In Pompeii, archaeologists update the largest thermal station in the ancient city

It is a sumptuous establishment of private baths, potentially one of the largest in the whole city, which was discovered by a group of archaeologists in Pompeii. In the heart of a large residence, hot, lukewarm and cold rooms, but also works of art and a large swimming pool have been unearthed over the past two years. « A unique discovery of its kind »tells the BBC Sophie Hay, archaeologist in Pompeii, highlighting the existence of a class society within the ancient city.

In the same district, a laundry, a bakery and a private house were out of the ground. According to archaeological studies, they would belong to a wealthy person: Alus Rustius Verus, an influential politician from Pompeii. « There are only a few houses that have a complex of private baths, so it was something really reserved for the richest of the richTherefore, Exolliance à La BBC Gabriel, Coment’s Director du Paris Archivique. It is probably the largest bath complex in a private house in the city. »

Two bodies found

Two skeletons were found there under heaps of ash. One of the bodies, lying on a bed and curled up in a fetal position, belonged to a woman, aged 35 to 50. The second, in a corner of the room, is that of a younger man, aged ten or twenty years. As was the case for 15,000 other Pompeiians, these two inhabitants were killed when a tsunami of overheated volcanic gas fell on the city after the eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79. « The pyroclastic flow of the volcano has passed along the street, just outside this room, and caused the collapse of a wall, which practically crushed the man to deathsee Sophie there. The woman was still alive while he died and this room then filled with the rest of the pyroclastic flow, and that is how she died. »

According to the archaeologist, it was probably a person in high society. Maybe it was the owner’s wife? Or maybe a domestic assistant? « We don’t know »she regrets. But elements confirm its belonging to an easy social class. On the body of the female skeleton, the researchers recovered gold and silver pieces, as well as jewelry. Among them, gold and natural pearl earrings, necklace pendants and semi-precious stones. « The pieces shine as if they were new »marvel at archaeologist Alexandre Russo with the BBC.

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Sophie Haye would, however, specify that behind this Roman wealth, dozens of slaves lived and worked in conditions « unbearable ». The archaeologist takes, for example, the case of the boiler room, where the enslaveness had to operate a whole piping system to heat the water from the thermal complex. They then had to operate above a stove which released significant amounts of heat. « What emerges the most of these excavations is the striking contrast between the life of the slaves and that of the very, very rich. And we see it here, the difference between the sumptuous life of the bathroom establishment and the ovens, where the slaves fed fire by working all day »explains Sophie Haye.

Last weeks of excavations

Only a few Pompeiians, even among the richest in the city, were lucky to use a thermal complex. Those who frequented baths undressed in a locker room with red walls. Its soil was decorated with mosaics with marble geometric patterns from the Roman Empire. After going to the locker room, they headed for the hot room where a sauna -like bath was located. After being applied oil to the body, they finally went to frigidarium, the largest room in the thermal complex where 20 to 30 people could cool at the same time in a pool surrounded by red columns and frescoes representative of athletes.

Last year, archaeologists discovered a large banquet room with black jet walls on which ancient works of art were arranged. A small and intimate piece painted in pale blue, which served as a prayer room for the inhabitants, had also been uncovered. The excavations are now entering their last weeks and new discoveries have yet to emerge from the ashes of the thermal complex. The objective of the site is to open, ultimately, the doors of the place to the general public.