Old Rome: A Handbook to the Ruins of the City and the CampagnaBurn, Robert
History
Old Rome: A Handbook to the Ruins of the City and the Campagna
Burn, Robert
Rome (Italy) -- Antiquities; Rome (Italy) -- Description and travel
The catalogue called the ‘Curiosum urbis Romæ’ places not only the Baths
of Titus but also those of Trajan in the third region. The anonymous MS.
of Einsiedlen places Trajani Thermæ near the Church of S. Pietro in
Vincoli; and Anastasius in his ‘Life of Symmachus,’ mentions them as near
the Church of S. Martino. It is, therefore, abundantly proved that the
Thermæ of Trajan stood at the back of the Baths of Titus, and it is here
that we find them placed in the plan of Palladio. That they were distinct
buildings seems clear from an inscription in which they are separately
mentioned. A satisfactory explanation of the apparently strange fact that
Trajan erected new and smaller Thermæ near those of Titus is given by one
of the chronologers of the period, who speaks of the Baths of Trajan as
intended for women, for whom there was no separate accommodation provided
in those of Titus. The scattered ruins to the north of the Baths of Titus
may have belonged to Trajan’s Baths.
On the Esquiline Hill, besides the Baths of Titus, the Domus Aurea, and
the Sette Sale, we find four remarkable ruins, which are called the
Trophies of Marius, the Arch of Gallienus, the Minerva Medica, and the
Auditorium of Mæcenas.
[Sidenote: Trophies of Marius.]
The ruin called the Trophies of Marius stands at the corner of the Via di
S. Bibiana. It consists in the lower part of a number of small and
curiously shaped compartments of brickwork, with openings at seven or
eight different points. Underneath these, and now hidden under the level
of the ground, is a large basin or tank, and above them the upper part of
the building is formed by the remains of three niches, in which stood the
marble trophies now placed upon the balustrade of the steps of the
Capitol. They were removed to the Capitol by Sixtus V. in the year 1585.
The name Trophies of Marius is an attempt to explain the more ancient name
of Cimbrum, which we find attached to the ruin in the middle ages, by
identifying the trophies with the Tropæa Marii mentioned by Suetonius as
having been pulled down by Sulla and restored by Julius Cæsar.[74] But
although we must allow that there is some probability in the supposition
that the Marian trophies may have occupied these niches, yet it is certain
that the building itself was intended to serve another purpose, that of
the castellum or principal reservoir of an aqueduct, with a public
fountain in the form of a cascade in front. The basin which has been
discovered under the building, and the peculiar shape of the complicated
interior structure, can be best explained thus, and the remains of some
part of the aqueduct itself may be seen at the back. It was at one time
supposed that the Aqua Julia ended here but it is now generally
acknowledged that the ruin belonged to the Aqua Alexandrina, and that the
name Nymphæum Alexandri, found in the catalogues of the fifth region, must
be assigned to it. The Alexandrine Aqueduct was built by Alexander Severus
in the year A.D. 225.
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