Hot Room Floor

View looking southeast at the well-preserved and partially reconstructed Hot Room (caldarium).  Note the small columns that supported the floor—a portion of the floor (upper right) is a modern reconstruction. 

Left of center note the two very bright areas.  Outside of these was the furnace (praefurnium) and the heated air entered the caldarium from there, circulated under, and heated the floor before passing up clay pipes embedded in the walls—modern reconstruction of these pipes are visible in the uppermost portion of the image.

Thus the floor and the walls of this structure were heated.

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The bath, built by Herod the Great, had all the typical amenities: a courtyard, changing room, cold pool, tepid room, and hot room.  This bath was built "out in the middle of nowhere" where the rainfall is about 2 inches per year!  Wherever Herod went, he wanted to live in luxury!