Roman public baths: community centers for the privileged classes

Roman public baths in Bath, England
Originally uploaded by shklaw

A public bath was built around three principal rooms: the caldarium (hot bath), the tepidarium (warm bath) and the frigidarium (cold bath), says Wikipedia.

The atrium was the exercise ground for the young men, or perhaps served as a promenade for visitors to the baths.

The baths often included, aside from the three main rooms listed above, a palaestra, or outdoor gymnasium where men would engage in various ball games and exercises. There, among other things, weights were lifted and the discus thrown. Men would oil themselves (as soap was still a luxury good and thus not widely available), shower,[citation needed] and remove the excess with a strigil (scraper).

The Romans believed that good health came from bathing, eating, massages, and exercise.