Baths of Nero
Sant' Eustachio on Via di Sant'Eustachio; three other columns from the baths also survive, supporting the portico of the Pantheon | |
Location | Rome, Italy |
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Coordinates | 41°53′55″N 12°28′33″E / 41.8987°N 12.4758°E |
The Baths of Nero (Thermae Neronis) or Baths of Alexander (Thermae Alexandrinae) were a complex of
Overview
The thermae covered an area of about 190 by 120 metres. Their extent is shown by the modern-day Piazza della Rotonda, Via del Pozzo delle Cornacchie and Via della Dogana Vecchia, which now cover the site. The complex's water was initially supplied by the Aqua Virgo – already supplying the neighbouring Baths of Agrippa – then by the newly built Aqua Alexandrina after its restoration in the reign of the early third century emperor Alexander Severus, after whom it was subsequently renamed, though some continued to give it Nero's name.[5]
Restoration
The restoration was part of the extensive building program that Severus undertook during his reign, which also included the restoration of the Baths of Caracalla, the Colosseum, the Temple of Serapis, Circus Maximus, and the Alexandrian nymphaeum, among others.[6]
Identification
There is some contradiction among ancient sources with regards to whether the Baths of Nero and the Baths of Alexander are the same. Some affirmed that they are identical, while some claim that the two structures were merely close to each other.[7] It is also suggested that the Severus added his baths to the existing facility built by Nero.[7]
Design
Its construction was celebrated by a probable depiction of the baths on a coin of Alexander Severus.
Ruins
Pipes from the Neronian structure were discovered between the Piazza and the Salita dei Crescenzi. Neronian opus caementicium (concrete) has also been discovered. Brick stamps dating from the re-building by Alexander Severus were found in the remains of a hypocaust in Palazzo Madama in 1871. Another hypocaust was found on the site of San Salvatore in Thermis.[12]
Reuse
The ruins have been the source for numerous architectural fragments and sculptures re-used in subsequent centuries. Columns of grey granite, pavonazzetto, and even imperial porphyry were used in the architecture. Some of these, and their white marble capitals, have been found on the site. Several carved stone baths, including an "enormous basin for a fountain 6.70 metres in diameter, cut from a single block of red granite, with pieces of several others" have been found, together with the two complete basins described below.[13]
A monumental monolithic grey granite basin, a labrum, was removed from the site of the baths to the Villa Medici and was in the late eighteenth century moved to Florence. Since 1840, it has stood in the Medici's Boboli Gardens in Florence.
The ruins of the baths also supplied an ornate column capital from the third century renovations of the baths. This capital, carved in relief with scenes of athletic triumph and the wreathing of the victor, was used as the base for the ancient Roman bronze fountain called Fontana della Pigna when it was moved to its present position in the exhedra of the Vatican's Cortile del Belvedere in 1608.
In the seventeenth century, during a renovation of the nearby Pantheon ordered by
In the late 1980s, building work on the erstwhile Medici residence the Palazzo Madama, now seat of the
See also
References
- ^ Suet. Nero 12; Aur. Vict. Ep. 5; Eutrop. VII.15.
- ^ Hist. Aug. Alex. Sev. 24, 25, 42; Eutrop. VII.15; Chron. 147; Hier. a. Abr. 2243; Cassiod. ad 64 and 227, chron. min. II.138, 146; Not. Reg. IX.
- ^ Mart. II.48.8; III.25.4; VII.34.5, 9; Philostr. vit. Apoll. iv.42; Stat. Silv. I.5.62
- ^ Mart. II.14.13; XII.83.5; CIL VI.8676, 9797.5 = Anthologia Latina (Bücheler and Riese). Leipzig 1894‑1906. 29.5.
- ^ CIL VI.3052; Sid. Apoll. Carm. 23.495; Cassiod. Varia II.39.5: piscina Neroniana.
- ISBN 9781473845817.
- ^ a b Murray, John (1881). A Handbook of Rome and Its Environs, Thirteenth Edition. London: J. Murray. p. 133.
- ^ H. Cohen, Monnaies frappées sous l'Empire. 2nd ed. 8 vols. Paris, 1880‑1892, - Alex. Sev. 17; F. Gnecchi, Medaglioni romani. vol. II.101.6.
- ^ Sid. Apoll. Carm. 23.495
- ^ John R. Patterson, "The City of Rome: From Republic to Empire", The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 82 (1992), p. 188.
- ISBN 9780615194974.
- ^ "Thermae Neronianae or Alexandrinae" S. B. Platner, (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby): A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press, 1929. pp. 531-532.
- ^ ibid. pp. 531.
- ^ De Fine Licht, K (1968). The Rotunda in Rome: A Study of Hadrian’s Pantheon. Copenhagen: Jutland Archaeological Society. pp. 241–242).
- ^ Grasshoff, G., & Berndt, C. (2014). Decoding the Pantheon Columns. Architectural Histories, 2(1), Art. 18.
Bibliography
- Filippo Coarelli, Guida archeologica di Roma, Verona: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1984.
- Gerd Grasshoff & Christian Berndt, "Decoding the Pantheon Columns." Architectural Histories, vol. 18, 2(1), 2014.
- John R. Patterson, "The City of Rome: From Republic to Empire." The Journal of Roman Studies, vol. 82, 1992, pp. 186–215.
- Samuel Ball Platner, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby), London: Oxford University Press, 1929. pp. 531–532 "Thermae Neronianae or Alexandrinae"
- Romolo Augusto Staccioli, Acquedotti, fontane e terme di Roma antica, Rome: Newton & Compton, 2005.
External links
- Lucentini, M. (31 December 2012). The Rome Guide: Step by Step through History's Greatest City. Interlink. ISBN 9781623710088.
Media related to Baths of Nero at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Baths of Diocletian |
Landmarks of Rome Baths of Nero |
Succeeded by Baths of Trajan |