Men's Cold Room Pool

A picture of the small cold pool in the men's frigidarium. Note the below-the-water-line benches for the bathers to sit on.

The Stabian Baths were the oldest and largest baths in Pompeii and were constructed in the second century B.C. They included a (un)dressing room (apodyterium), a medium temperature room (tepidarium), a hot room (caldarium), and a cold room (frigidarium). One usually proceeded through the bath in that order. Besides these usual rooms, they included a men's and a women's sections (thus baths), a large open exercise area (palestra), and a swimming pool.

The earthquake of A.D. 62 severely damaged these baths and some areas were not in use at the time of the eruption of Vesuvius.