R.Thorpe, Context Transformation of a Roman Hot Bath in Beirut

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ENDNOTES

1. Thermae -- Large Roman bathing establishments characterised by their social role, which embraced functions aside those of simply bathing. Libraries were often accommodated within their precincts, as at the Baths of Caracalla, for example. Thermae were owned and operated by the city or the state and were open to all. Imperial Thermae (as defined by Daniel Krencker 1929) were formal and grandiose in plan, and were characterised by bilateral symmetry about a main axis created by the frigidarium, tepidarium, and caldarium.

2. Kaisersaal -- Literally means 'imperial hall', derived from the interpretation of these halls in the baths of Ephesus as being associated with the cult surrounding the Imperial family (Yeügl 1995). <------ (back to text)

3. Palaestra -- Usually a large, colonnaded exercise yard associated with Roman Baths but originating in form from the Greek and Hellenistic gymnasia. Less popular in the Eastern Empire, some may have been formal only, used for promenading rather than strenuous exertions. They may have been covered or open to the elements. <------ (back to text)

4. Domus -- domestic town house. <------ (back to text)

5. decumanus maximus -- Axial street often found in Roman cities leading from the east to west gate. Usually crosses the cardo maximus in the main forum of the city. <------ (back to text)

6. Hypocaust -- Literally means 'furnace that heats from below'. It comprised the major heating system of Roman bathing establishments. <------ (back to text)

7. Row Type -- Specific bath plan type defined by Krencker (1929). Also called the Pompeian or Campanian type, they display in plan a row of vaulted halls next to a palaestra. Though the earliest examples of this type are from Pompeii, the type is widespread and may not have originated there. <------ (back to text)

8. Caldarium (-a) -- Main hot room or rooms of Roman baths. <------ (back to text)

9. Tepidarium (-a) -- Warm room(s) of Roman baths. <------ (back to text)

10. Pilae -- Small pillars of ceramic bricks, terracotta pipe, or masonry supporting the hypocaust floor. <------ (back to text)

11. Sub-group -- Association of stratigraphic units (contexts) of deposition or truncation that are in direct physical contact, belong to only one phase, and are associated with actions such as construction, use, and disuse. In this way, the deposition of material to level a surface overlain by foundation material and bedding for a mosaic may be amalgamated together as a sub-group with a number sequence independent of that of the individual contexts forming the sub-group. <------ (back to text)

12. Group -- Association of sub-groups within a structural or spatial entity that form recognisable landscape units such as open areas, buildings, etc. Sub-groups are associated within a group by processual interpretation. A group can (and usually does) have several phases. <------ (back to text)

13.G-SYS -- Geographical data management system invented and developed by Dominic Powlesland. It runs in a Windows environment and relates photographic, graphic, textual, and artefact/ecofact data. <------ (back to text)

14. Suspensura (-ae) -- Vitruvius' description of the term means 'suspended' or 'hanging floor'. In reality, it means the floor supported by the pilae within the hypocaust. <------ (back to text)

15. Multilinear Sequence -- Complex stratigraphic relationship where a context (stratigraphic unit) is in immediate superposition with more than one other context. <------ (back to text)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Reuben Thorpe is a graduate from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield. A keen parrot enthusiast, he is part of the AUB/ACRE Post Excavation programme based at the American University of Beirut.

He may be reached by e. mail on <E-Mail-RXT@mail.webc.com.lb> or <E-Mail-Rthr@msn.com>.

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