Roman Thermal Baths Cartegena

The public thermal baths in the 1st Century were more than a bath!  Before we run away with any ideas of a Spa retreat read this quote from that time, some things never change:

''I live just above the thermal baths: imagine such shouting you would rather be deaf (...). There are troublemakers. thieves caught red-handed, hawkers who are pleased to listen to their own voices, and those who dive in the swimming pools to swim, while the murmuring water comes out splashing everywhere. Think about the hair removers, every step they take, who recite some verse in falsetto to offer their services (...) not counting the shouts from the drinks traders (...) and from the young boys fro m the pubs who go everywhere offering their products, with their own special voice.''

Seneca, Epist., 56, 1-2

And here is said swimming pool. Note the steps so that people could sit in varying depths in comfort, until the divers arrived!

Beautiful herringbone sandstone floors.

This graffiti was found scratched into one of the plaster walls.

The underfloor area of the Tepidarium, note the arch at the far end where a constant fire would be kept to produce hot air that would circulate round the floor pillars, heating the floor above.

Roman staircase behind the plunge pool - possibly a platform for the divebombers?

These amphorae may have held oils or fragrant water for the massage room. The originals were found in situ, smashed by the roof that fell in during an earthquake.

 

At the reception area of the baths, this arch. Used as a shelter in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War when the citizens of Cartegena were being divebombed by something more sinister than a swimmer! Franco's pilots.