The March 2017 field season of the project “Bathing Culture and the Development of Urban Space: Case Study Pompeii”, part of the research framework of the TOPOI Excellence Cluster 264, returned to the Stabian Baths (VII 1, 8).

Excavations were carried out in four trenches across three main areas. A trench in corridor H (numbering according to Eschebach 1979, pl. 2), connecting the palaestra with the Vicolo del Lupanare, provided new insights regarding the transition from a private house to the Baths complex in the SW corner of insula VII 1. Re-excavation of an old trench in the SE-corner of room VI yielded a hitherto undocumented praefurnium that served to heat the hypocaust system of the men’s caldarium. Continuation of work carried out in 2016 to the west of the furnace in room VII reached an AD 79 collapse of the furnace. By extending a trench excavated by H. Eschebach in the eastern service tract (L16A), it was possible to confirm that there was no stylobate and channel of an earlier palaestra, as reconstructed by Eschebach. The layers associated with construction of the women’s section (IX-XI) were dug directly into natural soils at the site. Similar findings were made in room VI (for the men’s section) and in 2016 in rooms N1 and N2 (for the northwestern section). As in 2016, the project applied both traditional documentation techniques as well as state of the art digital modelling technologies.

Parallel to the excavations, standing remains assessments were made of all parts of the Baths relevant to the function of the heating system in order to allow for a detailed reassessment. The water supply and disposal systems were also recorded and analyzed in detail. As such, the constructional and developmental history as understood on the basis of the 2016 data can now be extended to include practical and operational aspects.

The work carried out in the 2016 and 2017 seasons showed that no palaestra with Greek baths of the 5th century BC ever existed on the terrain of the Stabian Baths, as had been postulated by Eschebach in his monograph on the Stabian Baths (1979). Indeed, the Stabian Baths were evidently constructed more or less to the same plan as visible today in the 2nd half of the 2nd century BC. The extension of the Stabian Baths towards the west, across the entire east-west extension of the insula of VII 1, followed immediately upon the abandonment of the house. Once evaluation of the finds material is complete, it will be possible to provide a closer date for this development. Despite extension of the work carried out in 2016, there remains no trace of any Altstadt fortification, making it highly unlikely that one ever existed in this part of Pompeii. The heating and water supply systems of the Stabian Baths, and the central firing area around the furnace between the men’s and women’s caldaria (VI, VII) in particular, evidently had a far more complicated developmental history than currently understood. They were modified repeatedly in order to ensure optimal and state of the art functionality of the baths.