An Afternoon at the Baths of Caracalla

18 centuries have passed since the baths of karakala were built earthquakes have shattered the towering vaults and domes scavengers have torn the marble from the walls and floor little more than the concrete skeleton of the building remains these gaunt ruins however are a powerful testament to the grandeur of imperial rome and to the roman habit of public bathing this video which is sponsored by squarespace we'll explore those ruins and that habit by trying to recreate the experience of bathing in the baths of karakala first however i'd like to talk more generally about roman baths most roman baths like this example and herculaneum were small starting in a small locker room we move into the low vaulted tepidarium where bathers sat on benches and enjoyed the heat emanating from the floor their cloaks were stored in the shelves you see on the walls finally we enter the caldarium another low and vaulted room with a basin on one side and a small plunge pool on the other the great majority of roma's baths looked more or less like this in the city of rome alone there were more than 900 small baths by late antiquity some of these were more substantial than others the church of santa putenziana in rome pictured here was built into the main room of a large neighborhood bath but none of these establishments approached the scale of the vast bathing complexes constructed by the emperors there were eventually seven of these erected over the centuries between augustus and constantine the largest were the bads of diocletian whose scale can still be appreciated in the church of santa maria de l'angelie which was built into the central hall of the bads in the 16th century the best preserved of the great imperial bathing complexes however are the bads of karakala which are only slightly smaller than the bats of diocletian though likely planned by septimius severus they were begun by a son karakala a megalomaniac who regarded himself as a reincarnation of alexander the great despite as many flaws as an emperor and human being kawakala knew how to motivate construction teams in only four years a workforce estimated at 9 000 men cleared the site of the bads erected a colossal foundation platform honeycombed with service tunnels and completed the main bath building which covered more than six acres by the time of karakala's assassination in 217 the main building of the bads seems to have been complete it was lefty karakala's successor ella gobliss who devoted most of his time to an orgistic sun cult to build the elaborate precinct which included a series of colossal cisterns a bi-level portico filled with shops two large libraries and an arena for viewing spectacles these structures were completed by eligobus's successor and cousin severus alexander who we are told often use the bads himself before we start our own visit to the baths a quick word about our sponsor the bads of karakala still so impressive today reflect the skill of their builders who understood perfectly the capacities of roman concrete building a website of course is a very different process but website building also begins with understanding the possibilities for those of us who are not trained web developers squarespace provides that understanding offering flexible templates for every page and purpose so to get the most out of your website i encourage you to visit squarespace.com for a free trial you can save ten percent on your purchase of a website or domain by using the link shown on screen which you will also find in the description now at last into the baths from the second century bc to the fall of the empire romans of every class from senators to slaves spent an hour or two in the baths every day it was typical to visit in mid or late afternoon after the day's work was done and before dinner at most baths the price of admission was minuscule a quadrance roughly equivalent to a modern american quarter imperial complexes like the bads of karakala were often free on entering the main building of the bats of karakala a baiter made his way to the apoteria or changing rooms where he left his street clothes and changed into exercise or bathing garb since the changing rooms in the baths of karakala as you can see have been stripped to bear brick you have to imagine rows of shelves stacked with tunics and tocas attendants were usually on duty in these rooms to prevent theft but since many were dishonest wealthy bathers stationed a slave to watch their belongings as they made their way toward the pleistra the open courtyard where bathers exercised before plunging into the pools along the way many bathers stopped in a small heated room to have themselves oiled and scraped although the romans were aware of soap their preferred cleaning method was to be rubbed with olive oil and scraped dry with a striggle they might repeat the process after they exercised or after they bathed sometimes in combination with a massage but first most went out to the exercise yard the beds of karakala had two of these i'm showing the western one here and originally both were lined with elaborate marble porticos little remains now beyond the core of the wall and a few fragments of the mosaic floor but you can still get a sense of the vast scale of these spaces the most popular exercises in the yards of the bads were ball games one of these was harpostum a rugby-like team game that involved tossing a small ball back and forth while avoiding the blocks of the opposing team another favorite was trigon in which three men stood in a triangle throwing balls with one hand and catching them with the other the man who missed the fewest throws won bather is in the mood for more strenuous exercise could wrestle jog or lift lead weights the more intellectually inclined might visit one of the two libraries listen to a philosopher in one of the lecture halls or simply stroll the shady grounds sooner or later all made their way to the bath's proper like most roman baths the beds of caracalla had a series of hot warm and cold rooms although these could be visited in varying sequences most bathers began with the hot rooms and ended with a plunge into a cold pool as a sort of compromise we'll start in the central hall of the whole bathing block even today stripped to bare brick and concrete the scale of this space is awesome it was even more impressive when it was intact and crowned by a vaulted ceiling nearly 120 roman feet 34 meters high the huge granite columns that line the walls have vanished except for one that was taken to florence in the 16th century the huge granite tubs that serve the fountains on either end were also plundered and now sit in front of the plaza farnacy other fountains in each corner of the hall fed pools of cool water which must have been welcomed in hot weather but for most bathers this was basically a transitional area a place to stroll and admire works of art though it's hard to visualize now the central halls of the bats of karakala were as richly decorated as any palace or temple in the city the floors and walls were polychrome marble the vaults shimmered with glass mosaic and hundreds of statues peered down from niches and pedestals some of these statues were discovered during the renaissance perhaps the most impressive of all is this one the so-called farnacy bull a huge and elaborate group that shows the mythical princes amphion and zethus about to bind their wicked aunt dursie to the horns of a raging bull returning to our tour of the baths there was a whole series of hot rooms along the south side of the bath building warmed by a combination of steam and solar heat in the center was the great caldarium a colossal domed space as tall as the pantheon with seven heated pools set into its floor despite the room's great height it was kept warm by glass mosaic walls and a gilded bronze ceiling which caught and reflected the sunlight pouring in through ranks of enormous windows from the caldarium most bathers likely visited one of the warm rooms before moving to unheated waters but we'll go directly to the natatio the olympic-sized swimming pool the pool was only about way steep and always open to the sky when built its walls shimmered with marble columns and revetment but all this was torn away long ago leaving behind the scarred mass of brick and concrete we see today this reconstruction drawing captures something of the pool's original majesty season and weather permitting roman bathers might linger here for a long time chatting with acquaintances networking and soaking up the sun they might enjoy a mid-afternoon snack courtesy of the vendors who wandered the baths selling everything from sausage to pastries they might even get blitzed on cheap wine sooner or later it was time to go back to the changing rooms they went to don their togas and tunics and shoes out they walked through the shady grounds passed the clamoring merchants into the restless city and the sun set and the doors were shut and the great furnaces were banked but all through the night year after year the fountains continued to run and the trickle of falling water filled the halls of the baths of caracalla if you enjoyed this video please consider supporting toldenstone on patreon you might also be interested in my book naked statues fact gladiators and war elephants thanks for watching you

Channel: toldinstone

Views: 470,200

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Id: AnDiAMSSwWQ

Length: 10min 47sec (647 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 03 2021