The extraordinary discovery reveals how elite Roman homes were much more than just private residences - they were grand stages for art, culture, and political networking.
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00:00The members of the Dominated Center of Pompeii set up huge spaces in their homes to host
00:24banquets.
00:25These had the function of creating consensus, of promoting an electoral campaign, of concluding
00:32business.
00:33Often these banquets were attended by much more humble people, the clients, the freeloaders,
00:40the former slaves of these gentlemen.
00:43So for them it was an opportunity to show the comfort in which they lived, to get people
00:52to these celebrations, to these banquets, but also, and this is the case here, to get
00:57them to go and have a nice treatment in the spa of the house.
01:02We have here perhaps one of the largest thermal complexes in a private house of Pompeii,
01:07and since it was often customary to go first to take a bath, then to have a banquet, this
01:15could be done here, all inside the house.
01:19There is room for about thirty people who could do the whole course, which could also
01:25be done in the public baths.
01:27So there is the calidarium, the very hot environment, the tepidarium and also a large
01:35pool with cold water.
01:36But there is also, and we are right here, the dressing room with benches that make you
01:41sense the number of people who could access these spaces.
01:49For more information, visit www.fema.gov