Terme Suburbane, Ancient Roman thermal baths in Ercolano, Italy

Terme Suburbane is a Roman bath complex in Ercolano with multiple bathing chambers, an atrium with fountain, and large windows overlooking the Gulf of Naples. The rooms are arranged by function and display sophisticated engineering for water and heat management.

Built in the early 1st century AD at the expense of Marcus Nonius Balbus as a gift to the city, the baths rose next to the coast, partly reusing the old defensive walls that had fallen out of use. After repairs following the earthquake of 62, the complex was buried by pyroclastic flows in the eruption of 79. Bourbon archaeologists explored it through tunnels in the late 18th century, and Amedeo Maiuri brought it to light in the early 20th century.

Men and women bathed at separate times in a single facility, unlike the Forum Baths with their divided sections. Graffiti on a partition in the right-hand room record events at the baths, lists of food and erotic phrases. The marble herm of Apollo in the vestibule served as a fountain pouring water into a labrum.

Terracotta tubes in the walls and a furnace room managed water temperatures in different chambers, an early climate control system. Visitors can still see the channels and tubes today and understand how the heating worked.

The baths survived largely because brick and cement absorbed the eruption's force, not because mud entering the skylights propped them up. The solidified mud kept the imprint of a labrum dragged from the caldarium; it was later put back in the room's apse. Eight roof skylights lit the interior.