Pompeii announces the discovery of an important private thermal complex

The discoveries in Pompeii follow one another at a metronome rhythm. Excavations undertaken for several years in Insula 10 Régio IX in Pompeii have recently uncovered a complex of private baths in a Roman villa (Domus), the archaeological site announced without indicating the date of the discovery.

These thermal baths are annexed to a banquet room (the triclinium) nicknamed “the black room”, in reference to its painted walls. They are made up of a caldarium (warm room), a tepidarium (warm room), a frigidarium (cold room) and an apodyterium (changing room), and could accommodate up to 30 people. The frigidarium has a peristyle, that is to say a gallery of columns measuring 10 x 10 meters going around the pool.

The entire house occupied the southern part of insula 10. The walls are decorated in the 2nd style (ca. 80-20 BC), characterized by the abandonment of reliefs and the use exclusively pictorial means to create trompe l’oeil, and in the 3rd style, characterized by the abandonment of trompe l’oeil and perspective effects favoring the ornamental. The highlighted frescoes represent scenes from Greek mythology. “The paintings of the third style with subjects of the Trojan War, the athletes in the peristyle, everything had to give these spaces a Greek atmosphere, that is to say of culture, of erudition, but also of idleness »underlined Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the archaeological park.

Baths discovered in Pompeii: the apodyterium.

© Archaeological Park of Pompeii

In this architecture, “everything was designed to stage a show”he said. This discovery indeed reveals one of the largest thermal complexes of Pompeii ever unearthed in a private house, and testifies to the practices of the Pompeian elite who organized banquets in order to liven up political life, to ensure the support from its guests or to assert its social status. “Participants at the political dinners could relax and chat peacefully in the spa relaxation area”writing La Repubblica.

Other discoveries have recently been brought to light on the Insula 10 Régio IX site. In 2024, two victims of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. were thus found in a room. The woman was accompanied by gold, silver and bronze coins, as well as some jewelry, including gold earrings and pearls.

Baths discovered in Pompeii: the frigidarium. © Archaeological Park of Pompeii

Baths discovered in Pompeii: the frigidarium.

© Archaeological Park of Pompeii

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