120
HISTORY OF ENGINEERING.
Book I.
games to pass under, all faced and adorned with marble, formed part of these magnificentestablishments.
The construction of this circus differs so materially from what we see in the baths of thisemperor, that it is very doubtful whether it is not of a much later date. It certainlyremains more perfect than any other known, and by some is considered the work ofGallienus .
Baths. These monuments of Roman magnificence contained all that could contributeto the health of the body, the improvement and amusement of the vast population.
Vegetius tells us that the reason the senate ordered the Campus Martius to be formednear the Tiber was, that, after exercising, the Roman youth might bathe ; and 440 yearsafter the foundation of the city, a piscina puhlica was constructed at the foot of the capitolnear the Tiber : about the time of Augustus , baths were very generally in use; we findremains of them in England, and throughout the Roman provinces. As the names ofthe various apartments of the therm® are all of Greek origin, it is inferred that theinvention of them originated with that people : Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Hippocrates ,refer to them.
To the original baths in the course of time were added the gymnasium, palaestra,spheristerium, &c., all foreign to the purposes and arrangement of the bath. At one timethere were more than 800 baths in the imperial city: those of Paulus Emilius, JuliusC®sar, Agrippa , &c., were for the purpose of bathing only, and most of these wereestablished by private individuals: but all yielded to the magnificence of the therm® whichsucceeded them; the most remarkable of which were those of
Agrippa -
A. D.
- 10
Antoninus Caracalla
A. I).
- 217
-
- 64
-
- 230
- 68
Philip
-
- 245
Titus
-
- 75
Decius
.
- 250
-
- 90
_
- 272
Trajan
-
- 110
Diocletian
-
- 295
Adrian
- 120
Constantine
-
- 324
Commodus
-
-
- 188
Vestiges of these are to be found in various parts of the city, but the immense destruction towhich they have been subject renders it impossible to trace them with any satisfactory result:those of Titus, Caracalla, and Diocletian , alone yield any instruction to the engineer. Therestoration of those of Caracalla by M. Abel Blouet are so complete as to give a newexistence to tills species of edifices. They were the most extensive and the most magni-ficent of the edifices that adorned the capital of the ancient world; situated at the foot ofMount Aventine, between the walls of Rome and the Triumphal Way: as their name im-ports, they were founded by Caracalla, and finished in the fourth year of his reign, 217of the Christian ®ra.
There seems to have been great symmetry in the arrangements and proportions of theexterior, but no decoration, that being reserved for the interior, which was regulatedaccording to prescribed rules. Some idea may be formed of their magnificence, not onlyby the debris now visible of the various ornaments throughout the whole of the interior,but also by the monuments of sculpture which have been found there. The most remark-able are the Hercules of Glycon, the ancient Torso, the Bull called the Farnese, the Flora,two gladiators, the two vases of granite in the Piazza Farnese, the two beautiful urns ofgreen basalt, now in the court of the Museo Vaticano , various terra cotta?, and an infinityof other sculptures and works of art. The last granite column of the great hall wasremoved from these therm®, in 1564, and given by Pope Pius IV. to the Grand DukeCosmo de Medicis; it is now on the Piazza Trinita at Florence , where it supports a statueof Justice in porphyry.
The general mass of the baths of Caracalla forms on the plan a quadrangle of 1011 feetby 1080. The principal entrance is on the smallest side, by an external portico, composedof two stories or rows of arcades one above the other, 53 in each row. These arcades havetheir piers ornamented with half columns, Doric above, Ionic below. They lead into along gallery, and the piers which form it are ornamented with columns having pilastersopposite them.
The three other sides of the quadrangle show external walls without decoration, twoof them being backed by Mount Aventine, a part of which was cut away for them.
The decoration was reserved for the internal fa£ades, the enclosure of which containedthe most important body of building, both for its ornament and the richness of itsarchitecture. It was placed in the centre of this enclosure, between two spaces, that onthe side of the portico being smaller, the other double the first, both having walks plantedwith trees. The internal fi^ade of the grand enclosure in face of the portico exhibiteda sort of amphitheatre or range of steps.
The construction of these baths is like most of the Roman works of the kind called