THERMAE HELENAE
baths situated on the eastern part of the Caelian
hill, between the amphitheatrum Castrense and the arcus Neroniani of
the aqua Claudia, and are now bounded by the Vie di S. Croce in Gerusalemme and Eleniana. They are almost entirely destroyed. They
are commonly ascribed to Helena, the mother of Constantine, on the
evidence of an inscription found among the meagre ruins on this site
(
CIL vi. 1136:
d.n. He[lena venerabilis do]mini [n. Constantini A]ug.
mater e[t] avia beatis[simor. et floren]tis[simor. Caesarum nostroru[m]
therm[as incendio d]estru[ctas restituit]）. This inscription of course
records only a restoration, and there is no actual occurrence of the
name thermae Helenae. In 1907 a fragmentary inscription was discovered in the cloister of S. Croce in Gerusalemme which contained a
list of distinguished men of the time of Maximian, with certain sums
opposite their names, and it has been conjectured that this may be a
list of men who made voluntary contributions to construct the baths
which Helena afterwards restored (
BC 1907, 114-121). In the sixteenth
century much more of the building was standing, and we have plans
then drawn by Palladio (Devonshire collection; Terme dei Romani,
ed. Rossi, Vicenza, 1797, pl. xvii. reproduced in
BC 1896, 238) and by
Antonio da Sangallo the younger (Uffizi, 1439; cf. LF 31, 32). On
the north-east side of the thermae are the ruins of a piscina, fed probably
by the aqua Alexandrina, with vaulted chambers, in one of which was
a church during the Middle Ages with painted walls (
Mitt. 1892, 273;
see also HJ 247; LR 400-401;
DE ii. 2167; HCh 586, 587).
