Most people are familiar with swimming baths. But if you ever visit the Baths of Caracalla in Rome you will be amazed that the Romans had their own version of our modern baths way back in AD 216, when they were finally finished.

And they were quite impressive too, especially when you consider how long ago they were built. The Baths, or Thermae, as they were known, were housed in a large building that looks stunning from the outside. It has survived the ensuing centuries very well, and while it does not look exactly the same as it did all those years ago, you can get a pretty good idea of what it did look like back then. What’s more they were in operation for a full three centuries before finally falling into disuse.

What you see today is a shadow of the former baths as the Romans would have known them. But this does not make any visit here any less worthwhile. You can stand where the Romans would once have bathed and see marks on the walls where other levels would once have been. You may need to use your imagination to get an idea of exactly how they would have looked back then, but you do not need to use much to see how the Romans would have come here to relax and socialise.

There are statues here too and you can see one of Aesclepius which is a full four metres high. It stands among the ruins that cannot fail to charm or delight visitors, no matter how deep their love of Roman history runs. You only have to use your imagination to picture the Romans coming here to swim, to relax and even to box. There was a part of the baths that was dedicated to this activity.

The Baths of Caracalla were so called because they were named after the son of the Emperor Septimus Severus, whose idea it was to construct the baths in the first place. Could he possibly have known or believed that hundreds of years later we would be staring at the majestic ruins of his vision?