Baths of Caracalla Historical Timeline

Last updated on September 29, 2026

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Five years to build, three centuries in use, and one afternoon to kill — the day the aqueducts were cut.

Chronology

c. 212 AD — construction begins, probably initiated by Septimius Severus, on a site in the southern city that had been part of a vast garden estate, the horti Asiniani. The Severans also build the Via Nova leading to the baths. Structural impact: hills are cut and levelled into three platforms; the Aqua Antoniniana, a branch of the older Aqua Marcia, is built specifically to supply the complex. What you see today: the terracing the whole site sits on, and the reason there is water infrastructure at all.
216 AD — the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus, called Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus, inaugurates the building. Structural impact: the baths open after roughly five years of work. What you see today: essentially the building — the shell was substantially complete at this point.
217–235 AD — Caracalla dies in 217 but the site continues, and the works are completed under the last emperors of the dynasty, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. Structural impact: decoration and secondary structures are finished after the founder's death. What you see today: a complex whose patron never saw it finished.
4th century AD — restoration, particularly under the Emperor Constantine I. Structural impact: the plant is maintained rather than replaced. What you see today: why a third-century building was still working two centuries later.
5th century AD — the baths are still operational and are described as one of the seven wonders of Rome. Olympiodorus of Thebes records a capacity of 1,600, understood as simultaneous bathers, with a daily throughput thought to be 6,000 to 8,000. Structural impact: none. What you see today: the scale the rooms were sized for.
537 AD — during the Gothic War, Vitiges, king of the Goths, cuts the aqueducts during the siege of Rome, and the baths cease to function. Structural impact: the water supply is severed and the building becomes unusable overnight. What you see today: a ruin that failed as a system rather than collapsing as a structure.
1824 — Count Egidio di Velo excavates, recovering the mosaics now in the Vatican Museums. Luigi Canina follows in the frigidarium, and Battista Guidi digs between 1860 and 1867. Structural impact: the site is cleared and partly consolidated. What you see today: an excavated complex — and a good deal of its decoration in other museums.
1858–1869 — Giovan Battista Guidi, honorary inspector of Ancient Monuments, discovers the Domus di Vigna Guidi on the south-east side, a house predating the baths. Restoration work between 1866 and 1869 in the central block turns up a torso of Hercules and porphyry columns. Structural impact: an earlier building is found beneath the imperial one. What you see today: the frescoes now on the visiting route.
1937–1993 — the caldarium becomes the summer home of the Rome Opera company. Structural impact: a permanent performance use is imposed on ancient fabric. What you see today: a ruin that spent fifty-six years as an opera house.
1990 — the baths are the venue and backdrop for the first Three Tenors concert. Structural impact: none. What you see today: probably the single image by which most of the world knows the site.
2001 — opera use resumes, now on a temporary movable stage outside the main structure to reduce stress on the ancient ruins. Structural impact: performance load is deliberately taken off the monument. What you see today: summer staging that is placed beside the building rather than inside it.
2009 — the baths are the only archaeological site in Rome damaged by the L'Aquila earthquake, with further minor damage from the central Italy earthquake of August 2016. Structural impact: conservation work and monitoring. What you see today: the reason parts of the site are fenced at any given moment.
2022 — after a major restoration, the detached frescoes of the Domus di Vigna Guidi go back on display and enter the visiting route. Structural impact: a pre-baths building becomes part of the ticketed visit. What you see today: painted rooms older than the baths standing over them.

Verified against Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma, September 2026.

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Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma — The Baths of Caracalla are an extraordinary complex for size and variety of mosaic and marble decoration, built in only five years in the southern part of Rome on three descending terraces, served by the purpose-built Antoniniano aqueduct and reached by the via Nova, and they represent one of the best-preserved imperial buildings of antiquity because they were not affected by later construction, The Baths were built on the initiative of the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus, called Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus, who inaugurated the building in 216 AD, but the works continued beyond his death in 217 AD and were completed under the last emperors of the dynasty, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus; restored several times, above all by the emperor Constantine, the bath complex ceased to function in 537 AD when, during the Gothic War, Vitiges king of the Goths cut the aqueducts during the siege of Rome, Since 2022, at the end of a major restoration, the frescoes detached from the so-called Domus di Vigna Guidi, which predates the Baths, have returned to view; the house was discovered between 1858 and 1869 by Giovan Battista Guidi, honorary inspector of Ancient Monuments, on the south-east side of the bath complex, was covered over and then excavated and studied again from 1970, and has been re-displayed and made part of the visiting route, its sacello representing together the Egyptian deities Anubis, Isis and perhaps Osiris facing Jupiter, Juno and Minerva constituting a unicum (September 2026).
Checked against Wikipedia — The Baths of Caracalla in Rome were the city's second largest Roman public bath complex after the Baths of Diocletian, likely built between AD 212 or 211 and 216 or 217 during the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla, in operation until the 530s and then falling into disuse and ruin, The baths were located in the southern area of the city, Regio XII Piscina Publica, where members of the Severan family commissioned other construction works including the Via Nova leading to the baths and the Septizodium on the nearby Palatine Hill, and the site chosen had formerly belonged to a vast garden estate known as the horti Asiniani, The Aqua Antoniniana aqueduct, a branch of the earlier Aqua Marcia also worked on under Diocletian, was specifically built to serve the baths, The baths were still operational in the 5th century when they were referred to as one of the seven wonders of Rome, and Olympiodorus of Thebes mentions a capacity of 1,600, interpreted to refer to the maximum number of simultaneous visitors, while the daily capacity is thought to have been 6,000 to 8,000 bathers; the baths remained in use until the 6th century, In 1824 excavations at the baths were conducted by Count Egidio di Velo, whose findings included the mosaics now at the Vatican Museums, with further work by Luigi Canina in the frigidarium until the mid-19th century and then by Battista Guidi between 1860 and 1867, while restoration work in the central part of the complex from 1866 to 1869 revealed a torso of Hercules, porphyry columns and figure-adorned material, The central part of the bath complex, the caldarium, was the summer home of the Rome Opera company from 1937 to 1993; in 2001 use of the venue by the opera resumed but now uses a temporary movable stage outside of the main structure, which reduces the stress on the antique ruins, and it is also a concert venue, having achieved fame as the venue and backdrop for the first Three Tenors concert in 1990, The baths were the only archaeological site in Rome to be damaged by the earthquake near L'Aquila in 2009, and they experienced minor damage in August 2016 from an earthquake in central Italy (September 2026).

Baths of Caracalla Historical Timeline

Chronology

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