Roman Bath Museum, York

In 1929, a major fire destroyed most of the Mail Coach Inn, a pub on St. Sampson's Square in York. When the owners decided to rebuild, they wanted to expand the cellar. Digging started and then stopped when they came upon the ruins of a Roman Bath! Naturally they changed the name of the pub and put a museum in downstairs.

Roman Bath pub

The pub sign!

A small staircase leads down into the museum where the remains of the bath can be seen. The Romans built a large fortress called Eboracum in AD 71 but these baths probably date from the 300s. It was a massive fort covering 50 acres and providing all the necessaries for 5000 soldiers. The bath house was probably quite sizable since it was used not only for bathing but as a spa, drinking house, and restaurant.

Stairs leading down

Non-vintage sign

The first room visible is the caldarium, or hot steam room. The floor was was raised and hot air blasted through from a furnace. The floor was covered with water which became very hot (the Romans wore wooden clogs to walk on the floor) and made the room steamy. The soldiers could hang out any time of day.

Caldarium

Mural showing what it was probably like back in the day

Around a corner is another room, the frigidarium, which was a cold plunge pool. Modern spa torture apparently began many, many years ago! Only a small part of the frigidarium is visible today.

Frigidarium

The museum is rather small and does not include the whole bath complex, only what's under the current day pub. The museum includes lots of displays of Roman armor (visitors can even try some on) and archeological discoveries, as well as the occasional replicas.

Weapons and armor to try out

Military outfit

A replica sword

A bigger replica sword

Old and new items

Roman tiles with stamps

Bust of a woman

Bust of a man

I felt the museum was a little overpriced for the size (it really is just two rooms) but it is still fun to see the ancient Roman ruins.

More Baby Pictures from the Hospital and from First Bath!

Baby N had a lot of visitors in the hospital, only some of them got photographed.

L and N

J and N

Granny and N

Grandpa and N

J, Granny and N

About a week later, he had his first bath (we had to wait until his umbilical cord dropped off). It went off well--he didn't fuss much at all.

Doesn't know what's coming

Doesn't care

What's that big blue thing?

Almost ready to go in

First dip, no crying!

Cleaning ears

Cleaning eyes

A sign of discontentment

Backwash, or  "what are you doing back there!?!"

Coming out, just in time

A warm and cozy towel, what everyone wants

Pompeii Ruins Part IV

In the last post, we made it as far as the Porta Erolano. It opens onto a road leading to the town of Herculaneum. The road is lined with tombs. It was a common practice to bury the dead outside of town. The area is known as the Necropolis, the city of the dead! The tombs range from the first century BC to the first century AD.

Via della Tombe as our map called it

A fancy tomb

Also fancy

Regular tombs (those are "do not enter" signs!)

Going back into town, we discovered the House of the Tragic Poet. It is so called because of the mosaics of theater rehearsals and scenes from the Iliad. They've all been taken to the archeology museum. One mosaic left behind is right by the front door--the famous Cave Canem or Beware of Dog mosaic.

Walking back into town

Entrance to House of the Tragic Poet

Cave Canem!

As much of the house as we could see--we couldn't get past the dog!

We headed back toward the forum (where the only functioning restaurant inside the ruins is located) and discovered the Temple of Fortuna Augusta, built in the first decade BC to honor the divine emperor Augustus, who had returned from a military campaign in 13 BC.

Temple of Fortuna Augusta

Memorial Arch leading into the forum

Just by the Arch is the Forum Baths, where locals would bathe, typically in the afternoons. The layout has separate areas for men and women and provides a series of rooms--the dressing room, a cold room (frigidarium), a warm room (tepidarium), and a hot room (caldarium).

Forum Baths entrance

Relaxing portico before the bath

First room

The cold room?

The tepid room?

The hot room?

We had a simple lunch at the cafeteria, the usual pasta and pizza. It wasn't particularly outstanding food but it kept us going.

L and her pizza

After lunch, we visited the House of the Faun, so named for the bronze statue of a faun found in the fountain in the main courtyard. The house is the largest in Pompeii, measuring about 3000 square meters. It has many fine decorations as well.

Entrance to the House of the Faun

Faun Fountain

Statue detail (the original statue is in a museum)

Floor mosaic

A wall mosaic

The back garden

The somewhat smaller but still opulent House of the Dioscuri (named after a mosaic of Castor and Pollux who are collectively known as the Dioscures) is up the street. It also has many paintings and mosaics, mostly taken off to the museum.

Portico still being worked on

Some still lifes that didn't get moved

This house isn't far from the town walls. We could see one of the towers that guarded the town. Sadly we could not go in the tower.

Wall tower

We also discovered the House of the Scienziati, presumably for some scientific something or other inside. This was another home into which we were not allowed.

House of Scienziati

Detail

Portico from another house

At this point (actually long before this point), the children were pretty tired, so we headed back to our hotel for an afternoon nap. It was great to visit the ruins of Pompeii.