Development of Bathing Culture in Pompeii: Stabian Baths

The characteristics of bathing culture in the Roman imperial period have long been examined in scholarship. However, the predecessors of the late Republican period have received little attention, even though over 20 baths of this period have been discovered in the western Mediterranean. Baths do not play a significant role in current debates about the expansion of Rome in the western Mediterranean, and topics such as urbanization, cultural exchange, transfer of knowledge and integration in the Roman world. The only exception are the Stabian Baths in Pompeii, which the architect Hans Eschebach discussed in a book, published in 1979. For this complex, he reconstructed an influential model of cultural-historical development: on the terrain of Pompeii’s Archaic Altstadt wall, a Greek palaestra with baths would have been built in the 5th century BC and transformed, in five phases, into Roman-type baths until the early Imperial period. While scholars repeatedly criticized this model, they did not carry out any new research. A project that was funded by the EXC Topoi from 2015 to 2018 aimed at filling this gap in research. Four campaigns in the Republican Baths of Pompeii and three campaigns in the Stabian Baths yielded significant results for revising the history of the city and of ancient bathing culture. Both baths were built in the second half of the 2nd century BC as Roman-type baths, on largely unbuilt terrain. The Republican Baths were abandoned in 30/20 BC, whereas the Stabian Baths were modernized three times before the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. Funding is requested here for the fourth and last excavation campaign in the Stabian Baths and for evaluating and promptly publishing this building. The campaign will clarify important open questions regarding the technology (heating system, water management) and the relationship between the baths and an adjacent house. The evaluation will integrate the basic research in the Stabian (and Republican) Baths with larger questions and examine the following aspects: the significance and perception of the baths in the urban landscape; the importance of the baths for the societal and political development of and the cultural influence on Pompeii; the combination of thoroughly investigated archaeological evidence with research on the history of mentality and culture regarding bathing; and the significance of baths for current theoretical discourses on the expansion of Rome and its consequences in the mid- and late Republican period. The holistic approach of the proposed project aims at providing reliable data for the long neglected investigation of changes in late Republican and early Imperial bathing culture; and at fruitfully employing theoretical models for interpretation.

长期以来，在奖学金中检查了罗马帝国时期沐浴文化的特征。但是，即使在地中海西部发现了20多个浴场，共和党晚期的前辈很少受到关注。巴斯在目前关于罗马在地中海的扩张以及城市化，文化交流，知识转移和罗马世界中的融合等话题并不重要。 The only exception are the Stabian Baths in Pompeii, which the architect Hans Eschebach discussed in a book, published in 1979. For this complex, he reconstructed an influential model of cultural-historical development: on the terrain of Pompeii’s Archaic Altstadt wall, a Greek palaestra with baths would have been built in the 5th century BC and transformed, in five phases, into罗马式洗澡直到帝国早期。尽管学者反复至关重要，但他们没有进行任何新的研究。 2015年至2018年由EXC TOPOI资助的项目旨在填补这一研究空白。共和党庞贝浴场的四次运动和Stabian浴场的三场运动在修改城市和古代沐浴文化的历史方面取得了重大成果。这两个浴室都是在公元前2世纪下半叶建造的，作为罗马式浴室，在很大程度上没有构造的地形上。共和党的浴室在公元前30/20遗弃，而在公元79年在维苏维乌斯爆发之前，Stabian浴场进行了三次现代化。在这里要求资金进行第四和最后一次发掘活动，并在评估并迅速出版这座建筑。该活动将阐明有关技术（供暖系统，水管理）以及浴室与相邻房屋之间的关系的重要开放问题。评估将使Stabian（和共和党）浴室的基础研究与更大的问题相结合，并检查以下方面：城市景观中浴室的重要性和感知；浴室对庞贝的社会和政治发展以及文化影响的重要性；彻底研究的考古证据与关于浴室的心态和文化史的研究结合在一起；以及浴室对当前理论话语的意义对罗马的扩张及其在共和党晚期的后果。拟议项目的整体方法旨在为共和党晚期和早期帝国沐浴文化的变化长期忽视的投资提供可靠的数据；并采用理论模型进行解释。