Only wealthy households in Pompeii and Herculaneum had their own bathrooms. Bath houses were popular places to wash, soak, meet, socialise, exercise, read, relax, or have a massage. People also met there to make business deals.

Bath houses were built near hot springs, or had wood- fired furnaces to provide hot water. There were toilets and changing rooms, cold pools, hot pools, steam rooms, libraries, and workout spaces.