Balneum

A small Roman bathhouse that may be attached to a private house.

Balneum meant originally a tub or other vessel to bathe in; next, the room in which it was placed; when there were many such rooms the plural balnea was used. Balneae were the public baths, under the Republic, when they consisted of ordinary baths of hot and cold water. Thermae were the magnificent and luxurious buildings adapted for the hot air system. They contained the Abodyterium, or dressingroom; the Frigidarium, where the cold bath was taken; the Tepidarium, a bath of warm air; the Caldarium, with a vapour bath at one end, a warm water bath at the other, and a Sudatorium, or sweating bath in the middle. The pavement, called suspensura, was over a furnace, hypocaustum. The bathers were currycombed with strigils, which the Greeks called stlengis or xystra; and they dropped oil over their bodies from narrownecked vessels called guttus or ampullae. The Thermae contained exedrae, or openair chambers, where philosophers lectured, and libraries, and had gardens, and shady walks, and fountains, with statuary attached to them.