ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an overview of the conditions necessary for the Roman style of bathing and of Roman bathing culture in general. It discusses the accounts of deaths and misfortunes that occurred in bath-houses and explores the associations linked with bath-houses. As the existence of typical Roman baths depended on the availability of water, quite often the number of baths, both public and private, would increase after a town obtained a stable water supply. Nudity was an inextricable element of bathing, and thus necessarily had an impact on the perceptions of the activity. The chapter describes social and sexual attitudes to nudity in a bath-house environment by examining several of the sources mentioning the subject. Within Roman society bath-houses were, with few exceptions, associated with wealth: as possessions, as places where the rich could publicly show off their precious clothes, ornaments, and servants, or as establishments where even the less fortunate could experience at least a degree of luxury.
