Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/203

 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 145 with amusements generally, caused them to be proscribed by the Early Christians, who held that bathing might be used for cleanliness, but not for pleasure. In the fifth century the large Roman Thermae fell into disuse and decay, caused by the destruction of the aqueducts by the Huns and the gradual decrease of the Roman population. The Thermae of Agrippa, Rome (b.c. 27) (No. 46 l), were the earliest example. They have completely disappeared, but an idea can be obtained from the measured drawings of Palladio, published in Cameron's " Baths of the Romans," 1772. The Thermae of Titus, Rome (a.d. 80) (No. 6g b), were built on the foundations of Nero's Golden House. The Thermae of Diocletian, Rome (a.d, 302) (No. 46 j), had a plan, shown in a restored condition in No. 60 k, from which it will be seen that the general distribution resembled the Baths of Caracalla. The Tepidarium is 200 feet long by 80 feet wide and go feet high, and is covered with quadripartite vaulting of tufa con- crete, springing from eight monolithic columns of Egyptian granite, 50 feet high and 5 feet in diameter, having Composite and Corinthian capitals of white marble each supporting a portion of highly ornamental entablature. This Tepidarium was converted by Michael Angelo, in a.d. 1561, into the Church of S. M. degli Angeli, and in 1740 a projecting choir was formed on one side by Vanvitelli, who thus converted the nave of the church into a kind of transept. The Balneum or small private bath was much used, and the three examples at Pompeii indicate their general characteristics and manner of use. These baths were heated by means of hot air in flues under the floors, and in the walls from the hypocaust or furnace in the basement (No. 46 f, g, h). Typical Roman baths are shown on No. 6g G, j. The so-called Temple of Minerva Medica, Rome (Nos. 46 m and 83 A, b), is now generally regarded as a nymphaeum attached to the Baths of Gallenius (a.d. 266). The absence of a hypocaust or of flue tiles in the walls prevent it from being considered as a Calidarium. It is a decagonal on plan. So feet in diameter, with semicircular niches to nine of the sides, the tenth being the entrance. Above are ten windows of large size at the base of the dome, in order to give the necessary light and air to the plants. The dome is formed of concrete ribbed with tiles, bearing a remarkable similarity to S. Vitale at Ravenna (No. 83 c, d). It is particularly interesting in that the rudiments of the pendentive (see glossary) system are to be seen in the manner of setting the dome on its decagonal base, a system afterwards carried still further by the Byzantines. Buttresses were placed at points as required, admitting of the use of thinner walls, which is an advance on the construction of the