The Stabian Baths, one of the bathhouses first built by the Samnites in Pompeii Icas94/De Agostini via Getty Images A trip to Pompeii’s public baths meant taking a dip in water contaminated with sweat and urine – until the Romans took over and sanitation improved. It’s easy to think of ancient Pompeii as a typical Roman city, particularly given that it lies only around 240 kilometres to the south-east of Rome itself. But for a large chunk of its history, Pompeii was occupied by the Samnite people, who had a distinct culture. It was only after 80 BC that it became a Roman colony, just 160 years before the city was buried under volcanic ash when the nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted. Like the Romans, however, the Samnites seem to have been keen on bathing. They built at least two public baths – now known as the Stabian Baths and the Republican Baths – sometime after 130 BC. Gül Sürmelihindi at the University of Mainz in Germany and her colleagues have now analysed mineral deposits in …