The Tepidarium (1881), by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

The tepidarium was the warm (tepidus) bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, OM, RA (January 8, 1836, Dronrijp, the Netherlands. ... Roman public baths in Bath, England. ... Ruins of the hypocaust under the floor of a Roman villa. ... Underfloor heating is a unique traditional form of central heating gaining newfound popularity. ...

There is an interesting example at Pompeii; this was covered with a semicircular barrel vault, decorated with reliefs in stucco, and round the room a series of square recesses or niches divided from one another by Telamones. The tepidarium in the Roman thermae was the great central hall round which all the other halls were grouped, and which gave the key to the plans of the thermae. It was probably the hall where the bathers first assembled prior to passing through the various hot baths (Caldaria) or taking the cold bath (Frigidarium) The tepidarium was decorated with the richest marbles and mosaics: it received its light through clerestory windows, on the sides, the front and the rear, and would seem to have been the hall in which the finest treasures of art were placed; thus in the thermae of Caracalla, the Farnese Hercules, and the Toro Farnese, the two gladiators, the sarcophagi of green basalt now in the Vatican, and numerous other treasures, were found during the excavations by Paul III in 1546, and transported to the Vatican and the museum at Naples. Pompeii is a ruined Roman city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. ... Barrel vault In architecture, a barrel vault is an extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. ... In the art of sculpture, a relief is an artwork where a modelled form projects out of a flat background. ... Stucco is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water which is applied wet, and hardens when it dries. ... Telamones are figures, generally colossal, of men supporting entablatures, as Caryatides of women. ... Caldarium from the Roman Baths at Bath, England. ... A frigidarium is a large cold pool to drop into after enjoying a hot Roman bath. ... Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. ... The Baths of Caracalla, in 2003 The Baths of Caracalla were Roman public baths, or thermae, built in Rome between 212 and 216 AD, during the reign of the Emperor Caracalla. ... Caracalla (April 4, 186 – April 8, 217) was Roman Emperor from 211 – 217. ... The Farnese Hercules, engraved by Hendrick Goltzius, 1591. ... Pope Paul III, (1543) portrait by Titian (Tiziano Vecelli), Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples Paul III, né Alessandro Farnese (February 29, 1468 - November 10, 1549) was pope from 1534 to 1549. ... // Events Spanish conquest of Yucatan Peace between England and France Foundation of Trinity College, Cambridge by Henry VIII of England Katharina von Bora flees to Magdeburg Science Architecture Michelangelo Buonarroti is made chief architect of St. ... The Louvre Museum in Paris, one of the largest and most famous museums in the world. ... Naples (Italian: , Neapolitan: Nàpule, from Greek Νεάπολη < Νέα Πόλις Néa Pólis New City) Capital of the Campania region and the Province of Naples. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.