Roman Baths

Most Romans went to public baths to: keep clean, take exercise and meet their friends.  First, they did exercises outside in the palaestra, such as: throwing and catching a ball, wrestling and fighting with wooden swords; Second, they went into the steam room; Next, they soaked in the hot room; Then they relaxed in the warm room; Lastly, they jumped into the cold pool. The Romans did not have soap, but used olive oil instead. They would lie on a marble slab in the warm room whilst a slave rubbed it into their skin. They then used a metal strigil to scrape off the: dirt, sweat and oil. Aquae Sulis was the Roman name for Bath. It means 'the waters of the goddess Sulis'. The Romans built a large bath house there between 60 and 70AD so they could swim in the hot, 'healing' spring water which came up from the ground.