Baths Of Caracalla

The Baths of Caracalla was one of the most sophisticated building with a lot of technology built during the time of the Emperor Caracalla in Rome. It was innovative and not only for the design and construction also because of the scale and the complexity of the building.
The Baths of Caracalla
The Baths of Caracalla are one of the biggest and best-preserved thermal centers of antique Rome.The construction of the baths started AD 212 and was finished in AD 217. They were in use for only three centuries, until AD 537 when Goths demolished the aqueduct by cutting off the water supply.
The complex was built during the time of Caracalla. The official name of the Emperor Caracalla was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, that’s why the original name of the baths is “Thermae Antoninae”. He wasnicknamed Caracalla because he used to wear a Gallic tunic.
In the work of Elio Sparziano “The life of Caracalla” narrates the Emperor built the “thermas eximias et magnificentismas” which means: noble and magnificent baths but they were completed after his death (217 AD) by his successor Heliogabalus and Severus Alexander with porticos and extra decoration. The inauguration was in AD 216.
Itwas an ambitious decision to set the complex outside the Roman Forum but it helps to provide a new cultural approach. The area were the Baths were made, was been fixed and prepared with building built by the Severan dynasty. They are situated on the south of the Aventine Hill and west of Via Appia. In one side of the Baths there were evidences of villas for wealthy people and on the east there werevillas for the plebeians, which was the working class of Rome. The accesses to the Baths were from both sides, one in Via Appia and other in the Aventine Hill, so the design served both sectors. It was also useful for the travellers that came into the city because it was close to the commercial area of Testaccio and to Circus Maximus.
The Baths were planed over three large sloping terraces, tocamber the different levels between the small Aventine hill and the Camene Valley. The complete building covered approximately 13 hectares. The bath building was 228 meters long the cisterns had a capacity of about 8.2million litres. 116 meters wide and had 38.5 meters of estimated height. There were employed 9000 workers every day for almost 5 years to construct the complete project. Thecapacity was perhaps 10,000 people at once. All types of social levels, rich and poor, frequented the baths.
It was an essential part of the project to build an Aqueduct to serve with water this new building. The name of the Aqueduct was Aqua Nova and was they created a special branch and called it the Aqueduct Aqua Marcia. The entire route was underground and arrived to the baths in 18 big depositswith connections between them. The capacity was 10m3 and the walls were the 3m of thickness. They were constructed under a very functional water distribution system that ensured a constant flow of water from the aqueduct. The water lowered via gravity to tubes and cross the gardens on it course to the building. The bath’s hydraulic system shows the complexity of the project and its operation ofthe supply, systems of heating and drainage . The system was based on three networks of tunnels that make easier the maintenance and inspection of the water facilities, also for the drainage and storage timber.
The site was created on a platform base that was surrounded by porticoes and gardens. It is an enormous building that had a lot of bathing facilities. There were two upper stories and twounderground levels in the complex.
The extensive subterranean were mostly used as a service area. It was built like part of the main platform. The upper one was used for services and heating the water and the other one was used for draining the water. The underground level also included galleries big enough for two cars passing, all the water mills and sewers, many maintenance passages and one...