Thermae would be heated by a log fire before being channelled into the hot bathing rooms. The design of baths is discussed by Vitruvius in "De Architectura". "Thermae, balneae, balineae, balneum" and "balineum" may all be translated as "bath" or "baths", though Latin sources distinguish among these terms. "Balneum" or "balineum", derived from the Greek signifies, in its primary sense, a bath or bathing-vessel, such as most persons of any consequence among the Romans possessed in their own houses, and hence the chamber which contained the bath, which is also the proper translation of the word "balnearium". The diminutive "balneolum" is
Roman Thermae of Maximinus was constructed. At the end of the 3rd century, the complex was profoundly remodelled, resulting in the substantial reduction in the total area occupied by the thermae; the remodelling of the urban structure was part of the ongoing redesign of Bracara Augusta, into the provincial capital of Gallaecia by Diocletian. This meant that by the 4th century even the theatre was deactivated, and the stones used to construct the city walls. In fact, the remnants encountered confirm the existence of three periods of construction, starting with the first, which corresponds to the pre-thermae period of Julius Caesar and Claudius. The