Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/867

 ROMA. Romans themselves, in order to build the Cancel- leria and the Palazzo Farnese with the materials. Enough, however, is still left to render it one of tlie ROMA. 847 most strikin;:; and important monuments of imperial Rome. Its name of Colosseum, first mentioned hv Bede (ap. Ducange, Gloss, ii. p. 407, ed. Bus.) ELEVATION OF COLOSSEU.M. under the form Colyseus, was either derived from the vast size of the buildinjr, or, more probably, from the colossus of Nero, which stood close to it. (See Nibby, DeW Anfiteatro Flavio, in the Ap- pendix to Nardini, i. p. 238, which contains the best history of the buildins; down to modern times.) Of the Ampiiitheatkum Castrense, near S. Croce, we have already spoken [p. 827]. XVI. The Thermae, or Baths. We, of course, propose to speak here only of those large public institutions which were open either (jratis or for a mere trifle to all, and of which the first were the Thermae Agrippae, near his Pan- theon. The thermae must not be regarded as mere halneae, or places for bathing. They likewise con- tained gymnasia, or places for gymnastic exercises ; liexedrae, or rooms for the disputations of philo- sophers ; as well as apartments for the delivery of lec- tures, &c. The thermae of Agrippa do not seem to have been so splendid as some of the subsequent ones ; yet, though they suffered in the fire under Titus, they were preserved till a late period, and are men- tioned more than once by Martial (iii. 20. 15, 36. 6). The Thermae Neronianae were erected by Nero very near to those of Agrippa (Tac. Ann. xiv. 47; Suet. Nero, 12). After their restoration by Alex- ander Severus, who appears, however, to have also enlarged them (Lamprid. Alex. 25), they obtained the name of Thermae Ai.exandrinae (Cassiod. Chron. vol. ii. p. 194, Rone). They must have lain between the Piazza Navona and the Pantheon, as they are thrice mentioned by the Anonymous of Einsiedlen between the latter building and the Circus Flaminius, which was the name he applied to the Piazza Navona. Hence the probability that the place just named was the Stadium of Nero. The Thermae Neronianae are frequently mentioned in a way that indicates considerable splendour (iIart. ii. 38. 8, vii. 34. 5; Stat. Silv. i. 5. 62); but their name was obliterated by that of the Thermae Alex- andrinae, by which they appear in the Notitia. The third baths erected at Rome were the Thermae Titi, on the Esquiline, near the Fla- vian amphitheatre. (Mart. Spect. 2). There are still considerable remains of these baths ; but the plan of them is difficult to make out, from their having been erected on the site of a large previous building. Canina's account of them is the best (vide Memorie Romane di Antichita, vol. ii. p. 119, Indicaz. p. 101). The site on which they stand was perhaps previously occupied by the golden house of Nero. Near them stand the Thermae Trajani, which Canina has correctly distinguished from those of Titus (Preller, iJe^rjowew, p. 126; Becker, Handh. p. 687). Tiieyare named in the Notitia as distinct, and also in the Chroniclers, who however, singularly enough, place the building of both in the reign of Domitian. (Cassiod. Chron. vol. ii. p. 197, Rone. : Hieron. vol. i. p. 443.) The baths of Titus had been run up very expeditiously (•' velocia munera,' Mart. Spect. 2; " thermis juxta ccleriter extructis," Suet. Tit. 7), and might consequently soon stand in need of restorations ; and it seems not improbable, as Becker suggests (^Handb. p. 687), that Trajan, Vfhilst he repaired these, also built his own at the side of them, before he had yet arrived at the impe- rial dignity. Cassiodorus (I. c.) expressly mentions the year 90. Those actually built by Trajan must have been the smaller ones lying to the NE. of those of Titus, since Anastasius mentions the church of S. Martina de Monti as being built "juxta thermaa Trajanas" {Vit. Symmachi, p. 88, Blanch.). His object in building them may have been to separate the baths of the sexes ; for the men and women had hitherto bathed promiscuously: and thus the Catal. Imp. Vienn. notes, under Trajan : " Hoc Imperat. mnlieres in Termis Trajanis laverunt." The emperor Commodus, or rather his freedman Cleander in his name, is related to have built some baths (Lampr. Comm. 17; Herod, i. 12); and we find the Thermae Commodianae set down in the 1st Region in the Notitia ; whilst, by the Anonymous of Einsiedlen, on the contrary, they are three or four times mentioned as close to the Rotunda. Their history is altogether obscure and impenetrable. The Thermae Severianae are also recorded in the Notitia in the 1st Region in connection with the Commodianae. They are men- tioned by Lampridins (Sever. 19); but no traces of them remain. The Thermae Antoninianae or Caracallae present the most perfect remains of any of the Roman baths, and from their vastness cannot fail to strike the spectator with astonishment. The large hall was regarded in antiquity as inimitable. (Spart. Carac. 9, Sever. 21.) They were dedicated by Caracalla; but Elagabalus commenced the outer porticoes, which were finished by Alexander Severns. (Lampr. Hel. 17, Alex. 25.) They are situated under the church of S. Balhina, on the right of the Via Appia. But the largest of all the baths at Rome were the Thermae Diocletianae. Unfortunately they are in such a ruined state that their plan cannot be traced so perfectly as that of the baths of Cara- calla, though enough remains to indicate their vast extent. They are situated on the inside of the agger of Servius, between the ancient Porta Collina and Porta Viminalis. Vopiscus mentions them in connection with the Bibliotheca Ulpia, which they contained (Proh. 2). These were followed by the