THE BATHS OF AGRIPPA.

The houses built amidst the ruins of the Baths of Agrippa at the back of the Pantheon have been demolished, and part of a large hall has been exposed to view. Nothing that has been discovered is new to those who have studied the subject. It has long been known that these houses were built on the old walls and vaults of the Thermæ. In fact, the sacristy of the Pantheon was made out of a vaulted chamber, a floor being inserted about half-way above its base. Besides the vaults and walls now cleared, pavements, pipes, and fragments of pavonazzetto columns have been found; also an earthenware jar containing 1,200 debased silver coins—provincial money of the thirteenth century, with the motto, Roma caput mundi. Portions of a beautiful frieze, formed with tridents, shells, dolphins, and acanthus leaves, blended harmoniously together, were found, and skilfully replaced in their ancient position. It is almost impossible to say for what purpose this hall was used, as nearly the whole of these baths are buried under the surrounding houses; but judging from its relative position to the circular hall, and from the plans of other thermæ, it was most probably the tepidarium. The hall was 150 feet long by 70 feet wide. Oriental marbles decorated the floor and walls, the latter being relieved with niches containing statues. Through the central apse was the original entry into the circular hall behind. The wall now exposed to view has a large apse in the centre, with the platform, on which stood a statue; and on either side are three niches for statues. Agrippa served his first consulship in A.U.C. 717. He was ædile in 719–20. In this service he built his baths. (Dion Cassius, in "Augustus;" Pliny, xxxvi. 24.) In 726 he was consul for the second time. In 727 he was consul for the third time, when the circular hall of his baths was turned into a temple, as we are informed by the inscription in situ.

These were the first large baths erected in Rome. Only small fragments of them remain, built into the houses at the back of the Pantheon, and so difficult to see. In the Via dell' Arco della Ciambella, some little distance back, are the remains of a circular hall.

The Via Minerva, to the left of the Pantheon, leads to the Piazza Minerva.