page_title: Baths of Diocletian
section_title: Presence of libraries
hierarchical_section_title: Baths of Diocletian / Description / Presence of libraries
caption_attribution_description: Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri
context_page_description: The Baths of Diocletian were public baths in ancient Rome, in what is now Italy. Named after emperor Diocletian and built from 298 AD to 306 AD, they were the largest of the imperial baths. The project was originally commissioned by Maximian upon his return to Rome in the autumn of 298 and was continued after his and Diocletian's abdication under Constantius, father of Constantine.
context_section_description: Rectangular halls connected to the hemicycle have been suggested to be libraries because of their similar set-up to those in the Baths of Caracalla. Historians, to support this theory, have demonstrated that these halls with their niches could properly house scrolls and/or codices. (The author of the Life of Probus mentions that part of the Bibliotheca Ulpia, was located in the Forum of Trajan, and part within the Baths of Trajan, although he later contradicts that statement when referring to the Bibliotheca Ulpia). The presence of similar spaces in the Baths of Caracalla and the Baths of Trajan therefore makes it not unreasonable to assume that the baths of Diocletian contained a library.
caption: Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, built in the ruins of the baths
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