ABSTRACT

Pompeii gives us no fewer than four sets of public baths, financed and built bythe town officials. These baths have the following modern names: the Stabian Baths, of the second century BC (Figures 15.1, 15.2 and 15.3); the Forum Baths, c.80-55 BC (Figures 15.4 and 15.5); the Central Baths, still unfinished at the time of the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in AD 79 (Figure 15.6)2; and the Suburban Baths outside the Porta Marina, of early imperial date (Tiberian?), which seem to have been publicly owned even if reserved for a private clientele.3