A misleading source: the fortuna of a sixteenth-century engraving and its impact on the history of Roman baths studies Giacomo Savani * In this article, I follow the mixed fortunes of a woodcut depicting a cutaway view of a set of ancient baths, so far neglected by modern scholarship. First published in a mid-sixteenth-century treatise on balneology and based on a misinterpretation of Vitruvius (..), it reappeared as a copy of a Roman wall-painting in several eighteenth-century antiquarian works. The remarkable resonance enjoyed by this image in specialist and popular publications until the early twentieth century makes it one of the most influential and controversial sources in the history of Roman baths studies. In exploring the reasons behind the enduring, uncritical acceptance of this depiction, I raise broader questions concerning the nature and extent of intellectual networks in eighteenth-century Europe. Introduction Baths were among the most distinctive and widespread types of Roman buildings and many ancient epigraphic and literary sources demonstrate their significance across the Roman Empire (Dunbabin ). Following the rediscovery of antiquity during the Renaissance, the monumental ruins of ancient baths sparked the imagin- ation of artists, architects, and antiquarians. While the particularities of these struc- tures started to be illustrated and recorded, a medical concern for classical balneology revived the debate on the benefits of cold and hot baths. The distinct, if often interconnected, interests of antiquarians, architects, and physicians led the study of Roman baths and bathing in Early Modern Europe. So far, only specific aspects of such a multifarious cultural system have received scholarly attention and these different strands have not yet been integrated in a sustained study. This article contributes to fill this gap, using as a case study a woodcut depicting a cutaway view of a set of ancient baths (Fig. ), so far neglected by modern *Correspondence: Flat , A Clarendon Road, Leeds LSNN, UK. E-mail: giacomo.savani@gmail.com Giacomo Savani is a Roman archaeologist. His research interests lie in the field of Roman social and cultural history and the later reception of Roman art and architecture. He has particular expertise in Roman baths and their legacy in Early Modern Europe. E.g. Kiby (); Nemola et al. ; Viti (); Schich (); Zaccaria (); Savani (). Classical Receptions Journal Vol . Iss. () pp. – ß The Author(s) . Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com doi:./crj/clz Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/crj/article-abstract/11/3/296/5543086 by guest on 16 August 2019