Thermae
The term thermae was the word used by ancient Romans for the buildings
housing their public baths.
Most Roman cities had at least one, if not many, as such buildings
that were centers of public bathing and socialization. Upper-class
Romans will normally visit daily, lower-class people about once
a week.
Building Layout
Within the building the baths were then divided according to gender. Each gender had three pools: a hot one, a lukewarm one and then a cool one. They were respectively called:
The Caldarium
The Tepidarium
The Frigidarium
Sometimes
there was a steam bath: the sudatorium.
Caldarium from Roman Baths at Bath, England. The floor
tiles have been removed to expose empty space through which hot
exhaust gases flowed, heating the tiles.
The baths normally included, aside from the three main rooms, listed
above, a palaestra, or even outdoor gymnasium where men may engage
in various ball games and exercises. There, inter alia, weights
were lifted and sometime discus thrown.
Men would oil themselves
(as soap was still a great luxury good and thus not widely available)
and removes the glut with a strigil (c.f. the well known Apoxyomenus
of Lysippus from the Vatican Museum).
The changing room was known as the apotyterium.
