Living the life of a Roman at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome

29th of August to 2nd of September 2013

Hidden behind the hustle and bustle of the Colosseum, the Baths of Caracalla can be found at the foot of the Aventine Hill, offering one the opportunity to explore Roman antiquity in tranquility.

The Baths of Caracalla were built by the Emperor Caracalla and completed in 217 AD. It is one of the largest and well preserved thermal complexes of antiquity.

  

The Baths are also known as the Thermae Antoninianae as the emperor’s real name was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus but nicknamed Caracalla for a Gallic tunic he used to wear. Caracalla is infamous for killing his more popular brother and was known for offering citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Roman Empire, mainly to increase the income from taxes.

The baths in Rome played a vital role in maintaining the cleanliness and health of its citizens but more importantly, it was a place where Romans came to socialise and relax. The Baths of Caracalla were more like a multi-functional leisure center and housed not only pools but gymnasiums, libraries, gardens, art galleries, shops, restaurants and even brothels.

The thermal complex covered an area of 11 hectares and could allow 6 000 bathers to constantly come and go freely. 

A combination of neglect, looting and an earthquake has led to the ruin of this great architectural structure. However, wandering through the remains, the sheer size and magnificence of these ruins do not seize to impress.

It took 9 000  workers , who were employed daily for approximately five years, to create only a platform of about 337 x 328 m, let alone the whole thermal complex.

One can only imagine the rich interior that ornamented the floors and vaults of the Baths of Caracalla when the baths existed in their full glory.

The floors were made from oriental coloured marbles in beautiful patterns. The floors on the upper levels of the Baths were decorated with thiasus marine motifs with Nereids, tritons and dolphins, cupids and sea monsters.

Although elaborately decorated with mosaics, the 300 m long floor on the upper level of the Baths collapsed. Large fragments of the floor can be seen leaning against the walls of the two Palaestrae.

The walls were decorated with glass paste mosaics and marbles, and with stucco paintings. Hundreds of statues and fountains of mythical personas were placed in the rooms, halls and gardens, in every niche possible, elaborately ornamenting the Baths. Some of the statues were made of bronze while most of them were painted marble.

Ornamental decoration on the walls of the Baths of Caracalla.

While walking around the thermal complex, it is impossible for one’s imagination to not drift off back into time. I could see the Romans, after their athletic exercising, sauntering towards the steam baths, to prepare their bodies for the hot baths in the calidarium, a hall covered by a dome with pools.

In the calidarium, a hypocaustum system (with hot air under the floor) was used to heat the hall.

Thereafter, the bathers would pass into the tepidarium for a lukewarm bath. Followed by a bath in the cold frigidarium; the largest and coolest indoor area, covered by a three-cross vault. Lastly, the ritual was completed with a swim in the natatio, an open air swimming pool before returning to the dressing rooms.

I could only wish that I was a Roman in 217 AD, enjoying a spa day at the Baths of Caracalla.

While getting lost in the grandeur of the thermal complex one should not forget to take note of what it took to make the Baths function. Imagine the aqueducts needed to bring large volumes of water to the Baths, as well as the colossal thermal complex, hidden underground, where a series of storage rooms for wood, furnaces and cauldrons existed, along with a network of lead pipes of the water system.

Today, the Baths of Caracalla serve as a theater and numerous summer evening operas and ballets can be enjoyed against this majestic backdrop.

Leaving the Baths of Caracalla I could only imagine that the life of a Roman was a dream at the Baths of Caracalla.