Baths of Trajan

Short Bibliography: Callmer 164, Strocka 311, Johnson 111-118, Makowiecka 60-61, Richardson s.v., Nash 472-477. Pictures from Nash. Excavated in 1968-74 by Fine Licht (non vidi).

Description: 109 AD. Two chambers of 29 x 15 m, presumed to be the Greek and Latin libraries, are separated by 300 meters (!). Separated from the courtyard by 4 or 6 collumns. Square apse, 5 niches to each side in a semicircular room; niches and apse duplicated (though somewhat smaller) for a second story.. Each niche is .76 m deep, 2.13 wide, 4.5 tall on the lower course, 3.36 m tall on the second story. Below lower niches a podium (1.4 m wide, .15 below the niches) follows the curve of the wall with continuous steps leading up to it. "Probably not a library" (Richardson); "meeting hall" (L.L. Johnson); but commonly assumed to be a library.

What matches the idea of a library: niches, podium, steps (cf. Ephesos, Timgad).

Problems: (a) The libraries are separated by 1/5 of a mile, perhaps a problem for personnel, etc., and certainly unexampled in documented libraries. (b) The niches are exceedingly tall, esp. for the lower course. Even if one assumes ladders and infrequent use, a 14 foot tall "bookcase" seems odd. (c) The steps range from .17 m at the lowest to .30 m (the latter somewhat tall); but the final "step" up is fully .5 m, too high a rise for any normal "step." L. L. Johnson thus concludes that these are actually seats, and that the niches are meant for statuary or paintings.

Baths of Caracalla

Short Bibliography: Callmer 164-5, Johnson 119-124, Strocka 315-6, Makowiecka 91-2, Richardson s.v., Nash 434-441. Picture from Nash, plan from G. Luigli, i monumenti antichi di Roma e suburbio. Ruins excavated in 1911-12 by Gregori (non vidi).

Description: Dedicated 216 AD. Two chambers, presumed to be the Greek and Latin libraries, 260 meters apart. Rectangular room 25 x 42 m (Callmer) or 22 x 36 (Johnson), which is divided from the courtyard by columns in the manner of the library of Pantainos. 8 niches on either side of a large central apse, raised above a low podium accessed by three steps.The niches are 2 m above the floor, 1.2 m above the level of the podium, measuring .75 m deep, 1.8 m wide, 4.1 m high, though two niches on the south side are smaller. Two stories. A passageway accessed by a 1.3 m doorway that probably led to stairs. Podium .81 m high, 1.2 m deep; 3 steps .27 m high, .4 m deep. Identification said "very doubtful" by Richardson, also denied by L. L. Johnson.

Problems: (1) The rooms are too large (Richardson). (2) There are reservoirs for water behind the SW wall of each room, which would be deleterious for the books. (Richardson) (3) Niches are too high from the podium, and too tall (L. Johnson). (4) Smaller niches are architecturally unmotivated, and seem intended for smaller statuary. (Johnson, dubiously) (5) Doorway to stairs is too short for any but extraordinary use, thus cannot be for routine access to upper level books (Johnson, but presumptive of the use of a library). (6) Pedestal in apse matches the height of the niches, thus designed so that statuary bases began at the same level all around the room (Johnson).

Baths of Diocletian

Mentioned by SHA Probus 2.1: ÒI used esp. books from the Ulpian library, which in my time were in the baths of D. and the libraries in the domus TiberianaÓ. The bit about the Ulpian library (a favorite "source" for the SHA) is almost certain invented (Sidonius Apollinaris documents that the Ulpian library was still in use in the 5th c.), but there may be a plausibility to assuming that a library in a bath, perhaps even the Bath of Diocletian, would have not seemed odd to a Roman. Unless this is a joke, which, for the SHA, is a real possiblity. No arch. remains

Coda: CIL 6.8679, a very fragmentary inscription from Rome (date unascertainable), mentions THERMA and BIBLIOTHEC GRA[ in close proximity. No further context can be gleaned from the inscirption, however.