A private spa complex belonging to a member of the ancient Roman super elite complete with enormous plunge pool and hot baths has been discovered by archaeologists in Pompeii.

The 2,000-year-old thermal bath compound is one of the most elaborate ever found in the ancient Roman world.

The site was uncovered inside a large Roman villa and would have allowed its wealthy owner to entertain friends, forge contacts, canvas votes and affirm their high social status.

It is located next to the remains of a richly decorated dining hall, meaning that guests would have been able to enjoy a long, hot soak before attending a banquet.

The walls of the private bath house are decorated with finely-painted mosaics depicting scenes from the Trojan War that survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

The complex had a capacity of around 30 people and boasted baths of varying temperatures, including a caldarium full of hot water, a tepidarium for tepid water and a frigidarium for a bracing dip in cold water.

The identity of the owner is unknown but they would have been "an important local figure", according to archaeologists.

The bath house would have been used by the proprietor "to win votes or ingratiate himself with guests", said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the Pompeii archaeological park.

It was decorated in a manner that would have evoked the "culture, erudition and idle leisure" of ancient Rome, he said.

Prof Zuchtriegel added: "Members of the ruling class of Pompeii set up enormous spaces in their homes to host banquets. They had the function of creating consensus, promoting an election campaign, closing deals. It was an opportunity to show the wealth in which they lived and also to have a nice thermal treatment."

He went on to say that the complex was so well preserved that it was as if the owner and family had "only left a minute ago".

The bath compound was discovered in Regio IX, which is a district of Pompeii that continues to reveal much about the daily lives of Romans - both rich and poor.

The private spa is remarkable for its size and elaborate decoration as only three others of similar dimensions have been found in the buried city, archaeologists said.

There has been a succession of discoveries in Pompeii in the past few years as archaeologists have expanded their excavations.

In the same area, they found the remains of a laundry and bakery as well as the skeletons of three people who had perished when Vesuvius erupted, showering Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum with clouds of ash and superheated volcanic gas known as a pyroclastic flow.

They uncovered frescoes depicting mythological scenes that feature centaurs, sirens and griffins along with the Roman deities Apollo, Venus and Bacchus.

In May 2024, they discovered stick figures drawn by children of gladiators, suggesting that even young Romans watched gladiatorial contests.

The charcoal sketches were found on the wall of a courtyard and would have been made by children aged between five and seven, according to scholars.

The stick figures depict a pair of gladiators confronting each other, who are armed with a shield and a sword. In the background, two "bestiarii" - professional hunters who put on shows for the baying crowds - use lances to prod two hairy creatures, which are most probably wild boars.

Pompeii had its own amphitheatre - similar to the Colosseum in Rome - where gladiator fights and wild animal hunting spectacles were staged.