{"id":217824,"date":"2025-01-17T19:07:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T19:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/17\/lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-ancient-some-in-pompeii-even-had-a-home-spa\/"},"modified":"2025-01-17T19:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T19:07:09","slug":"lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-ancient-some-in-pompeii-even-had-a-home-spa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/17\/lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-ancient-some-in-pompeii-even-had-a-home-spa\/","title":{"rendered":"Lifestyles of the Rich and Ancient: Some in Pompeii Even Had a Home Spa"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/17\/multimedia\/17pompeii-01-wvqb\/17pompeii-01-wvqb-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Lifestyles of the Rich and Ancient: Some in Pompeii Even Had a Home Spa\" title=\"Lifestyles of the Rich and Ancient: Some in Pompeii Even Had a Home Spa\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The archaeologists who recently excavated a private bath complex in a luxurious villa in the ancient city of Pompeii are still not sure whom it may have belonged to. But they do know that the owner wanted to wow his guests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Easily hosting 30, the full-service complex \u2014 with a calidarium, tepidarium and frigidarium, or hot, warm and cold baths \u2014 was connected to an elegantly decorated dining hall where the guests would have been wined and dined by their host after their dip.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At Pompeii, private baths of this scale appear to have been a rarity. \u201cNot everyone had this level of luxury,\u201d Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, said on Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">News of the discovery <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/pompeiisites.org\/e-journal-degli-scavi-di-pompei\/la-casa-come-palcoscenico-il-complesso-termale-e-conviviale-recentemente-scoperto-nellinsula-ix-10-a-pompei\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">was published<\/a> in the online journal of the archaeological site. It is among the largest private baths to have been found at Pompeii, which was buried by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The bathing complex was discovered during the excavation of one insula, the equivalent of a city block, that began in the spring of 2023 as part of a multiyear project to better preserve the ancient site. That project involves shoring up the perimeter between the excavated and unexcavated areas of the city, parts of which remain underground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The discovery of the dining area of the villa, decorated with panels of mythological figures inspired by the Trojan War, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/11\/world\/europe\/pompeii-dining-room-trojan-war.html\" title=\"\">was made<\/a> public last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Buried under tons of ash, rock and lava fragments that would ultimately help to preserve the site, Pompeii has become a symbol of nature\u2019s power and the fragility of humankind. Since 1748, when the first excavations began, the site has offered generations of archaeologists and historians insight into the denizens of this ancient city, from what they ate to the tools they used, and how they lived depending on their social class.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In this case, archaeologists believe that the owner of the villa was part of the city\u2019s elite. As such, he would have used his home spa to impress his guests, especially those who came from less affluent classes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">People would have been invited to enjoy the baths for various reasons, Dr. Zuchtriegel said. Perhaps the owner of the villa wanted to secure votes for himself or his cronies, or to seal business deals, or \u201cjust to show off\u201d his social status, he said. Or the owner may have been behaving the way a \u201cC.E.O. of an important company\u201d might, creating what we would call today a team building exercise, Dr. Zuchtriegel said in a telephone interview.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The dip-and-dine evenings would have been especially appreciated in winter, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe often think of the Roman world as a sunny place,\u201d Dr. Zuchtriegel said, where \u201cpeople ran around in sandals and short tunics. But of course they had winter, too.\u201d So, going to the baths often meant \u201cwarming up on a cold winter day,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Once the area has been restored, it will be opened to the public. But Dr. Zuchtriegel said excavation work on the villa would not go much further.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Seeing the partial excavation is a bit like reading a book halfway, he said, adding, \u201cWe want to know the whole story.\u201d But there were already so many excavated areas of Pompeii that had to be \u201cprotected and preserved,\u201d Dr. Zuchtriegel said, that it could be irresponsible to undertake new projects \u201cwithout a broader, broader reflection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEvery time we make these decisions, we really try to ponder and evaluate very carefully whether or not to carry out further excavations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/17\/world\/europe\/italy-archaeology-pompeii-spa.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The archaeologists who recently excavated a private bath complex in a luxurious villa in the ancient city of Pompeii are still not sure whom it may have belonged to. But they do know that the owner wanted to wow his guests. Easily hosting 30, the full-service complex \u2014 with a calidarium, tepidarium and frigidarium, or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/17\/multimedia\/17pompeii-01-wvqb\/17pompeii-01-wvqb-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8221,171692,148,156,171694,29450,171693,1354,57571],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217824"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217826,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217824\/revisions\/217826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}