공중목욕탕 유적을 통해 본로마시대의 목욕문화

The Roman bath culture through the ancient Roman therma

This paper aims to view the Roman bath culture by examining the ancient Roman therma and its operating system. The Romans emulated the Greek bathing practices but they surpassed the Greeks in the size and complexity of their baths. As the Roman Empire expanded, the idea of the public bath spread to many parts of the Mediterranean, Europe and North Africa. Most Roman baths contained the apodyterium, the frigidarium, the tepidarium and finally the caldarium. It is an important fact that the Romans elevated bathing from washing practise to a fine art. Thr Roman bath, for exmple, included more complex ritual than a simple sweathing procedure. It is also not an exaggeration to say that the modern bath and its culture owes a lot to the Roman bath. Although the Roman Empire begin to decline in A.D. 337 after the death of Emperor of Constantine, their bath cultures still continued in many parts of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.