Anderson, William J.; Spiers, Richard Phené; Ashby, Thomas [Editor]: The architecture of Greece and Rome (2): The architecture of ancient Rome: an account of its historic development ... (London, 1927)

io8 THE ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT ROME.

Among the other Thermae, in those of Nero and Constantine, the
central hall constitutes the principal hall round which the other
services are grouped, the longitudinal and transverse axes of the
central hall being the leading lines of the setting out in all cases.
In the Thermae of Titus the central hall takes the form of a cross
with an intersecting barrel vault.


Fig. 30.—Plan of the Baths of Trajan as Restored by Charles A. Ceclere.

The architectural decoration of the Therms in its nature and in
the principles of its design seems to have been so similar in all the
examples quoted that no separate description of each is required.
Palladio seems to have confined his attention to the main forms of
structure, including only the columns which formed essential con-
structional features, so that all appear to be the same in the series
of elevations and sections given. There is no doubt that in many
cases Palladio’s sections are purely conjectural, and indicate only a
type of vaulting which he conceived likely to have been adopted