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Roman baths: sweating in antiquity
The Romans turned bathing into a culture: large baths with warm, hot and cold rooms, heated by ingenious underfloor heating. They existed in what is now Switzerland, too.
Updated: September 2026 · independent guide, sources linked
The Romans knew the alternation of warm and cold and the rest afterwards – much like a sauna cabin with a changing and relaxation area.
Sauna cabin guide →At a glance
| Period | Roman antiquity |
|---|---|
| Rooms | apodyterium (changing), tepidarium (warm), caldarium (hot), frigidarium (cold), laconicum (dry sweating room) |
| Heating | hypocaust – hot air under the floor and in hollow wall tiles |
| Size | Baths of Diocletian in Rome: up to 3,000 bathers |
| In Switzerland | e.g. Augusta Raurica (Augst BL / Kaiseraugst AG) |
A round of the baths
A visit usually followed a sequence: after changing in the apodyterium, bathers went to the warm tepidarium, then to the hot caldarium with steam and a hot pool, and finally to the frigidarium with a cold pool. Afterwards they were massaged with oil in the tepidarium and cleaned with a scraper (strigil).
The actual sweat bath was the laconicum: a dry sweating room, hotter than the caldarium. It is said to have been introduced in Rome by Agrippa. Some baths also had a moist sweat bath, the sudatorium.
The heating: the hypocaust
The heat came from below. A furnace (praefurnium) sent hot air into a cavity beneath the floor, which stood on small pillars – as in the photo above. Through hollow tiles in the walls the air rose upwards. The name comes from Greek: "below" and "to burn".
History at a glance
- 1st century BCAgrippa is said to have introduced the laconicum in Rome.
- AD 216The Baths of Caracalla in Rome are completed.
- AD 354Rome counts 952 baths of various sizes.
- After antiquityIn the Islamic world the baths live on in the hammam.
More than hygiene
For the Romans the baths were a place to meet: exercise, grooming, conversation and relaxation all went together. Bathers were usually naked – the clothes that otherwise showed social rank stayed outside. Public baths were among the first buildings erected in newly conquered territories.
Roman baths in Switzerland
At the Roman town of Augusta Raurica near Basel (Augst BL / Kaiseraugst AG) you can visit the remains of Roman bathing facilities, including the Rhine baths in Kaiseraugst. The open-air site is freely accessible.
And in your garden?
The Roman idea – warm, hot, cold, rest – suits a garden sauna well: a sauna cabin with a relaxation area, a shower or cold plunge for cooling off and a good location close to the house.
The Romans knew the alternation of warm and cold and the rest afterwards – much like a sauna cabin with a changing and relaxation area.
Sauna cabin guide →More sauna types: Finnish sauna · Smoke sauna · Wood-fired sauna · Electric sauna · Barrel sauna · Sauna cabin · Infrared sauna · Bio sauna · Steam room · Kelo sauna · Kota sauna · Mobile sauna
Sweat baths of other cultures: Banya (Eastern Europe) · Hammam · Sweat lodge (North America) · Temazcal (Mesoamerica) · Qargi (Yup'ik & Inuit) · Steppe nomads (Scythians) · Hanjeungmak (Korea) · Mushiburo (Japan) · Sweathouses (Ireland)
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