Herculaneum: Palaestra at the Central Baths

 Now that we've viewed the women's baths, let's step outside for a minute and take a look around the palaestra, also known as the outdoor gym. It is a grassy area bordered by the remnants of pillars.

 Taking a wider view, one can see most of the palaestra with the men's baths in the building in the background. The tanker truck was pumping something out of the sewer system and broke the calm silence.

 I am now looking under a patio with the women's hot bath located directly behind it.

 Some of the rooms around Herculaneum have been converted into storage units for the excavation crews. I held my camera up to the window of this room to see what was inside: ancient vases and some sort of boxed supplies along the left.

 I am now looking at Cardo IV while standing along the edge of teh palaestra. The roof of the Samnite House can be seen on the other side of Cardo IV.

 Preparing to enter the men's baths, I walked under the patio cover and turned left. This is a photo of the exterior of the rounded extension to room C, the men's hot bath.

Turning left a bit more, a view across the palaestra. It is likely that bladder ball, a game played with inflated animal bladders, was played here. Once exercising was over, Herculaneums would have rubbed their body with olive oil, scraped them with a strigil made of bone or bronze, and retreated to the baths.