DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42778#0181
THE THERMTE OR BATHS.
hi
and mosaic were of the most elaborate and sumptuous character,
the Romans do not appear to have attached the same value to the
external appearance, and they contented themselves with covering
the walls with the fine stucco we have already described, which,
from its resemblance to marble and its great durability, required
only the imitation joints of stone to give it a certain monumental
character. This is the type of wall surface which has been adhered
to by Paulin in his conjectural restoration of the outer walls of the
Thermae of Diocletian,1 and the same was probably adopted to
protect and decorate the concrete walls faced with brick which
from the time of Augustus, became the favourite method of con-
struction in Rome. Even the upper portion of the Pantheon and
the pilasters decorating the upper storey were coated with stucco.
A divergence from this custom has been pointed out by Blouet,
who found the remains of stucco, 3 inches thick, inlaid with mosaics,
which covered the upper portion of the front of the central block
of the Thermae of Caracalla. Sufficient existed to show that the
decoration adopted was that which was found in the Thermae of
Trajan, and is better known to us by the paintings in Pompeii,
representing imaginary courts with porticoes and verandahs, such
as may have been derived from the ephemeral decorations of the
solaria or terrace roofs of the houses. This type of design is shown
in the conjectural restorations by Blouet of the external wall of the
central block facing the xystus, and in Paulin’s interior of the
sphaeristerium. The lower portion of the walls of the central block
Blouet considers to have been faced with marble, so as to accord
in richness with the granite columns of the various halls facing
the xystus. All the other walls, which were partially hidden by the
groves of trees, were simply covered with stucco.
But few remains have been found in Rome of the smaller public
baths, but in Pompeii there are three examples more or less com-
pletely preserved, and therefore of great interest. The " older
Thermae,” north of the Forum (so called because they were the first
discovered), included, besides a complete establishment for men, a
small set of baths for women ; the hot rooms of both were heated
by the same furnace, in accordance with Vitruvius’s description
(v. 10). They covered an area of about 171 feet square, exclusive
of shops, which occupied two sides of the enclosure, and consisted
1 The Curia Julia, restored by Diocletian, in the Forum, was certainly
decorated externally in this way, and so was the Basilica of Constantine.
hi
and mosaic were of the most elaborate and sumptuous character,
the Romans do not appear to have attached the same value to the
external appearance, and they contented themselves with covering
the walls with the fine stucco we have already described, which,
from its resemblance to marble and its great durability, required
only the imitation joints of stone to give it a certain monumental
character. This is the type of wall surface which has been adhered
to by Paulin in his conjectural restoration of the outer walls of the
Thermae of Diocletian,1 and the same was probably adopted to
protect and decorate the concrete walls faced with brick which
from the time of Augustus, became the favourite method of con-
struction in Rome. Even the upper portion of the Pantheon and
the pilasters decorating the upper storey were coated with stucco.
A divergence from this custom has been pointed out by Blouet,
who found the remains of stucco, 3 inches thick, inlaid with mosaics,
which covered the upper portion of the front of the central block
of the Thermae of Caracalla. Sufficient existed to show that the
decoration adopted was that which was found in the Thermae of
Trajan, and is better known to us by the paintings in Pompeii,
representing imaginary courts with porticoes and verandahs, such
as may have been derived from the ephemeral decorations of the
solaria or terrace roofs of the houses. This type of design is shown
in the conjectural restorations by Blouet of the external wall of the
central block facing the xystus, and in Paulin’s interior of the
sphaeristerium. The lower portion of the walls of the central block
Blouet considers to have been faced with marble, so as to accord
in richness with the granite columns of the various halls facing
the xystus. All the other walls, which were partially hidden by the
groves of trees, were simply covered with stucco.
But few remains have been found in Rome of the smaller public
baths, but in Pompeii there are three examples more or less com-
pletely preserved, and therefore of great interest. The " older
Thermae,” north of the Forum (so called because they were the first
discovered), included, besides a complete establishment for men, a
small set of baths for women ; the hot rooms of both were heated
by the same furnace, in accordance with Vitruvius’s description
(v. 10). They covered an area of about 171 feet square, exclusive
of shops, which occupied two sides of the enclosure, and consisted
1 The Curia Julia, restored by Diocletian, in the Forum, was certainly
decorated externally in this way, and so was the Basilica of Constantine.