Baths Of Caracalla

By Agnete - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28199616

The Baths of Caracalla were the second largest public bath in Rome, behind the Baths of Diocletian. Like many public baths, the complex contained three pools of varying temperature: the frigidarium, tepidarium, and caldarium, filled with cold, lukewarm, and hot water respectively. And additional swimming pool called a natatio was also included. However, the complex also hosted two gyms for practiciing wrestling and boxing, as well as Greek and a Latin library, as well as various shops. A cult to Mithras, a Persian War god whose worship became widespread in the late empire, was also hosted within the building. Various statues were also scattered about the premises

The appeal of this area ties back into my desire to see how Romans truly lived. This is especially interesting since there isn't really an analog to the Roman Baths in our modern society. This thing (for lack of a better word) served an artistic, commercial, social, academic, and even religious function all in 100,000 square meters. That fact alone intrigues me greatly, and lures me to this site.

The Roman Forum

By DannyBoy7783 (talk) - Own work (Original text: I (DannyBoy7783 (talk)) created this work entirely by myself.), GFDL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41439106

The Forum was once a cultural center of the Roman Empire. Here, the triumphs ran through the streets to be viewed by the public. Beyond that, the Forum was a site for all sorts of other affairs, ranging from criminal trials to speeches to commercial dealings. The site was in use since the earliest periods of Roman history, some excavations even unearthing pre-Roman artifacts. The Forum itself is in a state of destruction, its once manifold statues, temples, and state buildings reduced to two arches and scattered foundations. Those arches are committed to Titus and Septimius Severus.

To often the sites we visit focus on the grand aspects of the city or civilization, those monuments designed to be seen, while disregarding how people of antiquity lived, where they carried about business, where they gathered. Elements within the Forum certainly were meant for grandeur, but the purpose of the area itself was for carrying out the affairs of day to day life, administration, and religion. Walking where the Romans once did in great volumes would be humbling and enriching experience.

Catacombs of Rome

Alberto Pisa (1864-1936). (A Procession in the Catacomb of Callistus.) - Malleson, Hope & Tuker, M.A.R.: “Rome” (1905) [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=567672

The Catacombs beneath Rome came into existence around the 2nd century AD, to address a growing urban population. The catacombs are a veritable treasure trove of Early Christian art and frescoes, as well as sculptures and engravings. The catacombs themselves have many columbarium dating from the early period in Rome. There were rooms filled with shelves designed to hold funerary urns. Sarcophagi are also abundant within the catacombs, as that mode of burial became more vogue in the Christian period.

Visiting such a location may seem unappetizing at first, but I've long held a (perhaps unhealthy obsession) with visiting catacombs and underground tombs. If one is an avid player of dungeon crawling tabletops as I am, this is certainly a chance to experience the closest our world has to offer to the dungeons imagined by Gygax and his like, sans monsters and save or die mechanics.