The Baths of Trajan Decius — or of Philip the Arab?

The unfinished bath complex that Decius inherited was most likely begun by his predecessor, Philip the Arab. Though Philip has not previously been thought of as a builder, he had the opportunity in his five-year principate to plan and undertake municipal projects.⁸¹The highlight of Philip’s reign, was the secular celebration of 248. Could Philip have planned new imperial baths in conjunction with that event? It is certainly tempting to imagine that in April, 248, , as Philip officiated at the magnificent games in the Circus Maximus, he could have drawn the crowd’s attention to another example of his munificence, a new imperial bath complex rising just to the south on the Aventine.

Of course, Philip never saw his project completed. Construction was temporarily interrupted by the sudden death of the Augustus and the extinction of his dynasty. The Philippi suffered damnatio memoriae under the new regime, as attested by numerous inscriptions on which their names were erased.⁸²As a successful usurper, Decius had an interest not only in promoting his own dynastic name, but also in expunging that of his predecessor. So after completing Philip’s bath complex, the new emperor would naturally have dedicated it in his own name. We can cite one close parallel for this strategy, from the beginning of the next century. The great basilica begun by Maxentius beside the Via Sacra was left unfinished after his defeat and death in the civil war, of 312. Construction was resumed by Constantine, and after its completion, the building was dedicated in Constantine’s name:

Adhuc cuncta opera, quae magnifice construxerat, Urbis fanum atque basilicam, Flavii meritis patres sacravere.⁸³

Furthermore, all of the monuments which he [Maxentius] had proudly built--the temple of the City and the Basilica--the Senate dedicated in honor of Flavius.

Aur. Vict. Caes. 40.

Large-scale architectural patronage was a rarity during the period of the “soldier-emperors.” From the end of the Severan dynasty to the establishment of the first tetrarchy only two emperors, Gordian III and Aurelian, are known to have changed the cityscape of Rome to any significant extent.⁸⁴To this short list we should perhaps now add the name of Philip--restoring to him the credit as a municipal benefactor that was denied to him by Trajan Decius.