Archaeologists who recently excavated a complex of private baths in a luxury villa in the ancient city of Pompeii are still not sure who it might belong to. But they know that the owner wanted to delight his guests.
Easily hosting 30, the full-service complex—featuring a calidarium, tepidarium, and frigidarium, or warm, hot, and cold baths—connected to an elegantly appointed dining room where guests would be wined and dined by their host after a swim.
It seems that private baths of this scale were rare in Pompeii. “Not everyone had this level of luxury,” Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, said Friday.
News of the discovery was published in the online diary of the archaeological site. It is one of the largest private baths found in Pompeii, which was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
The bathing complex was discovered during the excavation of an insula, the equivalent of a city block, which began in the spring of 2023 as part of a multi-year project to better preserve the ancient site. This project includes strengthening the perimeter between the excavated and unexcavated part of the city, parts of which remain underground.
The discovery of the dining room of the villa, decorated with panels with mythological characters inspired by the Trojan War, is made public last year.
Buried under tons of ash, rock, and lava fragments that would ultimately help preserve the site, Pompeii became a symbol of nature’s power and humanity’s fragility. Since 1748, when the first excavations began, the site has offered generations of archaeologists and historians insight into the inhabitants of this ancient city, from what they ate to the tools they used and the way they lived depending on their social class.
In this case, archaeologists believe that the owner of the villa was part of the city’s elite. As such, he would use his home spa to impress his guests, especially those who came from less affluent backgrounds.
People would be invited to enjoy the baths for various reasons, said Dr. Zuchtriegel. Perhaps the mansion owner wanted to secure votes for himself or his friends, or make business deals, or “just show off” his social status, he said. Or the owner may have behaved as a “CEO of an important company” might, creating what we would today call a team-building exercise, said Dr. Zuchtriegel in a telephone interview.
Swimming evenings would be especially appreciated in the winter, he added.
“We often think of the Roman world as a sunny place,” said Dr. Zuchtriegel, where “people ran around in sandals and short tunics. But, of course, they also had winter.” Therefore, going to the bathhouse often meant “warming up on a cold winter’s day,” he added.
Once the area is restored, it will be open to the public. But dr. Zuchtriegel said excavation work on the villa will not go much further.
Seeing a partial excavation is a bit like reading half a book, he said, adding, “We want to know the whole story.” But there were already so many excavated areas of Pompeii that needed to be “protected and preserved,” said Dr. Zuchtriegel, that it might be irresponsible to undertake new projects “without broader, broader thinking”.
“Every time we make these decisions, we really try to think and evaluate very carefully whether or not we’re going to do further excavation,” he said.
