ABSTRACT
The Baths of Caracalla near Rome were in use for three centuries before they lost their aqueduct water supply in the siege of Rome 537 ad . The baths could accommodate between 6,000 and 8,000 bathers a day (Spas Research Fellowship, 2008). Lomine (2005) describes how Augustan Society in Rome during the Roman Empire (44 bc to 69 ad ) travelled fairly extensively for health reasons to relaxing landscapes, seaside resorts, and hot springs. Medicine was not very developed and the average lifespan was about 40 years, so wealthy citizens would travel in the hope of fi nding treatment or recovering in a healthier climate. Typical trips would include sea voyages from Italy to Alexandria in Egypt or visits to mineral springs in what are now Vichy, Aix-en-Provence, Bath, and Wiesbaden. Augustans would also travel to consult oracles or ‘ fortune tellers ’ for example, in Delphi (Greece), Delos (Aegean Sea) or Claros (Asia Minor). Health and religion were combined in the case of visits to Asclepius ’ (the Greek god of medicine) sanctuaries, where visitors entered the sanctuary, took a bath to get purifi ed, entered the god’s temple, prayed, and laid down to sleep where the god would visit them and magically cure them or give advice about what treatment to take.
