Water management and hydrotechnics of the Terme Suburbane in Pompeii

Babesch volumes - Volume 13

Author: Manderscheid H.

Results of the interdisciplinary studies conducted between 1992 and 1994, funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, Cologne; main author of the volume Hubertus Manderscheid with contributions by Günther Garbrecht, Luciana Jacobelli and Joseph Riederer

The Terme Suburbane in Pompeii, an integral part of an extra-urban building complex, offers, due to their excellent state of preservation, the best conditions for a detailed investigation of the water management and hydrotechnical facilities in all their sub-areas: supply, use, disposal, and operating modes; moreover, insights into reconstruction phases and their consequences for water management can be gained.

In addition to the standard facilities, this small-scale bath, probably built by a private individual, contains one of the rare examples of the so-called ‘samovar’ piscina, which clearly demonstrates the luxury of these thermal baths. It is possible to demonstrate the great effort the client put into the architecture, the decorative furnishings, and, not least, the heating and hydraulic technology to provide bathers with an exclusive facility that certainly not everyone had access to. It must have exerted a great attraction not only on the residents of Pompeii, but also on outsiders.