Men's Hot Room Basin

View looking west at the west wall of the men's caldarium. The brick column originally supported a marble washbasin that would hold water

Please also note the meager remnants of square brick columns that supported the floor. Warm air from the furnace outside would circulate among the columns and heat the floor that they supported—thus warming the room.

The Stabian Baths were the oldest and largest baths in Pompeii and were constructed in the second century B.C. They included a (un)dressing room (apodyterium), a medium temperature room (tepidarium), a hot room (caldarium), and a cold room (frigidarium). One usually proceeded through the bath in that order. Besides these usual rooms, they included a men's and a women's sections (thus baths), a large open exercise area (palestra), and a swimming pool.

The earthquake of A.D. 62 severely damaged these baths and some areas were not in use at the time of the eruption of Vesuvius.