head remains. It is thought that this figure was accompanied by a sculpture of Hygieia, the Greek goddess of good health, of equal grandeur and size. In a recent survey of sculptural fragments found from bathhouses across Italy, North Africa, and Asia Minor it was accounted that Asclepius and Hygieia, the two health associated deities, appeared with the greatest frequency of any of the gods. While bathing, Romans were surrounded by powerful visuals that emphasized the association between bathing and health. Such visuals asserted the healing and medicinal properties of what they were doing.
Furthermore, specific archaeological evidence has suggested the presence of doctors at the baths. Five medical instruments, two of which were scalpels, were located in the main bathhouse at the Roman Baths of Xanten. The presence of medical instruments indicates not just the attendance of a doctor but the possibility that complicated operations were conducted at the baths. There is further archaeological indication of the presence of doctors, as an oculist’s collyrium, or medicated eyewash, and an instrument box was uncovered at the Barbara Bath complex. As many of the discovered instruments were designed for serious surgery, there is a strong possibility that doctors used the baths as their workspace. As there was an absence of civic hospitals in the ancient world, it has long been wondered where medics would perform difficult operations. From the given archaeological evidence, it is a plausible inference that ancient doctors conducted their practice at the baths. The presence of doctors is directly suggestive of the strong link between bathing and health.
The Roman devotion to bathing was rooted in their cultural values. Examining the motives of the bather’s sheds light on why bathing became a widespread sensation across the Roman Empire. The importance that Romans placed on personal health can explain why Romans took to the baths so eagerly. The ardent endorsement of baths by well-known physicians would have certainly motivated Romans, as they were provided a clear, practical cause to attend. It is evidenced through the archaeological details found at the bath complexes that they served far greater purpose beyond simply evoking a sense of delight and pleasure. There were many facets to bathing- it was an immersive physical, social, and mental experience- however the initial appeal of bathing can be chiefly accounted for by its role in Roman medicine. The Roman’s correlation between daily bathing and optimum health spurred the growth of the bath’s popularity