Top ten passions of Ancient Rome

2. Getting Naked

The Romans liked to get clean in company, and that company was undressed.

The development of window glass in the first century AD transformed the bathing experience from a dark dingy steamy event into a new experience. The baths were now well-lit and beautiful structures with mosaics, clear water, and populated by naked bodies – some included mixed bathing, others single sex.

The passage through the unheated room (frigidarium) into warmer heat (tepidarium) and on into the hottest rooms (caldarium) were associated with the skin feeling the changes in temperature - rounded off perhaps with a cold plunge. The tactile feeling of hot and cold was further accentuated by oiling of the body, massage and the scraping of the oil off. Nude sun-bathing was also a possibility at the baths. Public nudity was contained in one location - the baths.

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