By Peter Edwell for The Conversation Standing in the vast ruins of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, hundreds of gulls circle above. Their haunting cries echo voices from 1,800 years ago. Today, the bare shell of what was one of Rome’s largest bath complexes mostly sits empty, occasionally playing host to opera performances. But what were the baths of ancient Rome actually like back then? And why were the Romans so into public bathing? Public Baths Everywhere: Roman Holiday While living in Rome for almost a year, I noticed the remains of ancient baths ( thermae in Latin) everywhere. Virtually every emperor built them, and by the middle of the fourth century there were 952 public baths in the
