Title: Architecture and pleasures in private baths in imperial Rome : a perception of spa luxury according to ancient Latin authors
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2024, vol. 29, iss. 2, pp. 15-27
Extent
15-27
-
ISSN1803-7402 (print)2336-4424 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2024-2-3
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.80762
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 International
Rights access
open access
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
The paper analyzes Latin literary references to the architecture of private baths in the Roman Empire. These sumptuous buildings in cities provoked a new type of reflection in a wide range of literary genres, both in the Imperial period and in Late Antiquity. The ekphrasis of both monumental and private baths took on a new character and were embedded in the central part of poetic and prose works of ancient authors. Mentions and descriptions of luxurious private baths celebrated not only the architecture itself, but also the builders and investors. The study argues that the Latin literary references demonstrate high emotional expectations of aesthetics and luxury in the architectural standards of private baths among wealthy aristocrats. Both public and private baths in imperial Rome became benchmarks of luxury architecture designed for enjoyment and entertainment. The article defines the main literary topoi, which, in connection with the description of private baths, appeared in both the poetry and prose of the imperial period. It is about light and its effects, marble and its beauty, water, and its pleasures.
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[11] Hanaghan, M. P. (2019). Reading Sidonius' Epistles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[12] Hardie, A. (1983). Statius and the Silvae: Poets, Patrons, and Epideixis in the Graeco-Roman World. Liverpool: Francis Cairns.
[13] Harris, W. V. (1995). The Heir to Platner-Ashby. Journal of Roman Archaeology, 8, 365–375.
[14] Kontokosta, A. H. (2019). Building the Thermae Agrippae: Private Life, Public Space, and the Politics of Bathing in Early Imperial Rome. American Journal of Archaeology, 123, 1, 45–77.
[15] Lancaster, L. (2005). Concrete Vaulted Construction in Imperial Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[16] Lauro, M. G., & Claridge, A. (1998). Litus Laurentinum: carta archeologica della zona litoranea a Castelporziano. In M. G. Lauro (Ed.), Castelporziano III. Campagne di scavo e restauro 1987–1991 (pp. 39–61). Roma: Viella.
[17] Livingstone, N., & Nisbet, G. (2010). Epigram. Greece and Rome New Surveys in Classics 38. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[18] Nagle, B. R. (2004). The Silvae of Statius. Bloomington, IL: Indiana University Press.
[19] Newlands, C. E. (2002). Statius' Silvae and the Poetics of Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[20] Newlands, C. E. (2013). Architectural Ecphrasis in Roman Poetry. In T. D. Papanghelis, S. J. Harrison, & S. Frangoulidis (Eds.), Generic Interfaces in Latin Literature: Encounters, Interactions, and Transformations (Trends in Classics: Supplemental Volume 20; pp. 55–78). Berlin – Boston: De Gruyter.
[21] PIR2 = Prosopographia Imperii Romani Saec I. II. III (ed. altera). (1933–2015). Berlin: De Gruyter.
[22] Rasmussen, S. E. (1964). Experiencing Architecture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
[23] Rimmel, V. (2013). The best a man can get: grooming Scipio in Seneca Epistle 86. Classical Philology, 108, 1–20.
[24] Yegül, F. (2010). Bathing in the Roman world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[25] Zeiner, N. K. (2005). Nothing Ordinary Here: Statius as Creator of Distinction in the Silvae. New York – London: Routledge.