Researchers Uncover a Bathhouse Complex in Ancient Pompeii

Archaeological research has uncovered another treasure

of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, a large private bathhouse.

The explosion of Mount Vesuvius in 70 AD

buried Pompeii in thick ash, wreckage, and lava, or hot liquid rock.

Archaeologists are continuing to find remains

of this city under the ground.

The bathhouse was part of a large private house, the scientists said.

The bathhouse holds a series of rooms

that would have provided hot, warm, or cold conditions.

The art and design of the complex, including mosaic works,

also suggest the owner was wealthy.

"'We have here perhaps the largest thermal complex

in a private house in Pompeii,' said Gabriel Zuktrigal,

director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park.

He explained that Pompeii's powerful and wealthy

set up large spaces at their homes

to hold major gatherings for ceremonies and other purposes.

It was an opportunity to show the wealth

in which they lived and also to have

a nice thermal treatment, he said.

The baths were unearthed in the so-called rego nine,

a large central area of Pompeii Park that is still unexplored.

Recently, archaeologists working in the same area

found a bakery, a laundry, and two homes.

They also found the bones of three people

who died in the volcanic burst.

Pompeii was not the only city destroyed in the explosion.

It also buried the city of Herculaneum.

Zuktrigal said wealthy citizens of Pompeii

often would first take a bath and then attend a banquet or a big meal.

The private thermal complex permitted them to do so together

at the home where the banquet was held.

There is room for about 30 people

who could do the whole routine,

and that could also be done in public baths.

So there is the caldarium, a very warm environment,

and also a large tub with cold water, he said. I'm Katie Weaver.