Erin de Jong
Professor Dean Abernathy
Arch 290
24 November 2014

Baths of Diocletian, Rome VS Great Bath, Mohenjo-Daro

One important practice that early civilization and the modern population still continue is our use of baths and bathing. Todays baths are much different compared to earlier times. During the early bronze age one of the civilizations known as the Indus Civilization or Harappan Culture flourished in the city of Mohenjo-Daro, Pakistan. The city name meant Mound of the Dead. The Great Bath of Mohenjo-Daro was believed to be part of a sophisticated structure and urban development, but wasn't discovered for over 3000 years. Many years later in ancient Rome public baths were becoming a common part of the Roman life, typically they consisted of a system of communal bathing pools and various heated rooms. One of the earliest baths in Rome was the Baths of Diocletian created by the Emperor Diocletian. The history of early baths throughout Rome has a limited amount of sources, and the material is sparse. By comparing these two ancient baths we will have a greater understanding of the buildings itself and the significance of these two architectural structures to the cultures. Located in the northeast of the Viminal Hill in the heart of today’s Rome lies an Ancient monument called The Baths of Diocletian. It was built during the years 298 AD to 306 AD and took around 8 years for completion, today it is recognized as one of the most fascinating monuments that still remains. These baths were built by the Roman Emperor Diocletian after dividing the Roman Empire, and is believed to have built thee structures in order to compensate for his failures during his reign by building a lavish building. Emperor Diocletian is believed to be responsible for forced labor of over 10,000 Christians in order for the structure to be completed, and shortly after the Emperors had resigned. For the Romans this would be the largest bath in existence at the time and was able to accommodate over 3,000 bathers at a time. The Great Bath in Mohenjo-Daro was a very important structure due to its size and construction; it was a very large sunken structure. It’s located in a central position in the northern half of the citadel. The citadel was in the west of the city while the lower city was located in the east. The city remained undiscovered until the year 1922 when it was found by R. D. Banerji of the Archaeological Survey of India and was soon to be proven to be one of the earliest major urban settlements. “From 1924 onwards large-scale excavations were carried out at the site under direction of Sir John Marshall, the then Director General of the Archeological Survey of India.”1 The excavations ended around 1951 and unearthed the remains of a large, densely built urban area that extended for over 100,000 square meters, which is only one tenth of the area believed to have been the city of Mohenjo-Daro. The Great Bath is part of the idea that Mohenjo-Daro was a sophisticated and well planned development that contained complex structural features that could accommodate a large amount of the city. Both structures were part of a larger development, for example the Baths of Diocletian had a central axis which was surrounded by other rooms forming an enclosed complex. The structure was similar to the Baths of Trajan and the Baths of Caracalla and by looking at baths from previous cultures they added various areas for sports and exercise to create a building that has never been seen before. The entrance could have been free or a small fee to use the facilities, and upon entrance you have the changing rooms called an Apodyterium. It was common to bring your own slave or hire an attendant to watch your belongings while you were there. The Baths of Diocletian has multiple rooms that consisted of a hot bath room called the Caldarium, an oval warm bath room called the Teparium used for soaking to open up the pores, which leads to the