GALLIA ROMANA

Bonnard 1908, pp. 407-409 ; Chassang 1982 ; Lemerle 2000, pp. 11-47 ; Lemerle 2005, p. 80 ; Lemerle 2011, p. 115

This passage on the baths at Chaudes-Aigues was one of the additions included in the augmented edition of the Annotations (Lyon, 1552). It is the oldest mention of the Roman thermal complex currently known. Unfortunately, modern archaeologists seem to be unaware of it (Provost/Vallat 1996, p. 96-96). The temperature of certain springs was above 80 °C; besides bathing, they were used for various domestic activities: to pluck chicken, to cook eggs…

« Quod duplici modo fieri vidimus in finibus Arvernorum, in urbe, cui calidis aquis est nomen. In ea variis e locis erumpit magna vis aquæ calidissimæ. Præcipua scaturigo statim quam in lacum sive labrum decidit, per specum in publicum subdiale lavacrum derivatur. Alias privatæ sibi domus, ut monti maxime vicinæ sunt, aut diversoria comparant. Itaque prius in caldaria, id est sudatorias cellas aperto per latus alterum canali perfluentes, ea calidissimo vapore complent. Inde in balneas influunt. »
= “We have seen this used in two ways in the Auvergne region, in the town called 'Hot Waters' (Chaudes-Aigues). In several places here, a great deal of very hot water surges from the ground. The water of the principal spring is immediately collected into a reservoir or basin, whence it is channelled towards the open air public baths. The other springs furnish the private houses or inns which are situated close to the hills. And so the water first is first carried into the 'caladaria', that is to say the sudatory rooms, by pipes open on one side, such that these rooms are filled with very hot steam; after this, they flow into the baths.”