Baths, Nero, and the Colosseum (7/10)

Today we were off to investigate more ruins, those of the Colosseum and the baths of Caracalla, and anything else we happened to stumble across on the way. There are bits of wall, large and small, fenced off all over the place, some with explanation, but most without. Their original status is probably not understood anyway.

Remains of Trajan's baths

On our way down to the Colosseum we investigated a ruin marked on one of our maps. These turned out to be yet another set of baths, this time built by Trajan. These complexes are huge (running out of adjectives!). Building bath houses was the same as building a temple - to boost the builder's prestige, and to keep the masses happy. These baths were built on top of an extraordinary complex built by Nero called the Domus Aurea, the Golden house. This was the pinnacle of extravagance and brought about Nero's downfall. It was supposed to have had 300 rooms, and these were only for entertainment. Nero thought of himself as a bit of a thespian, so this would fit with that ego. So far no bedrooms, kitchens nor latrines have been found – all very strange. The house was covered in gold leaf, and the internal rooms were covered in expensive marbles, gems and ivory. He had a lake dug where the colosseum now stands, and the whole complex covered 200 hectares of ground. 

A lot of effort is going towards preserving what is
left of Nero's Domus Aurea

Nero eventually committed suicide. His house suffered in the fire (Rome burns while Nero fiddles) and in the aftermath the house was buried and, Trajan built his baths on top partly to erase the embarrassing memory of Nero as well as bring himself some kudos. Since then, trees have been growing in the soil for years. Obviously this is all now known because of excavation work which has been done, but unfortunately not open to the public at the moment. There is a lot of work being done to stabilise the structure because water and the trees are destroying what is left. We expect the trees will be removed, but this now has to be done without causing other problems.

From here we made our way to the colosseum, and joined the queues, although because we already had tickets, it didn't take long to get in. Before we climbed the stairs to enter the arena, we had a look at an interesting exhibition on literature, writing, and libraries in the historical Roman context. Vellum started to be used after the ban on the export of papyrus from Egypt in the early centuries AD came into effect, because King Ptolemy wanted to prevent the Bergama (Turkey) Library from becoming bigger than that of Alexandria. Vellum was also cheaper, more flexible, and had a significantly higher durability in moist climates, so was an improvement anyway. Libraries became a accepted part of a bath house complex. Before that they were the prerogative of the rich. People were read to rather than sitting and reading themselves, partly because reading from a papyrus roll was an acquired skill, and partly because copies of manuscripts were expensive.

View of the undercroft at the Colosseum.  The structure
allows cages of animals to be hauled to the surface
by a sophisticated pulley system

Jill was a little surprised at the size of the colosseum. For some reason she expected the actual arena to be larger, but it was still an impressive sight. We hadn't realised that the arena was only used for a short period for the water-based spectacles, and then the under croft was fitted with twenty-eight hoists to move animals and scenery up into the arena for the bloody games and fights the baying crowds came to expect. Contrary to what some would like you to believe, no Christians were sacrificed in the arena. Some criminals who were Christian believers may have died in the arena, but not for their beliefs. Ironically it was Christianity which saved the colosseum from total destruction because of this myth. In the mid-1700's Pope Benedictine XIV declared it consecrated ground and this stopped the mining of stone for building materials by all and sundry. There wasn't really much left to take. Most of the marble cladding and all the statues have long gone, and the remaining internal structures are brick. There are scraps of marble columns and capitals scattered about but nothing really worth salvaging now. Most of the destruction happened in the Renaissance, with the increase in building which occurred during that period. We didn't go down into the under croft. This had to be done with a guide, so we decided not to bother. It was enough to know that both men and animals were killed to satisfy a blood lust without knowing the horrific numbers.

The Baths of Caracalla - the circular area was the hot room.
The walls are almost 40 metres high!

From the colosseum we set off for the Baths of Caracalla. These actually provided the backdrop for the original Three Tenors concert, so it might be worth having a look at that again. These are the most complete of any ruins of a bath complex, and they are staggering. They took eleven years, starting in 206, to complete, with 9000 workman working on them. All the floors were covered with beautiful mosaics, the baths were lined with basalt, granite and alabaster. The vaults, porticoes, gymnasium were lined with marble, and filled with huge columns and statues. One bath alone was the size of an Olympic swimming pool. You had the usually warm, hot and cold baths, the steam room, change rooms etc. The baths could accommodate 1,600 bathers at one time. There were two levels, but none of the information boards informed us of the use of the second floor. A huge portico surrounded the complex, and this accommodated shops and a library. These baths were in operation until the Visigoths lay siege to Rome and cut off the water supply. They then fell into disuse and gradually decayed. As usual, all the valuable stone and statues were robbed away, so that all that is left is the brick under-structure, some of the mosaic floor and a smattering of marble cornicing here and there on the upper walls, giving just a hint of what it looked like.

The Roman city walls seem to be
symbolic rather than effectual

As we were effectively on the Via Appia Antica, we thought that we would walk along it for a bit. There are still the remains of many mausoleums and other Roman ruins along it so thought it would be interesting. The first part of it was lined by tall brick walls on both sides. We passed some catacombs but they weren't open. We reached the the gate of San Sebastián, one of the gates in the original Roman walls, and decided to go no further. It was peak hour, and there didn't appear to be any footpaths on the continuation of the Via, so walking it was not going to be any fun. We decided to walk around the walls for a bit, before heading back in the direction of our hotel. The walls didn't really look as if they were defensive, certainly not against artillery (the Romans did have siege engines) although it appeared that arrow slits had been introduced into the walls at a later date. There was a walkway on the top of the wall, but the walls themselves were not very thick and wouldn't have stood up to a battering, so must really have been for controlling passage of people and goods in and out of the city.