Bathing in Public in the Roman World

Rating:
Summary: FASCINATING STUDY!
Review: Half of this 437-page book is dedicated to bibliography, epigraphic samples and the like; what remains is not only educational, but highly entertaining. All aspects of ancient roman bathing are covered with great panache and the bawdy commentary of the bathers themselves (particularly Martial) will elicit surprise and laughter.

Men and women often bathed together. They came to socialize, to ogle and comment on various body parts, and to solicit sexual favors while partaking of erotic frescoes and lewd graffiti. They snacked on odd combinations like fish, eggs, and lettuce, sometimes drank until wildly inebriated, and often pandered shamelessly for dinner invitations.

Thievery was a common complaint so many paid to have their clothing guarded. Ironically, bathing was unsanitary; the customers lathered liberally with oil and then scraped off the resulting mess with metal instruments called strigils. Some of the baths used water recycled from the "public troughs". Those who entered the baths with a slight open wound might subsequently develop grangrene! In addition smoke from the heating furnaces could seep into the rooms spoiling the gaiety of the occupants.

It's all here-everything you want to know about the ancient bathing experience including 24 pages of b&w photos and bath plans. Breeze through the 220 or so pages of readable text and then scan the footnotes for other enlightening tidbits. Great stuff, but steer clear of this book if you do not enjoy a highly-detailed, scholarly presentation.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and scholarly
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It's full of anecdotes from people of the time (particularly memorable was the complaint about how noisy the baths were from the calls of the sausage vendor to the man in love with his own singing voice...) as well as archaelogical finds.

It *is* a scholarly book. I expected it to be full of footnotes and appendices -- and it is. But I found the text engaging and the facts fascinating -- and the subject thoroughly covered. I come away from the book with a clear idea of the who the bathers were, how they bathed, what else they did in the baths and the importance of bathing in their society. Other books I;ve looked at on this subject focus mainly on architecture and aquaducts, but this book answers the questions about ancient baths that I'm interested in -- the people-related questions, and does so with intelligence and a dose of dry humor.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and scholarly
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It's full of anecdotes from people of the time (particularly memorable was the complaint about how noisy the baths were from the calls of the sausage vendor to the man in love with his own singing voice...) as well as archaelogical finds.

It *is* a scholarly book. I expected it to be full of footnotes and appendices -- and it is. But I found the text engaging and the facts fascinating -- and the subject thoroughly covered. I come away from the book with a clear idea of the who the bathers were, how they bathed, what else they did in the baths and the importance of bathing in their society. Other books I;ve looked at on this subject focus mainly on architecture and aquaducts, but this book answers the questions about ancient baths that I'm interested in -- the people-related questions, and does so with intelligence and a dose of dry humor.

Rating:
Summary: Not For Me
Review: I took a chance with this book because of a positive review I heard about it on CSPAN. The title of the book fairly accurately describes the substance of the book, the cultural significance of the baths in the Roman society. The book is full of very interesting facts about the actual buildings themselves, the customs involved in the process, the people you would encounter and more. The author does a good job of writing the book, she keeps out of the "I'm a professor and you are not" type of writing where you feel about a foot tall after the first chapter. She tells a story in a way that the general reader can follow along. With all that said, I still did not overly enjoy this book and the reason for that is really that I am only marginally interested in the Roman world. I tried to force a book on myself because the reviews were good. If you are interested in the Roman world I am sure you will enjoy this book, if you are like me and this is a passing phase then you may be suited with something else.

Rating:
Summary: Not For Me
Review: I took a chance with this book because of a positive review I heard about it on CSPAN. The title of the book fairly accurately describes the substance of the book, the cultural significance of the baths in the Roman society. The book is full of very interesting facts about the actual buildings themselves, the customs involved in the process, the people you would encounter and more. The author does a good job of writing the book, she keeps out of the "I'm a professor and you are not" type of writing where you feel about a foot tall after the first chapter. She tells a story in a way that the general reader can follow along. With all that said, I still did not overly enjoy this book and the reason for that is really that I am only marginally interested in the Roman world. I tried to force a book on myself because the reviews were good. If you are interested in the Roman world I am sure you will enjoy this book, if you are like me and this is a passing phase then you may be suited with something else.

Rating:
Summary: Could Have Used A Good (Editor's) Scrubbing !
Review: This book makes me remember why I chose not to go to graduate school! Every page is filled to the brim with footnotes and the appendixes, index and bibliography, etc. are as long as the book is itself! The author hems and haws so much and is so hesitant to commit himself to a definitive statement that I wanted to grab him by his lapels and give him a good shaking! The middle section of this already brief book (220 pages of actual reading material....but don't forget those footnotes that sometimes take up 1/2 a page) is mind numbingly boring and almost enough to totally ruin the book. This section deals with who actually decided to build or repair the baths and is full of statistics that I'm sure make Mr. Fagan's colleagues happy but will not endear him to the public. You might be asking yourself at this point, "So why is this vituperative joker giving this book 3 stars?". Good question! The answer is because the first and last thirds of the book are quite interesting and well-written! You learn who went to the baths and why. You get a lot of fascinating material concerning the social aspects of bathing. Some people would go to the baths and spend all of their time trying to wangle a dinner invitation out of somebody. Vendors would set up stalls outside of the baths selling light snacks to the bathers. Some people would go the baths looking for sex or just hoping to get a good look at some nude men or women. People would bathe because they thought it was good for their health, but when Mr. Fagan explains that in some baths the sick could bathe with the healthy and that people would commonly oil themselves up and then scrape off dirt and oil into the communal bathwater, you wonder just how healthy the whole thing could have been! So, overall I found this book worth reading although next time around I hope a good editor gets ahold of Mr. Fagan.

Rating:
Summary: Mr. Fagan makes Roman bathing come to life.
Review: This book shows the value of the bathing experience to Romans, empire wide. He discusses the splendor of the baths,the medical treatises and general interest in bathing which helped to promote the habit. It is clear that the Romans of all classes had fun. They gossiped, gazed and laughed. The frivolous went to wile away their time, the thoughtful mused at sculpture, read books, listened to lectures and thought. Baths existed which catered to different tastes. So there were baths for families, for men, for women and there were baths which catered to those who wished to ogle. This book will enhance anyone's visit to bath ruins throughout Europe.