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Regio IV - Insula V - Terme delle Sei Colonne (IV,V,10-11)
(Baths of the Six Columns)

Click here to open a detailed plan of the baths in a new window (Poccardi 2001, fig. 3).

To the south of the western Decumanus and to the east of the Schola of Trajan are the Baths of the Six Columns. In the baths several building phases from the first half of the second century AD have been recognized. There is some Severan masonry. At a later date windows and doors were blocked, when a new heating system was installed. A bronze vessel containing 35 silver coins was found, set against the foundations. Most of the coins are from the republican period, some from the first century AD (197 BC - 70 AD).

Along the Decumanus are Trajanic shops (opus mixtum). A staircase led to apartments above the shops. A bar (a) was installed in the shop to the west of the entrance corridor leading to the baths (b). The bar counter, which today unfortunately has disintegrated, was in the north corner, next to the main entrance from the Decumanus. Originally a door in the bar led to the corridor. Later it was blocked, and in the blocking, in the bar, is a niche for statuettes of deities. In the south corner of the room was a latrine.

The entrance corridor between the shops (b) led to the courtyard of the baths (c). In the centre of the courtyard are the six columns that gave the building its name. The courtyard replaces the palaestra. To the south-east is the cold bath, frigidarium d-e, to the south-west are the heated rooms f-g-h-i. In the north-west part of the building was a waterwheel lifting the ground water (m). Above the wheel and below room n were reservoirs. Another reservoir and furnaces were in room o. In the north-west part of the building is a large latrine (k).



Plan of the baths. After SO I.

Photos



The courtyard with the six columns seen through the entrance corridor, from the north-west. Photo: Klaus Heese.


Caldarium h, seen from the north-west. Photo: Klaus Heese.


A pool in frigidarium d, seen from the north-west. Photo: Klaus Heese.


The large latrine k, seen from the east. Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.


Room m for the waterwheel, seen from the north.
Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.



The wall niche in the blocked door in bar a. Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.


[jthb - 14-Mar-2023]