IX.4.10 Pompeii. Terme Centrali or Central Baths. Secondary Entrance on South Side.

Terme Centrali or Central Baths Plan      IX.4.18

The photographs for the inside of the baths can be found on the pages for the main entrance at IX.4.18.

These baths were begun after the 62AD earthquake, and were still under construction at the time of the eruption in 79AD.

The baths occupied this entire insula whose original houses had been demolished to make way for the new baths.

IX.4.18 on the north side was the main entrance “a” from the Via di Nola.

IX.4.5 on the west side was an entrance into the palaestra “d” from Via Stabiana.

IX.4.10 on the south side was a small entrance into the palaestra “d” past a multi seat latrine “e”from an unnamed vicolo

There were two other smaller entrances from Vicolo di Tesmo, probably service doorways, on the eastern side of the insula at IX.4.15 and 16.

IX.4.15 on the east side led to service area “t” from Vicolo di Tesmo.

This contained the furnace area and a small garden divided from it by a wall.

IX.4.16 on the east side led to an open area “u” from Vicolo di Tesmo.

This had a small peristyle and a corridor that led to apodyterium “i”.

During the excavation, the archaeologists found the remains of the demolished residential houses in the area of the palaestra, which had not been entirely cleared by the people building the new baths.

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, June 1877, p. 445, description and finds.

See Bullettino dell’Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica (DAIR), 1877, p. 214-223.

See Bullettino dell’Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica (DAIR), 1878, p. 251-4.

See La Rocca, De Vos and De Vos, 1976. Guida Archeologica di Pompei. Mondadori Editore, p. 307-9.

IX.4.10 Pompeii. September 2011. Secondary Entrance on south side in unnamed vicolo. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.

IX.4.10 Pompeii. May 2005. Secondary Entrance on South Side.

Looking north along entrance corridor from entrance doorway.

On the right of the corridor is a doorway leading into the multi-seat public latrine “e”.

According to Hobson, Mau showed a drain from the large swimming tank “h” in the Central Baths passing to the public latrine, presumably to act as a sluicing system.  However he did not indicate the sewer drainage from that latrine.

See Mau, A., 1907, translated by Kelsey F. W. Pompeii: Its Life and Art. New York: Macmillan, page 209.

Although no excavation has been carried out to confirm this, it is believed that the drainage from this latrine is into a large cesspit.

See Hobson, B., 2009. Latrinae et foricae: Toilets in the Roman World. London; Duckworth, (page 128).

IX.4.10 Pompeii. May 2005. Looking north along corridor to palaestra “d”.

Terme Centrali or Central Baths Plan      IX.4.18