Baths of Trajan

By the Editors of the Madain Project

The Baths of Trajan (Terme Traiano) were a monumental public baths and leisure complex, built in ancient Rome and dedicated under Trajan during the kalendae of July 109 CE, shortly after the Aqua Traiana was dedicated. Baths of Trajan were primarily built on the Oppian Hill on the site of the former Domus Aurea built by emperor Nero.

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Overview

The baths were erected on the Oppian Hill, a southern extension of the Esquiline Hill. The lower slopes had been occupied by the Esquiline Wing of the Domus Aurea, a grandest and most ornate residence built during the reign of emperor Nero. After Nero's death, the residence on the Oppian remained in use by Emperors of the Flavian dynasty, until it was destroyed in a fire in 104 CE. The Domus Aurea was used as a cryptoporticus to level the ground and support a platform built over it upon which the grand bath complex was built.

The complex rested on a northeast–southwest axis. This was off axis by about 30° with the Domus Aurea and the Baths of Titus, both of which rested along the meridian line on a north–south axis. It has been theorised that this unorthodox orientation was chosen by the architects to reduce the bathers' exposure to the wind, while also maximising exposure to the sun.

Brief History

circa 96-109 CE

Commissioned by Emperor Domitian starting from around 96 CE, the complex of baths occupied space on the southern side of the Oppian Hill on the outskirts of what was then the main developed area of the city, although still inside the boundary of the Servian Wall. The architect of the complex is said to be Apollodorus of Damascus. Early Christian writers were thought to have misnamed the remains the "Baths of Domitian" but this was shown to be a correct attribution for the emperor who began the project, even if Trajan completed the work.

The baths were utilized mainly as a recreational and social center by Roman citizens, both men and women, as late as the early 5th century CE. The complex seems to have been deserted soon afterwards as a cemetery dated to the 5th century CE (which remained in use until the 7th century CE) has been found in front of the northeastern exedra (inspect).

The baths were thus no longer in use at the time of the siege of Rome by the Ostrogoths in 537 CE; with the destruction of the Roman aqueducts, all thermae were abandoned, as the entire Mons Oppius became water-less area.

Although they were correctly known as the Thermae Traiani throughout the Middle Ages and much of the Renaissance, in the late sixteenth century CE the ruins of the Baths of Trajan were confused with the nearby Baths of Titus and became known as the Thermae Titiani. Doubt arose as to whether the Baths of Trajan had ever existed at all as an independent structure. Supporters of this theory argued that only the Baths of Titus stood on the Oppian hill, with the name of Trajan applied to them later because he undertook a restoration. Only in the late 19th century CE did the archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani untangle the separate identities of the baths, establishing the Baths of Trajan as a much larger structure separate from the Baths of Titus. Several fragments of the Severan period Forma Urbis Romae depict the plan of the Baths, one of which preserves three letters ("AIA") from the inscription identifying the complex as the "THERMAE TRAIANI".

The Baths were slowly dismantled over the centuries, as the marble and brick were sold by the monks of San Pietro in Vincoli to stonemasons for re-use and burning into lime for mortar. Large parts still remained standing at the beginning of the sixteenth century, when architects like Andrea Palladio studied the ruins and were able to reconstruct the floorplan. Many works of art were unearthed in the vicinity of the Baths during the Renaissance, including the famous statuary group of Laocoön and His Sons (inspect), which was discovered in a hall underneath a vineyard in 1506, near the Seven Halls. The main building to which this hall belonged, presumably in the garden, is uncertain, but the Domus Aurea and the Baths of Trajan are both possibilities.

Architecture

circa 96-109 CE

Structure and Layout
The bath complex was immense, even by ancient Roman standards, covering an area of approximately 330 by 340 metres. The baths including the open area (which surrounded it on three sides) were enclosed by a perimeter wall, which joined with the bath block on the northeast side, where the main entrance was located. A huge apse projected out from the southwestern side of the platform, lined with seating, suggesting the area was used for athletic contests and performances. There were two smaller apses set within the corners of the northeast perimeter wall, flanking the bath block. These are thought to have contained monumental fountains. There were also exedrae in the southwest and northwest corners of the enclosure wall, which may have housed libraries.Today only the exedra in the southwest corner, with its two stories of niches, still survives.

The plan of the baths broadly followed the prototype laid out in the neighbouring public baths of Titus, constructed 29 years earlier, and would be replicated in the great Imperial baths of the third and fourth centuries CE. The Baths of Titus, however, covered an area less than a third the size of those of Trajan. The main chambers were arranged in a sequence along a central axis from northeast to southwest (natatiofrigidariumtepidariumcaldarium), and were flanked on either side by a network of rooms and open courts which were strictly symmetrical with one another. The visitor would have entered through a vestibule on the northeast side, and proceeded straight to the natatio, a large open-air swimming pool surrounded by colonnades on all four sides. Next came either one of the identical flanking wings, where there was a rotunda each (possibly frigidaria) followed by rectangular palaestrae, open courts used for wrestling and athletic exercises.

After proceeding through the side rooms, the baths proper began with the caldarium (hot room) on the southwest side of the building. This rectangular room had an apse in each wall and projected forward from the main block to best absorb the hot afternoon sun. The rooms which flanked it on either side contained lesser hot rooms. Then came a small tepidarium (warm room), acting as a buffer between the larger cold and hot rooms. The largest chamber of all came next, the frigidarium (cold room). This functioned as the central hall of the entire building, where two different axes of rooms and open courts intersected. It was roofed by three cross vaults supported on eight huge columns arranged along the walls. In its four corners were cold plunge baths. The bather would have completed the experience back where they began, with another swim in the natatio.

In addition to the facilities of the bath complex used by the public, there was a system of subterranean passageways and structures used by slaves and workers to service and maintain the facilities. Also underground, the massive cistern, surviving today as The Seven Halls stored much of the water used in the baths, up to 8 million litres. The water may have been supplied by the Aqua Traiana but, since it is unlikely to have crossed the Tiber, more likely by freed water from other aqueducts after the Aqua Traiana was built.

circa 96-109 CE

South-West Exedra
In the southwest corner of Trajan's Baths is one of the semicircular exedrae that opened up in the enclosure surrounding the large open area around the main building. A matching exedra was in the southeast corner of the Baths (in the area above the Domus Aurea), but only its lower part has survived. The southwestern exedra, 30 meters (nearly 100 feet) in diameter, has always been visible over the centuries, and is depicted in many prints and paintings. It contains two rows of rectangular niches; since they are rather wide and shallow, and were not decorated, they certainly housed cabinets (probably wooden) for storing books and documents.

Recent excavations have shown that along the inner perimeter, beneath the niches, there are three concentric wide tiers, originally faced in white marble (part of the facing has survived). On the top tier was a slim colonnade that supported a balcony from which one could reach the niches on the upper level, which confirms that the niches were functional, not merely decorative. The tiers served as seats for people attending public readings or meetings at the exedra. The drawings or game boards engraved in some of the surviving floor slabs show that people also engaged in less serious pursuits here.

The walls around the niches were richly decorated with marble (only traces remain). A few parts of the original flooring - large rectangular "pavonazzetto" marble slabs surrounding squares of "ancient yellow" marble - have survived. The front of the exedra, bordered by columns, opened up onto a portico that ran along the entire western side of the enclosure. In this stretch, the portico rested on the gallery where the "Painted City" fresco was found. The portico columns were probably pillaged in late antiquity; only a few travertine bases have been found in place. The portico opened up onto a wide open area, probably laid out with gardens, where people could pass their time in exercise, sports, games or at leisure.

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