A fresco in the Small Baths
The second entrance from the Quadriporticus led into the Palaestra or Gymnasium PT2, surrounded by a portico with pillars. On its southern side the holes for the roof beams of the portico, are still visible. It was recently excavated, and traces of an opus sectile floor an mosaic were found.
On the walls of the Gymnasium there are the holes for the nails of the marble wall revetment and even the small pieces of marble that were used to hold the nails in place.
From the portico of the Palaestra PT2 it entered the Frigidarium PT3, paved in opus sectile with slabs of red porphyry: it had two large basins for cold water PT4 and PT5, once revetted in white marble.
Corridors PT16 and PT7 still have some parts of the opus sectile floors, among the most beautiful ones of the Villa.
The famous and spectacuar Octagonal Hall PT19 is one of the masterpieces of Hadrianic architecture; it has been studied by some of the greatest architects of the Renaissance and Baroque.
The Octagonal Hall has four straight sides and another four convex sides which merge together at the top to support a large circular dome. Here too, as in the Pantheon, a perfect sphere can be inserted inside the building: diameter and height have the same measures.
The Octagonal Hall
From the Octagonal Hall there are doors to all the surrounding rooms, with suggestive perspective views.
First of all, the large circular Sudatio PT18, and then a series of heated rooms, such as the Tepidaria in PT20, 21 and 25.
In rooms 24, 26 and 27 was the Caldarium, with small basins for hot water. Recent excavations have identified in roomPT28 the traces of a boiler for heating water (also known as a samovar).
Finally, in room PT22 there was a large basin for hot water.
The thermal plant was served by a series of subterranean corridors with the furnaces for heating the water, including PT23. They communicated with the subterranean road network that starts from the Hundred Chambers and served all the thermal plants of the Villa, Baths with Heliocaminus, Small Baths, Great Baths and the small thermal plant of the Maritime Theater.
Function and meaning
The complex and spectacular architecture, the rich decoration with red porphyry, the marble revetment on the walls and a single latrine prove that this building belonged to the noble and imperial quarters of the Villa.
This in fact was the emperor's private thermal plant, which belonged to the Imperial Residence. The purple color dominates in the floors and frescoes, alluding to the purple of the imperial robes.
According to a ridiculous "urban legend" the Small Baths were reserved for women and the Great Baths for men, because the emperor Hadrian had ordered the separation of the sexes in the thermal plants in Rome.
In reality, as the decoration demonstrates, the users of the two buildings differed by rank and not by sex. The Small Baths with opus sectile floors were meant for the Emperor. The Great Baths instead had simple white mosaics, because they were intended for the staff of the Villa and the slaves.
See n. 4 - The Imperiale Residence of Villa Adriana in the section Discover the Villa
SEE: Marina De Franceschini, Villa Adriana - Mosaici, pavimenti, edifici. Roma 1991. pp. 244-253 e 526-531, with previus and antiquarian bibliography,
Kennedy 1919; Mac Donald-Boyle 1980; Blanco 2009; Marzuoli 2009; Mollo 2009; Cipriani et al 2020.