DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0605
THERMAE DIOCLETIANI
529
end through two rectangular halls (on each side of which were others) to
the palaestrae, one at each end of the main block on each side of the
frigidarium, a hall containing a huge shallow bathing pool, which was
open to the air ; its north wall, elaborately decorated with niches, is
still in great part preserved; see Piranesi, Vedute di Roma, No. 115
Hind, and Ill. 53. On each side of the caldarium were the apodyteria
or dressing rooms, and other halls, which served for private baths, etc.,
as well as for conversation, recitations of poets, rhetoricians, etc.,
and completed the rectangular central block.1 This was surrounded
by a garden, which was enclosed by an outer peribolus. Around this
were small rectangular halls and semicircular exedrae, which were also
used as reading and lecture rooms, gymnasia and lounging rooms.
In the centre of the south-west side was a very large exedra, which
was doubtless provided with seats and served as a theatre (like the
corresponding exedrae in the thermae of Trajan and Caracalla).
The actual enclosure wall was preserved until modern days. The Via
Nazionale was driven through it in 1867, and only the line of its curve is
still shown by the buildings of the Piazza dell’ Esedra dei Termini, the
corrupt form in which the name of the thermae still lingers on. At the
west and south angles of the peribolus are two circular halls, one of
which is especially well preserved, owing to its conversion into the church
of S. Bernardo in 1598.2
The whole of the external brick facing was covered with plaster, in
imitation of construction in blocks of white marble with draughted
joints : this was also done in the thermae of Caracalla, the basilica of
Constantine, etc.
The reservoir by which the baths were supplied was fed by the aqua
Marcia, the volume of which was increased by Diocletian (see p. 27).
It lay outside the peribolus on the south side ; and, being in the angle
between the baths and the vicus Collis Viminalis, it was trapezoidal in
shape, 91 metres in length, with an average width of 16 metres. The
last remains of it above ground were not destroyed until 1876 (Falda,
Giardini di Roma, 14 ; LA 308, 318; BC 1872-3, 230; 1906, 106-107 ;
Archaeologia li. 502, fig. 12 ; HJ 382, n. 22 ; JRS 1919, 190).
For the excavations and demolitions of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries and the condition of the ruins at that period, see BA 1909,
361-372, 401-405; LS passim (esp. i. 148; ii. 135-149); DuP 125-
128 ; HCh 245, 246, 589, 590. The ruins of the caldarium and the
southern angle of the central block were in large measure removed by
Sixtus V.
For the thermae in general, see Sebastianus de Oya,3 1558 (Brunet,
1 The identification of the rooms at the south-east and south-west angles as laconica
(Mitt. 1920, 168) is incorrect.
2 See S. Ortolani, San Bernardo alle Terme (Chiese di Roma illustrate, No. 8 ; Rome, n.d.).
3 See Journal Royal Inst. Brit. Arch. xxxi. (1923-4), 153.
A.D.R.
2 L
529
end through two rectangular halls (on each side of which were others) to
the palaestrae, one at each end of the main block on each side of the
frigidarium, a hall containing a huge shallow bathing pool, which was
open to the air ; its north wall, elaborately decorated with niches, is
still in great part preserved; see Piranesi, Vedute di Roma, No. 115
Hind, and Ill. 53. On each side of the caldarium were the apodyteria
or dressing rooms, and other halls, which served for private baths, etc.,
as well as for conversation, recitations of poets, rhetoricians, etc.,
and completed the rectangular central block.1 This was surrounded
by a garden, which was enclosed by an outer peribolus. Around this
were small rectangular halls and semicircular exedrae, which were also
used as reading and lecture rooms, gymnasia and lounging rooms.
In the centre of the south-west side was a very large exedra, which
was doubtless provided with seats and served as a theatre (like the
corresponding exedrae in the thermae of Trajan and Caracalla).
The actual enclosure wall was preserved until modern days. The Via
Nazionale was driven through it in 1867, and only the line of its curve is
still shown by the buildings of the Piazza dell’ Esedra dei Termini, the
corrupt form in which the name of the thermae still lingers on. At the
west and south angles of the peribolus are two circular halls, one of
which is especially well preserved, owing to its conversion into the church
of S. Bernardo in 1598.2
The whole of the external brick facing was covered with plaster, in
imitation of construction in blocks of white marble with draughted
joints : this was also done in the thermae of Caracalla, the basilica of
Constantine, etc.
The reservoir by which the baths were supplied was fed by the aqua
Marcia, the volume of which was increased by Diocletian (see p. 27).
It lay outside the peribolus on the south side ; and, being in the angle
between the baths and the vicus Collis Viminalis, it was trapezoidal in
shape, 91 metres in length, with an average width of 16 metres. The
last remains of it above ground were not destroyed until 1876 (Falda,
Giardini di Roma, 14 ; LA 308, 318; BC 1872-3, 230; 1906, 106-107 ;
Archaeologia li. 502, fig. 12 ; HJ 382, n. 22 ; JRS 1919, 190).
For the excavations and demolitions of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries and the condition of the ruins at that period, see BA 1909,
361-372, 401-405; LS passim (esp. i. 148; ii. 135-149); DuP 125-
128 ; HCh 245, 246, 589, 590. The ruins of the caldarium and the
southern angle of the central block were in large measure removed by
Sixtus V.
For the thermae in general, see Sebastianus de Oya,3 1558 (Brunet,
1 The identification of the rooms at the south-east and south-west angles as laconica
(Mitt. 1920, 168) is incorrect.
2 See S. Ortolani, San Bernardo alle Terme (Chiese di Roma illustrate, No. 8 ; Rome, n.d.).
3 See Journal Royal Inst. Brit. Arch. xxxi. (1923-4), 153.
A.D.R.
2 L