Archaeologists in Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried under ash and lava in A.D. 70, have unearthed private baths built more than 2,000 years ago, officials announced Friday.
The discovery features lavish mosaics and is equipped with a series of hot, warm and cold rooms and a huge spa-style plunge pool.
“Here we have perhaps the largest bath complex in a private house in Pompeii,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park. “Members of the ruling class of Pompeii set up huge spaces in their homes for hosting banquets.”
Pompeii Archaeological Park Press Office Via AP, HO
The spa-like baths were discovered in what is known as Regio IX, a central area of Pompeii Park as yet unexplored, where important archaeological excavations reveal new aspects of the daily life of the Pompeians.
“These are the spaces that are really part of the ‘Pompeii effect’ – it’s almost like people left just a minute ago,” Zuchtriegel told CBS News Partner. BBC News.
Pompeii Archaeological Park Press Office Via AP, HO
Zuchtriegel explained that the wealthy inhabitants of Pompeii often took a bath first and then held a banquet. The private thermal complex therefore made it possible to do it in the same house.
“There is room for about 30 people who could do the whole routine, and it could also be done in the public baths. So there is the calidarium, a very warm environment and also a large bathtub with water cold,” he explained.
Recently, archaeologists working in the same area discovered a bakery, a laundry, two villas and the bones of three people. died during the volcanic eruption of Vesuviuswhich destroyed the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Pompeii Archaeological Park Press Office Via AP, HO
The bodies belonged to a woman, who was holding jewelry and coins, and a young man in his 20s, the BBC reported.
“The pyroclastic flow from Vesuvius came into the street just outside this room and caused a wall to collapse, crushing it to death,” Sophie Hay, an archaeologist at Pompeii, told the BBC. “The woman was still alive while he was dying – imagine the trauma – and then this room filled with the rest of the pyroclastic flow, and that’s how she died.”
