From
1998,
the
excavation
campaigns
conducted
by
the
Groupe
of
Archeological
Research
of
Narbonne
(G.R.A.N)
proceed
to
the
uncovering
of the baths, bordering the House of the Grand Triclinium.
From
the
beginning,
pipes,
briquettes,
suspensura
bricks,
cut
blocks
reddened by fire and ashes are found suggesting the presence of baths.
However,
several
facts
obscure
their
readability
and
interpretation:
pits
dug
by
material
collectors,
the
discovery
of
a
previous
state
with
basins
for
the
processing
of
seafood,
and
finally
the
fact
that
these
facilities
extend
under
the cemetery of Cité.
The excavated bathing complex extends over 600 m2.
From
the
street
D,
one
entered
into
a
room
from
which
the other rooms opened.
The
next
room
(the
apodyterium,
that
is
to
say,
the
changing
room)
from
which
few
wall
decorations
remain
is
equipped
with
benches
covered
with
waterproof
mortar
painted
red.
As
in
Pompeii,
guests
left their clothes there.
Then
they
went
into
the
hot
room
located
on
hypocaust
(ground
placed
on
columns
of
briquettes
to
let
hot
air
circulate).
A fireplace was heating it.
Two pools with
cold water, clad in
marble and the
larger one being
covered, were
available to the
swimmers.
The bath houses were generally offered by a rich dignitary allowing him to display his fortune and power to increase his popularity.
They are often richly decorated: marble, statues, murals, mosaic floors. The operation, maintenance and renewal of the paintings
are regularly ensured.
The water was
supplied by lead
pipes and two
wells. The used
water was
evacuated via a
network of sewers
to the street C.
The passage
to the
frigidarium
(cold room)
preceded the
immersion
into the cold
water of the
pool (natatio)
