Archaeologists Find Luxury Heat Bathing In Pompeii Archaeological Park

JAKARTA - The latest discovery at the archaeological site Pompeii, Italy shows that the ancient Roman elites will pamper their guests with calming hot baths as they come to enjoy a big party.

In a residential residence, archaeologists have found one of the largest and most complicated heat bath complexes ever found on the world's famous site, according to the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

The luxury bathroom is connected to a row of black and full wall paintings found in April, which suggests the private house is a very large venue for celebration, the park said in January.

The house must belong to important members of the local community, the park added, with the bathing complex being used for important events for its owners to obtain electoral consensus, promote nomination of families or friends, or simply show their social status.

This echoes a scene from the ancient Roman classic work by Gaius Petronius Arbiter, "Satyricon," where, at the beginning of a dinner party, Trimalchio's rich hosts and his friends took a bath, relaxed in the reasons and then soak in cold water.

The Pompeii Spa, which can accommodate 30 people, has a hot room, warm room, and cold room to cool off, as well as a dressing room with benches, according to the release.

The cold space consists of a page with a pillars of periastyle or fire which is 10 meters (33 feet) long and 10 meters wide, with a large pool in the middle.

"Everything serves for the performance of a 'show' in the middle of which is its own owner," Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the archaeological site said in the release.

"Just like the black hall that is meant to bring guests to the Greek palace, as is peristyle with a large pool in the middle and the adjacent spa complex has a function to create an atmosphere of Greek games, which is further confirmed by the athletic scenes added later," he added.

"So the audience, who are grateful and hungry, will applaud with a sincere admiration for the performances hosted and after one night at the 'gimnasium' will definitely talk about it for a long time," he continued.

It is known that the ancient Roman city of Pompeii was buried under volcanic ash and glass during the eruption of MountATAN in 79 AD. Since the 1700s, archaeologists have found a city that has been frozen at that time in a major ongoing excavation.

The discovery is part of excavations in the buried city's Region IX, where a bakery, renovation of homes and rooms decorated with complicated pictures were also found.