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.
Archaeologists in Pompeii have uncovered one of the city’s largest private spa complexes, connected to a lavish banquet hall in the Regio IX district.
The remarkable discovery, located in insula 10, offers a rare glimpse into how wealthy Romans fused leisure, art, and political ambition within their homes.
“Everything was functional to the staging of a “show”, at the centre of which was the owner himself,” underlines the Pompeii director Gabriel Zuchtriegel.
“The III style paintings with subjects from the Trojan War, the athletes in the peristyle – everything had to give the spaces an atmosphere of Greekness, that is, of culture, erudition as well as idleness.”
The newly unearthed spa complex comprises the classic Roman trio of thermal rooms – calidarium (hot), tepidarium (warm), and frigidarium (cold) – alongside a spacious apodyterium (changing room).
Capable of hosting up to 30 guests, the baths featured a breathtaking frigidarium, the crowning jewel of the complex. This grand cold room is made up of a 10-by-10-metre peristyle courtyard surrounding a large pool.
The proximity of the thermal baths to the banquet hall – dubbed the “Black Hall” for its elegant black walls decorated with mythological subjects – illustrates the integral role of bathing and dining in Roman social life.
Zuchtriegel notes: “The audience, grateful and hungry, would have applauded with sincere admiration the show orchestrated by the host and after an evening in his “gymnasium” would have talked about it for a long time.”
The walls of the house feature frescoes in the Second and Third Pompeiian Styles, including subjects from the Trojan War. These paintings, along with depictions of athletes in the peristyle, evoked the intellectual sophistication of a Greek gymnasium, a style hugely popular with Roman elite.
Other recent discoveries made in Pompeii
The opulent bathhouse is one of many discoveries made from the extraordinary residence.
Last year, the adjacent black banquet hall with its stunning classical artwork was excavated. The walls of the hall were painted black, “to prevent the smoke from the lamps on the walls from being seen. Here people gathered to feast after dark, the flickering light of the oil lamps made the images seem to move, especially after a few glasses of good Campanian wine,” explained Zuchtriegel.
Additionally, a smaller, more intimate room painted in soft blue was found, interpreted by researchers as a shrine, or a space dedicated to ritual activities and the storage of sacred objects. The stunning blue-ground walls are decorated with female figures representing the four seasons and allegorical representations of agriculture and pastoralism, according to experts.
Also, adjacent to this space, a tragic discovery was made – the remains of two Pompeiian victims who had been sealed off by volcanic ash and lava during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, trapping them and leading to their death.
