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Baths of Nero and Severus Alexander

There is some contradiction between the Regionaries and other ancient authorities on the subject of the Baths of Nero and Severus Alexander; some distinctly affirming that they are identical, and others stating that the Baths of Severus were near those of Nero. There is some contradiction between the Regionaries and the other ancient authorities on the subject of these baths; some distinctly affirming that they are identical, and others stating that the Baths of Alexander were near those of Nero. The only way of solving the difficulty appears to be the conclusion that the Alexandrian baths were an addition to those of Nero, as the latter were probably an addition to those of Agrippa. The baths Nero stood between the church of S. Eustachio, the Piazza Navona, the Piazza Madama, and the Pantheon. The church of S. Luigi de'Francesi, and the Palazzo Madama, now the Senate House, are built on a part of them.

We know from "Victor that they were the same as those subsequently called the baths of Alexander, Thermae Neronianae, quae postea Altxandrinae. We learn from the Anonymous of Mabillon, from Muratori and from Galletti that the baths of Alexander and of course of Nero extended from east to west between the piazza delta Rolonda aud the piazza Madama, from north to south between the church of S. Eustachio and the viadelle Coppelle; and a hemicycle of them is still to be seen in the albergo at the piazza Rondanini.

The Baths of Nero, according to Eusebius, were erected AD 65; those of Severus Alexander, on the same authority, about AD 229. The Baths of Nero, appear therefore to have been commenced in the year of the great fire of Rome in the reign of Nero, and during the consulate of Quintus or Cuius Lecanius Bassus and Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi. Tacitus dates their erection A.D.63, when, he tells us, they were dedicated by Nero, who furnished the Equestrian and Senatorial Orders with unguents to oil themselves in the Greek manner. Tacitus also relates that in the same year a bronze statue of Nero was struck in them by lightning, and reduced to a shapeless mass. The baths are frequently mentioned by Martial in the time of Domitian and by Statius, both of whom praise them for their superiour accommodation. Considerable remains have been discovered at various times under the Piazza Navona, the Palazzo Giustiniani, and the Palazzo Madama. The church of S. Salvatore in Thermis, near the latter, also identifies the site. The only remnant now visible is the hemicycle, which exists in the stable of an inn in the Piazza Kandanini. The 2 columns added to the portico of the Pantheon by Alexander VII are supposed to have been taken from these baths.

An anonymous author quoted by Mabillon states that the Baths of Alexander stood between the Piazza Navona, the church of S. Eustachio, and the Pantheon. They were therefore contiguous to the baths of Agrippa. The baths of Alexander were built, according to Eusebius, in the year 229, and, according to Cassiodorus, in 227.