Baths of Caracalla
The Baths of Caracalla in Rome, Italy, were the second largest Roman public baths, or thermae, built in Rome between AD 212 (or 211) and 217, during the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. They would have had to install over 2,000 t (2,000 long tons; 2,200 short tons) of material every day for six years in order to complete it in this time. Records show that the idea for the baths were drawn up by Septimius Severus, and merely completed or opened in the lifetime of Caracalla. This would allow for a longer construction timeframe. They are today a tourist attraction.
Interior
The Caracalla bath complex of buildings was more a leisure centre than just a series of baths. The "baths" were the second to have a public library within the complex. Like other public libraries in Rome, there were two separate and equal sized rooms or buildings; one for Greek language texts and one for Latin language texts.
The baths consisted of a central frigidarium (cold room) measuring 55.7 by 24 m (183 by 79 ft) under three groin vaults 32.9 m (108 ft) high, a double pool tepidarium (medium), and a caldarium (hot room) 35 m (115 ft) in diameter, as well as two palaestras (gyms where wrestling and boxing were practiced). The north end of the bath building contained a natatio or swimming pool. The natatio was roofless with bronze mirrors mounted overhead to direct sunlight into the pool area. The entire bath building was on a raised platform 6 m (20 ft) high to allow for storage and furnaces under the building.
The libraries were located in exedrae on the east and west sides of the bath complex. The entire north wall of the complex was devoted to shops. The reservoirs on the south wall of the complex were fed with water from the Marcian Aqueduct.
Subterranean features
Discovered in 1912, the mithraeum at the Bath is considered the largest documented gathering space for the worshippers of Mithras, the Persian god in vogue with the military and mostly lower class men, in the second and third centuries AD. The mithraeum was approximately 23 m (75 ft) long and 10 m (33 ft) wide with a cross-vaulted ceiling. It can be only roughly dated by the two main events associated with the baths: the mithraeum was certainly created after the complex was completed in AD 217 and it was probably no longer in use when the aqueduct supplying the complex was cut during the Greco-Gothic Wars. Certainly the most intriguing feature is the small tunnel that runs under the center of the main hall into an adjoining room, where there is an entrance/exit with staircase; this has been identified as the fossa sanguinis, the ritual pit over which the bull at the center of the Mithraic mythology was slaughtered, bathing one or more initiates in its blood.
Opera and concerts
The central part of the bath complex is the summer home of the Rome Opera company. It is also a concert venue, having achieved fame as the venue and backdrop for the first Three Tenors concert in 1990.
Visiting
The extensive ruins of the baths have become a popular tourist attraction. The baths are open to the public for an admission fee. Access is limited to certain areas to avoid damage to the mosaic floors, although such damage is already clearly visible. Also, a total of 22 well-preserved columns from the ruins are found in the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, taken there in the 12th century.
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