The Thermae reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Thermae

The term thermae was the word the Ancient Romans used for the buildings housing their public baths.

Most Roman cities had at least one, if not many, such buildings, which were centers of public bathing and socialization.

Within the building the baths were divided according to gender. Each gender had three pools: A hot one, a lukewarm one and a cool one. They were called the caldarium, the tepidarium and the frigidarium. Sometimes there was also a steam bath: The sudatorium.

The most noteworthy ruins of a thermae are the Baths of Caracalla in Rome.

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The word thermae is a Latin borrowing from the Greek adj. thermos,therme, thermon "hot" c.f. Thermopylae (the hot gates, gates of fire)thermae sc. aquae means "hot waters, hot springs". The baths often included, aside from the three main rooms, listed above, a palaestra, or outdoor gymnasium where men would engage in various ball games and exercises. There, inter alia, weights were lifted and the discus thrown. Men would oil themselves and removes the excess with a strigil (c.f. the well known Apoxyomenus of Lyssipus from the Vatican Museum, descibed in Antiquity). The three main rooms were the frigidarium (

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