Pompeii, one of the largest private thermal complexes discovered

And large spa complex within a private domusattached to a banquet hall which recalls those described in the ‘Satyricon’ by Gaius Petronius Arbiter, was discovered in the ongoing excavation site in insula 10 of Regio IX of Pompeii. The complex, announced in a press release by the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, is among the largest and most complex private spa sectors known so far in the Pompeian domus discovered. Few other examples of this size are present in Pompeii, including the Praedia baths of Giulia Felice, those of the House of the Labyrinth and the Villa of Diomede.

The direct connection of the thermal spaces to the large convivial hall (the so-called black hall, already emerged and made known a few months ago), suggests how much the Roman house lent itself to being a real stage for the celebrations of sumptuous banquets, “which in the society of the time they had a function not limited to what today we would define as ‘private’ in the strict sense – explained Zuchtriegel – On the contrary, they were precious opportunities for the owner to secure the electoral consent of his guests, to promote the candidacy of friends or relatives, or simply to affirm one’s social status”.

How these spas are made

The baths, composed of calidarium, tepidarium, frigidarium (hot, warm and cold room) and changing room (apodyterium), could accommodate up to thirty people judging by the benches present in the latter room. The cold room is very impressive, consisting of a peristyle, i.e. a porticoed courtyard measuring 10 x 10 metres, in the center of which is a large basin.

The choice to place the complex near the large triclinium (banquet hall) refers to and meets an interpretation in the “Satyricon”, in which the rich freedman Trimalchio celebrates his famous dinner, set in a Campanian city of the 1st century AD and therefore culturally not far from the reality of Pompeii before the eruption of 79 AD Before going to the banquet, the protagonists of Gaius Petronius’ novel Arbiter, including Trimalchio, go to a balneum (bath).

The entire domus occupied the southern part of insula 10, and must have belonged to an important figure in local society. The walls decorated in the 2nd and 3rd Style demonstrate that it had an important history behind it. Certainly whoever owned this residence must have belonged to the city’s elite in his last decades of life and therefore felt the need to set up a space in his own home to host numerous people, to whom he could offer rich banquets and the opportunity to bathe and relax in the spa.

“Everything was functional to the staging of a ‘show’, at the center of which was the owner himself – underlined the director Gabriel Zuchtriegel – The III style paintings with subjects from the Trojan War, the athletes in the peristyle, everything had to confer to the spaces an atmosphere of Greekness, that is, of culture, erudition as well as leisure. Just as the black hall had to transport guests to a Greek palace, so the peristyle with the large basin in the center and the adjacent thermal complex had the function of create a Greek gymnasium scenography, which was further accentuated by the athletic scenes subsequently added. And therefore the audience, grateful and hungry, would have applauded with sincere admiration at the show orchestrated by the host and after an evening in his ‘gymnasium’ they would have talked about it. much longer.”

“The excavation of the rooms in question, and in particular of the peristyle – added the director of the works, Anna Onesti – took place thanks to an innovative method of execution, which allowed the floor level to be reached, avoiding the dismantling of the unstable architectural elements of the colonnade”.

The use of a temporary support structure allowed the entire colonnade to be excavated, leaving all the wall portions in place, and it will remain to protect the entablature system (the horizontal structure supported by the columns) until a new, future architectural and structural restoration project, also serving as a support for its own execution.

The main entrance to the domus was to the south. An atrium was probably located here, from which one reached a large peristyle (columned garden) which occupies almost the entire width of the block and of which the upper parts of the corner columns, not yet excavated, can be glimpsed. On one side of the peristyle there were a series of rooms. From west to east: a large oecus (living room) decorated in the 2nd style, a corridor, a small room decorated in the 4th style and a Corinthian oecus, surrounded by at least 12 columns on three sides, with a 2nd style megalography which currently excavation is still underway and the first results were presented in December: the frieze with still life compositions representing game and fishing products offered for the enjoyment of guests during banquets.