The Roman baths were part of the day-to-day life in Ancient Rome
The Roman baths were part of the day-to-day life in Ancient Rome and for personal hygiene people often went to the local baths. The local bath complex was also a gathering point and served a very useful community and social function. Here people could relax, keep clean and keep up with the latest news. A visitor could use a cold bath (the frigidarium), a warm bath (the tepidarium) and a hot bath (the caldarium). A visitor would spend some of his time in each one before leaving. A large complex would also contain an exercise area (the palaestra), a swimming pool and a gymnasium. The building of a Roman bath complex required excellent engineering skills. Baths required a way of heating up water. This was done by using a furnace and the hypocaust system carried the heat around the complex. Water had to be constantly supplied. In Rome this was done using 640 kilometers of aqueducts - a superb engineering feat. The baths themselves could be huge. Those who built them wanted to make a s...