The Seven Halls , or Sette Sale , is the name of the complex of cisterns located on the Oppian Hill , Rome. The name comes from the fact that, when the complex was noted in the mid-eighteenth century, only seven chambers were recognised.
31-607: This large cistern holding over 8 million litres supplied the Baths of Trajan and was fed by a branch aqueduct that came from the Esquiline Hill . Since it is oriented on the same axis as the nearby and differently than the Baths, it was once thought to have belonged to the Domus Aurea . However, the many brick stamps found in its wall prove that it was built at the same time as the Baths. It
62-399: 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,
93-436: Is on two levels, each consisting of nine (not seven) parallel compartments more than 5 m wide and 30 to 40 m long (differing because of the curve of the eastern perimeter wall). The lower level is a cryptoporticus supporting the true reservoir on the upper level which was high enough for water to flow out with enough pressure to supply the Baths. The compartments' walls and floors were lined with waterproof plaster. The cistern
124-459: Is thus likely that the entire complex underwent a process of early abandonment. Rodolfo Lanciani determined that the front part of the baths had collapsed by the late 4th century, and offices for the urban prefect were built on the site. Large parts of the building were still standing in the 16th century when Andrea Palladio described the floor plan. The ruins were demolished shortly afterwards, their marble and building materials being reused for
155-638: The kalendae of July 109, shortly after the Aqua Traiana was dedicated. Commissioned by Emperor Domitian starting from around 96 AD, 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
186-418: 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
217-441: The tepidarium , was flanked by staircases on either side leading to an upper story; from the south ran a corridor separating a pair of large caldaria . According to the floorplans of Andrea Palladio , each caldarium had a small laconicum (dry sweating room) attached to it. Smaller suites of hot rooms ran along the south façade on either side of the tepidarium staircases. A broad staircase descended 18 meters (59 feet) from
248-490: The 1967 excavations. Located at the edge of the park, the cistern is well preserved (entrance on the Via delle Terme di Traiano). 41°53′36″N 12°29′47″E / 41.8934°N 12.4965°E / 41.8934; 12.4965 Baths of Trajan The Baths of Trajan ( Italian : Terme di Traiano ) were a massive thermae , a bathing and leisure complex , built in ancient Rome and dedicated under Trajan during
279-532: The 7th century) has been found in front of the northeastern exedra. The baths were thus no longer in use at the time of the siege of Rome by the Ostrogoths in 537; with the destruction of the Roman aqueducts , all thermae were abandoned, as was the whole of the now-waterless Mons Oppius . The baths were erected on the Oppian Hill , a southern extension of the Esquiline Hill . The lower slopes had been occupied by
310-557: The Baths of Titus stood on the Oppian, with the name of Trajan applied to them later because he undertook a restoration. Only in the late 19th century 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 Forma Urbis depict the plan of the Baths, one of which preserves three letters ("AIA") from
341-582: The Esquiline Wing of the Domus Aurea , an ornate residence belonging to 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 AD. The Domus Aurea was used as a cryptoporticus to level the ground and support a platform built over it upon which the Baths were built. The complex rested on a northeast–southwest axis. This
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#1732916880424372-822: The Tiber, more likely by freed water from other aqueducts after the Traiana was built. Although they were correctly known as the Thermae Traiani throughout the Middle Ages and much of the Renaissance, in the late sixteenth century 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
403-421: The base of the Esquiline Hill , an area of parkland and luxury estates which had been taken over by Nero (AD 54–68) for his Golden House or Domus Aurea . Titus' baths were built in haste, possibly by converting an existing or partly built bathing complex belonging to the reviled Domus Aurea . They were not particularly extensive, and the much larger Baths of Trajan were built immediately adjacent to them at
434-439: 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. 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 Baths of Titus , constructed 29 years earlier, and would be replicated in
465-689: The building of palaces and churches such as the side chapels of the Church of the Gesù or the fountain of the Cortile del Belvedere in the Vatican. One of the features of the baths was mural designs by the artist Famulus (or Fabullus), both al fresco and al stucco. Before the designs fell into disrepair from exposure to the elements, Nicholas Ponce copied and reproduced them as engravings in his volume "Description des bains de Titus" (Paris, 1786). The designs are now recognized as
