Laconicum

{{Short description|Dry sweating room of Roman baths}} [[File:Chedworth Roman Villa 2012 - North bath house.jpg|thumb|right|''Laconicum'' at Chedworth Roman Villa, England]] The '''''laconicum''''' (i.e. Spartan, ''sc.'' ''balneum'', "bath")<ref>{{L&S|Laconicus|laconicum|ref|lL&S}}. Cf. Greek {{lang|grc|πυριατήριον τὸ λακωνικὸν}} ''pyriaterion to lakonikon'' "the Laconian vapour-bath"; {{LSJ|puriath/rion|πυριατήριον}}, {{LSJ|*lakwniko/s|λακωνικόν|ref}}.</ref> was the dry sweating room of the Roman ''thermae'', sometimes contiguous to the ''caldarium'' or hot room. The name was given to it (Laconia: Sparta) since it was the only form of warm bath that the Spartans admitted. The ''laconicum'' was usually a circular room with niches in the axes of the diagonals and was covered by a conical roof with a circular opening at the top, according to Vitruvius (v. 10), from which a brazen shield is suspended by chains, capable of being so lowered and raised as to regulate the temperature.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=52–53}}

It is similar to a ''sudatorium'', or steam bath, where water is added to produce steam.

Sometimes, as in the old baths at Pompeii, the ''laconicum'' was provided in an apse at one end of the ''caldarium'', but as a rule it was a separate room raised to a higher temperature and had no bath in it. In addition to the hypocaust under the floor, the wall was lined with ceramic flue pipes.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=53}}

The largest ''laconicum'', about {{convert|75|ft|m}} in diameter, was that built by Agrippa in the Baths of Agrippa on the south side of the Pantheon, and is referred to by Cassius Dio,<ref>Cassius Dio 53.27.1</ref> who states that, in addition to other works, he constructed the hot bath chamber which he called the ''Laconicum Gymnasium''. All traces of this building are lost; but in the additions made to the ''thermae'' of Agrippa by Septimius Severus, another ''laconicum'' was built farther south, portions of which still exist in the so-called ''Arco di Ciambella''.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=53}}

==See also== * Ancient Roman bathing

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Ancient Roman baths Category:Rooms