Mark Megahan
Guests of ancient Romans, who “came to enjoy the merriment of a large feast,” were practically guaranteed a soak in the Jacuzzi. The Archaeological Park of Pompeii has an exciting new discovery. Inside a residential house, a team who does their excavating with a paintbrush “uncovered one of the largest and most intricate thermal spa complexes yet found.” One straight from the bawdy classic Satyricon.
Romans invented toga parties
Togas were optional at the parties of most Romans, especially the upper class. Archaeologists just uncovered the villa of someone they think was a political bigwig. It was laid out lavish enough for a senator. “The house must have belonged to an important member of local society.”
They know that from the bath complex. It was designed to lend “itself to important occasions for the owner to secure an electoral consensus, promote the candidacy of family or friends, or merely display their social status.”
Romans, historians agree, really knew how to party. They didn’t have television, so spent most evenings at a friendly neighborhood drunken dinner party. With an orgy for desert. About two thousand years before Animal House, Gaius Petronius gave the world his Satyricon. The professional archaeologists didn’t miss the connection.
“It echoes a scene from Gaius Petronius Arbiter’s ancient Roman classic ‘Satyricon,‘ in which, at the start of a dinner party, the wealthy host Trimalchio and his companions bathed, lounged in a sauna and then dove into cold water.”
The hot tub they found in Pompeii “could accommodate 30 people.” It “features a hot room, a warm room and cold room for cooling off, as well as a changing room with benches.”
The cold room is a porticoed court 33 feet square with a large swimming pool. All the wealthier Romans had one. “Everything was functional to the staging of a ‘show’ at the center of which was the owner himself,” relates site director Gabriel Zuchtriegel.
A Greek theme
The Roman bath had an intentionally Greek styling. “Just as the black hall was meant to transport guests to a Greek palace, so the peristyle with the large pool in the center and the adjacent spa complex had the function of creating a Greek gymnasium setting, which was further accentuated by the athletic scenes added later.” The Satryicon’s description brings the space to life, the way Romans saw it.
“What were we miserable wretches to do, shut up in this newfangled labyrinth. The idea of taking a hot bath had commenced to grow in favor, so we finally asked the porter to lead us to the place and, throwing off our clothing, which Giton spread out in the hall to dry, we went in. It was very small, like a cold water cistern.”
Their host was already there. “Trimalchio was standing upright in it, and one could not escape his disgusting bragging even here. He declared that there was nothing nicer than bathing without a mob around.” The Romans noticed that a bakery had formerly occupied the same spot.
“Tired out at last, he sat down, but when the echoes of the place tempted him, he lifted his drunken mouth to the ceiling, and commenced murdering the songs of Menacrates, at least that is what we were told by those who understood his language.”
Things started loosening up after that. “Some of the guests joined hands and ran around the edge of the pool, making the place ring with their boisterous peals of laughter.”
Drunken Romans had a game similar to twister. “We went down into the pool while the rest were taking part in such amusements. It was being heated for Trimalchio. When the fumes of the wine had been dissipated, we were conducted into another dining-room where Fortunata had laid out her own treasures.“
