HADRIAN’S BATHS AT LEPTIS MAGNA

Date: 126-127AD

Location: Leptis (or Lepcis) Magna, a Roman Colony in North Africa

Architect: The Emperor Hadrian (probably)

Imperial Style Republican / Pompeian Style

• larger scale

• bilateral symmetry (mirror image)

• same facilities for both sexes

• earlier style, smaller

• asymmetric

• No laconicum (sream room)

• different facilities for men and women

BATHS IN GENERAL• going to the baths was a daily routine for most Roman

men.• because the baths were a very important part of city life

access cost very little, sometimes it was even free. • women had access to the baths but went at different

times because there were no separate facilities for them.• these baths were:

– a source of civic pride, – a triumph of Roman technology, – a sign of wealth and security in

a province,– a sign of Roman might to the

local inhabitants,– a sign of Imperial generosity and

concern in a province.

1. Latrina

2. Apodyterium (Changing rooms)

3. Natatio (Swimming pool)

5. Cold plunge baths

4. Frigidarium (cold room)

7. Laconica (Steam rooms)

Tepidarium (warm room)

6.Caldarium (hot room)

8. Hypocastum (furnaces)

Hotter rooms at southern end

Additional rooms are for dining, reading, massage

Cooler rooms are at northern end of complex

Palestrae – exercise field - sea facing side

Concrete cross-vaulted ceiling

Painted ceiling

Marble floors

Corinthian columns

Cold plunge pools prob. added by Commodus

DESIGN OF THESE BATHS• the baths are symmetrical and are placed

on a north/south axis.• these baths were set up so the bather

would naturally progress from the…

unheated palaestra and frigidarium

to the warmer tepidarium

to the super-heated caldarium and laconica.

THE HYPOCAUSTUM

• a heated tank (the boiler) of water fed hot water to various parts of the baths.

• the hottest rooms were closer to the furnace.

it also heated rooms by:circulating warm air under the floor which was raised on little piers of bricks under the floor.or through hollow spaces in the walls (flues).

PARTS OF THE ROMAN BATHS

• APODYTERIUM = changing room • FRIGIDARIUM = room with cold pools • TEPIDARIUM = warm room for heating

up the body • CALADRIUM = room with hot pools • LACONICUM = steam room for sweating• UNCTORIUM = massage room • LATRINA = toilet • HYPOCAUSTUM = furnace room

NATATIO

• this swimming pool was 1.75m deep

• it was the largest area in the baths.

• it had a vaulted portico of Corinthian columns on three sides and was

• the base was decorated with a gravel-like mosaic.

FRIGIDARIUM• the frigidarium’s roof was larger

than the other roofs.• the roof consists of cross vaults. • huge arched entrance ways were

at the east and west ends. • the walls were originally covered

with elaborate marble.

TEPIDARIUM• this was the first warm room.• it was entered via a central door in the

southern wall of the frigidarium. • its main feature was a marble

plunge bath which was entered through an arched opening flanked by grey marble columns.

• two smaller baths were added later on each side of the central bath. These two smaller baths were surrounded by black marble columns.

CALDARIUM

• the largest of the hot rooms at 22m x 10.9m and was entered through the tepidarium.

• it was the most sourthern of the rooms.

• its was roofed with a barrel-vault with five arched windows

LACONICA

• these were superheated sweat rooms.

• there were four rooms and they were to the north of the caldarium.

• these rooms were made for people to sit in and sweat in, they would then be scraped.

IS IT HOT IN HERE…?

• the hotter rooms were placed on the southern side of the baths because of the position of the sun in the afternoon.

• there were a number of furnace rooms on the south side, close to the caldarium and the laconica.

OTHER ROOMS IN THE BATHS

PALAESTRA• a vast exercise yard was to the north of the bath

complex.

NON-WET ROOMS• a further series of chambers run along the

western and eastern sides of the complex that may have:– libraries, – rest areas, – maybe even lecture halls.

LATRINA• the toilets were on the east and

west sides of the northern end. • they had three

sides of marble seated toilets.

• the toilets were also communal.

• there was also had an apse in each toilet to hold a statue.

HOW THE FUNCTION OF THE COMPLEX DETERMINES ITS ARCHITECTURAL FORM.

• Reflected in the planning of the complex is the hot-to-cold bathing process; the central bathing facilities were arranged in sequence eg the laconica are arranged on either side of the caldarium, then bathers moved to the tepidarium before entering the frigidarium . 

• The caldarium was placed at the southern end of the complex to take full advantage of the afternoon sun.

• The windows of the caldarium were placed at the southern end of the complex to take full advantage of the afternoon sun.

• The hypocaust was placed directly behind the laconica and the caldarium; furtherest away from cool rooms.

• The floors of the laconica and caldarium were raised to allow the circulation of hot air underneath.

• The bathing process was facilitated by the provision of framed views into other bathing areas provided through artfully arranged screens of columns

• The palaestra and the natatio are both used for exercise therefore they were placed next to each other. 

• The apodyteria and toilets positioned next to each other.

• There was space in the frigidarium for social intercourse.