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Glossary: ABC

Acrolith

An acrolith is a statue whose parts covered by cloths are made of wood, and the other parts, such as the head, the hands and the feets were made of stone or of metal. Such a statue has been discovered in Avenches, during the excavations of the insula 23 building.

Basilica

See Forum

Baths

The public baths were present in every Roman city. An establishment was composed of three main rooms: the frigidarium, the caldarium, and the tepidarium.
The Roman person goes first into the cloakroom, then into the frigidarium (a room in which there is a cold swimming pool), to have a swimm. Then, he goes into the tepidarium (a room which is a bit warmed with hypocaust; sometimes there is a pool with lukewarm water) where it is pleasant to speak. Then, he goes into the caldarium, a very warmed room (with hypocaust) in which there is a swimming pool with hot water, to swimm in the hot pool. Then, he comes back in the inverse direction.
Some establishments had also a sauna and a palestra (court where to do some physical exercises).

Caldarium

See Baths

Capitolium

The Capitolium is, in Rome, the temple built on the Capitoline hill and dedicated to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Then, a large number of Roman colonies had their own temple dedicated to these three deities, also known as capitoline triad.

Castrum

Latin word for a fortress

Cella

Latin word for the room of worship where, in a temple, there is the statue of the divinity