Roman Bathing and Wellness: How Were Roman Baths Really Used?

Head to Wroxeter Roman City with Presenter Ben Shires as he discovers just how important bathing was to the Romans. Whether you fancied a quick dip, wanted to socialise with friends or needed to book in a business meeting, bathing was at the heart of Roman life.
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[@Art4ArtsSakeVideo]

Great memories of visiting Viroconium (Wroxeter) as a kid in the 1960s. I have a wonderful photo of my Dad standing under that great standing wall, when archaeological excavations were still under way. I went back almost 30 years later, when the site looked very similar to what's shown in this video, and took photos of the same spaces to show my Dad and Mum. So happy they remembered the visit in their late 80s!

[@darthaino]

This is wonderful!

[@pipsmtwin7625]

Very good video 👍🏻🌷🎊

[@juffrouwjo]

Please make one of these about the middle ages, so many people still think everyone stopped bathing after the Roman era, few know that bath houses remained popular, aqueducts remained in use or were replaced by conduits & canals and that medieval people washed & bathed a lot and that late medieval bathing in parts of Europe was just as good or better than Roman bathing.

[@AveryMilieu]

Fascinating - you know the term "wrong end of the stick"? If you reached out for that sponge lollypop (lolly-poop?) and grabbed the sponge end, you grabbed "the wrong end of the stick". Kinda gross... In 1965 I was in high school and they offered Latin. The teacher had been to Pompeii in the late 1950s and while most of the class yawned through it, I was thrilled. She's the one who told us about the sponges, by the way. She spoke about 7 languages and the Best Part of her classes was the entomology and history of various English words and phrases. AND I hated declensions and tenses, translating Cesar... All Gaul is divided into three parts...Bah! I was there for the history, I think.

[@gianlucaparedi2834]

Recently some roman structures have been found in Scotland even. That means that some roman castra were beyond the adrian wall.

[@juffrouwjo]

The Romans did have bath soap btw, they learned about it from the Gauls and were quite keen on it. Also, curious about what the source is for claiming they only had one sponge on a stick for the entire latrine. Can we be sure they didn't have a couple or that some perhaps used their own personal xylospongium? Can we be sure they didn't have larger sponges either? Also I remember reading somewhere they sometimes dunked them in vinegar. People also used straw, grass, moss, (wet) rags, etc.

[@aprilmunday1152]

I was at Wroxeter on a cold and wet day last year and it was fascinating. I'll have to go again now that I've seen this video.

[@k.j.lindsey3048]

Fascinating to learn <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="6">0:06</a> about the Roman baths. Thanks

[@HunterDriguez]

Pores cannot open or close. Ask any dermatologist. However, warm water can make it easier to remove contents in the pores because it makes them more runny.

[@cnsl6140]

Wonderful speakers and very informative

[@paulaharris4667]

Enjoyed the video 👍🏻

[@andreacatarino7075]

So fascinating

[@vitalijussivakovas334]

Thank you ❤ Very good content, interesting.

[@melg6902]

Interesting and informative.

[@janerkenbrack3373]

Opening comments on your outfit. All in all very sharp, and I'm glad to see a presenter paying attention to his look. The Iron Rangers are a good choice for the locale, and I'm curious about the pin on that sweater (vest?). It is because you have that sweater on that makes the tie tack a mistake. You don't need it to hold the tie down, so it's just a superfluous ornament drawing attention for its own sake.

[@kimjellen4508]

Wow - had no idea of all this - excellent video thanks 🎉

[@guillermodiego819]

Very interesting, thanks!

[@jellybebe2753]

Very comprehensive

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Thank yiu.

[@vidarfe]

Weren't those latrine sponges cleaned in vinegar between each user? That's what I've heard.

[@martynnotman3467]

I honestly thought "what is Jeff Goldblum doing English Heritage videos for?" 😂

[@mahekorvenoges550]

From so many different camera angles you have shown these periodically placed little piles of stones that were once part of the underfloor heating system, but you never mentioned what they are.

[@LazloVimes]

The piles of stone were used to hold up the floor and hot air flowed around the piles to heat the floor.

[@urbandiscount]

@@LazloVimes good to know, but the video doesn't tell you. It doesn't tell you about the different segments of baths, what the bathing sequence was like etc. But goes on and on about sponges on sticks and latrines.

[@ihavetwofaces]

Does the "little scoop for various purposes" have a name? The mind races and shudders at potential uses for a scoop in a bath.

[@lenabreijer1311]

It is for ear wax

[@gleeart]

There'd have been alot more than one sponge stick in the loo & there was usually a small gully with running water at your feet where you could work at cleaning the sponge, some bathers also brought their own. Sorry to be a pedant. It was also a class based culture so you may not want to use something a lower caste pleb has just finished with. Iron age Brits up the road in round huts were using leaves so progress is relative.

[@JaniceNW1]

The romans had no body hair? I mean for fashion?

[@psammiad]

Roman baths didn't have a plug hole, the water wasn't changed regularly, there was no soap, and people covered in dirt and oil bathed in the water regularly. Imagine how gross the water must've been!

[@urbandiscount]

The baths of Caracalla in Rome had their own aqueduct connection and a huge cistern. Water was taken into the cistern from the aqueduct, then flowed to the baths, then the baths were flushed out to the latrines, those then flushed out to the Tiber. I think it depends. A small rural bath is a different situation than a bath at a hot spring.