James Uden (Boston University), “Unwritten Literature of the Roman Baths”

As Rome’s empire spread, so did it its baths. Bathhouses (thermae or balnea) were an everyday meeting-point for the Romans, a grand luxury, and an engineering marvel. So why aren’t there more poems about them? Compared to other Roman institutions, such as amphitheatrical shows, baths had an oddly muted influence on Latin literature. Moreover, the genre of poetry in which the bathhouse most frequently appears is epigram, which creates a paradox: one of Rome’s most sublime achievements is commemorated in one of its lowest genres. Did the soothing heat of the bathhouse have an an-aesthetic effect on the writing of literature? This lecture explores the bath in Latin poetry, arguing that the silences around the balnea help to illuminate not only Romans’ perception of bathing, but fundamental dynamics in Latin literature itself.

[2025 J.P. Sullivan Memorial Lecture]