Ancient Roman bathing And it was said that 'Wine, women, warmth, to life destruction give, But it is by wine, women, warmth that we live' The objections of the philosopher Seneca were instead about the associated noise that interrupted his work when he resided above a bath. Ancient Roman bathing Bathing played a major part in ancient Roman culture and society. It was one of the most common daily activities in Roman culture, and was practiced across a wide variety of social classes. Though many contemporary cultures see bathing as a very private activity conducted in the home, bathing in Rome was a
Ancient Roman bathing on Hadrian's Wall, or at Bearsden fort), they still often frequented the numerous public bathhouses in the cities and towns throughout the empire. Small bathhouses, called "balneum" (plural "balnea"), might be privately owned, while they were public in the sense that they were open to the populace for a fee. Larger baths called thermae were owned by the state and often covered several city blocks. The largest of these, the Baths of Diocletian, could hold up to 3,000 bathers. Fees for both types of baths were quite reasonable, within the budget of most free Roman males. Some of the earliest