496-413: The discovery of a large (about 10 m ) frescoed bird's-eye view of a walled port city, a unique survivor of such a subject, in a buried gallery or cryptoporticus beneath the baths, which pre-dated their construction, but postdated Nero's Domus Aurea . Whether it represents the reorganization of an actual port or an idealized one remains an open question. Additionally, the discovery of a 16 m mosaic
527-426: 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
558-517: 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 , 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. The archaeological excavations of 1997 also led to
589-464: The great Imperial baths of the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. 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 ( natatio – frigidarium – tepidarium – caldarium ), 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
620-471: 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
651-491: The later baths of Trajan, Caracalla , and Diocletian preceded the frigidarium on the north side. The frigidarium was the largest room, consisting of three bays with groin vaulted ceilings and enclosures in each corner supporting barrel vaults . These enclosures were screened by columns and contained cold plunge baths. Flanking the frigidarium on the east and west sides was a palaestra for exercise and apodyteria , or changing rooms. The small intermediate room,
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#1732916880424682-484: The northeastern exedra of the Baths. Also on the ground level of the complex were found the remains of a grotto lined with slabs of marble belonging to the Domus Aurea. In the fourth century a domus was built on top of the complex, likely from a building used to service the tank itself. In the Middle Ages, the northernmost chambers were used as catacombs and more than a thousand skeletons were discovered here during
713-433: 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
744-442: The other thermae , the caldarium was south facing and projected forward from the main block to absorb the warmth of the sun to best effect. Preceding the building on the south side was a terrace supporting a large open area, presumably featuring gardens, which was another typical feature of the later Roman imperial baths. The only major feature not present in the Baths of Titus is a natatio , or open air swimming pool, which in
775-425: 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. The complex seems to have been deserted soon afterwards as a cemetery dated to the 5th century (which remained in use until
806-450: The start of the next century. The Baths of Titus were the first of the "imperial" baths to use what would become a standard design for public bathing complexes in Rome in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. The entire building was strictly symmetrical, and featured along its center axis from north to south the main bath chambers in a sequence: frigidarium , tepidarium , and caldarium . As in
837-559: The terrace in front of the Baths of Titus down the south side of the Oppian to the plaza of the Colosseum , where it joined with a portico. The ruins of this portico were excavated in 1895; the brick-faced concrete piers can still be seen on the north side of the Piazza del Colosseo. The Baths of Titus were restored during the reign of Hadrian as well as in AD 238 but no further repairs are known. It
868-433: The true baths 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,
899-818: Was announced in July 2011 in what is believed to be a Musaeum , a place dedicated to the goddesses who inspire the creation of the arts, featuring a nymphaeum (fountain room), which was buried to build the baths above. Part of the tesserae are missing, having been stripped by Trajan's workers and re-used in the new construction. Components of the mosaic identified to date include: Also discovered nearby, another mosaic shows grape harvesting scenes. General overview Other baths Engineers Other [REDACTED] Media related to Baths of Traianus at Wikimedia Commons Baths of Titus The Baths of Titus or Thermae Titi were public baths ( Thermae ) built in 81 AD at Rome , by Roman emperor Titus . The baths sat at
930-442: 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 is suggested that this unorthodox orientation was chosen by the architects to reduce the bathers' exposure to the wind, while also maximising exposure to the sun. The bath complex was immense by ancient Roman standards, covering an area of approximately 330 by 340 metres. The baths including
961-415: Was partially underground, with the back curved wall and the two side walls partially covered and buttressed by the embankment, while the impressive straight front wall with alternating rectangular and semicircular niches was visible. Large openings in the niches of the upper level provided ventilation. Water flowed out of pipes in the low-level niches into a large pipe a part of which has been found in front of