Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

LACONICUM (i.e. Spartan, sc. balneum,...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 53 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

LACONICUM (i.e. Spartan, sc. balneum, See also:bath) , the dry sweating See also:room of the See also:Roman thermae, contiguous to the caldarium or hot room. The name was given to it as being the only See also:form of warm bath that the Spartans admitted. The laconicum was usually a circular room with niches in the axes of the diagonals and was covered by a conical roof with a circular opening at the See also:top, according to See also:Vitruvius (v. 1o), "from which a brazen See also:shield is suspended by chains, capable of being so lowered and raised as to regulate the temperature." The walls of the laconicum were plastered with See also:marble See also:stucco and polished, and the conical roof covered .with See also:plaster and painted See also:blue with See also:gold stars. Sometimes, as in the old See also:baths at See also:Pompeii, the laconicum was provided in an See also:apse at one end of the caldarium, but as a See also:rule it was a See also:separate room raised to a higher temperature and had no bath in it. In addition to the See also:hypocaust under the See also:floor the See also:wall was lined with flue tiles. The largest laconicum, about 75 ft. in See also:diameter, was that built by See also:Agrippa in his thermae on the See also:south See also:side of the See also:Pantheon, and is referred to by See also:Cassius (liii. 23), who states that, in addition to other See also:works, " he constructed the hot bath chamber which he called the Laconicum Gymnasium." All traces of this See also:building are lost; but in the additions made to the thermae of Agrippa by Septimius See also:Severus another laconicum was built farther south, portions of which still exist in the so-called Arco di Giambella.

End of Article: LACONICUM (i.e. Spartan, sc. balneum, bath)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
LACONIA (Gr. AaKWVLK1]) 		[next]
LACORDAIRE, JEAN BAPTISTE HENRI (1802-1861)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries