Curinga is a small village near Catanzaro in Calabria. The Calabrian area has always been an inexhaustible source of archaeological finds, especially in a well-demarcated area known as the Isthmus of Mercellinara: a narrow strip of land separating the Ionian Sea from the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Roman thermal baths of Acconia di Curinga are situated near the center of the village on a small rural road and the visit is free. They are supposed to be private baths that were part of a large monumental villa, belonging to a very powerful family. Situated near the via Popilia, which led from Rome to Reggio Calabria,  Curinga Roman Baths it is the only example of the use of Roman Africa’s construction techniques in Italy

Map of the Via Popilia. Public Domain

History of the Complex

The thermal complex of Acconia di Curinga is situated in the alluvial plain, shaped by the estuaries of Amato and Angitola rivers, in a very populated region since the Roman times.

Acconia region and Curinga on the Map of the Isthmus of Marcellinara. Source: Openstreetmap

The complex was built during the Imperial era and features various rooms like the frigidarium, the tepidarium and caldarium. The building, wrongly identified in ancient literature as the temple of Castor and Pollux, underwent scientific examination only from the 1960s onwards.

Appearance of the Curinga site in the 1960’s, before the excavations. Source: Klearchos magazine, 1966.

The discovered materials and analyzed masonry techniques corroborate the thesis that the baths were refurbished between the 3rd and the 4th century, and the monument remained in use until the end of the 6th century, serving different purposes.

View on the Baths complex. Photo by Michel Gybels.

The Archaeological Survey 

The visible parts of the complex occupy an area of about 1000 square meters, even if preliminary investigations suggest a planimetric development, and thus land occupation, of at least twice as much. The structure consists of service and utility rooms. The first ones are located on the south-eastern side and are overall six praefurnia, functional to heating air and water. The second ones, starting from the South to the North are caldaria (marked by the letter “C” on the plan below), tepidaria (letter “T”), and a frigidarium (F). A rectangular room, interpreted until today as an atrium or gymnasium (“Atria” on the plan), could correspond to a natatio, according to new excavations. In the almost symmetrical layout, one could distinguish the rooms used by women from those used by men.

Plan of the Curinga Baths. Source: Intervento di valorizzazione e tutela delle Terme Romane di Curinga.

The Rooms

The entrance to the baths was probably on the northern side, where the last excavation campaign revealed several wall structures with an uncertain function. The frigidarium is the largest room in the baths, it has a rectangular shape and it includes two large exedras. The roof consisted of a wide central cross vault, ending with two arches set on quadrangular pillars that connected the space with the two exedras, covered by small domes. The internal face of the walls of the exedras were interrupted by three semicircular niches, carved into the masonry, that probably hosted some statues.

The view on the exedra of the frigidarium from the exterior of the Baths. Photo by Michel Gybels.

From the frigidarium there was an access to a small rectangular room, surrounded on three sides by other spaces: it was a tepidarium, in which acclimatization to the higher temperatures took place. It constituted, both functionally and architecturally, the connecting element between the frigidarium and the rest of the baths complex. Given the state of preservation of the building, bathing paths, related to the functions of each hall, can only be proposed as a hypothesis. The latest excavations have revealed a series of pillars that may belong to the peristyle of a probable gymnasium. The service rooms are all located on the southern and south-eastern side of the building.

A rectangular structure formerly believed to be a gymnasium is probably a pool – a natatio. Photo by Michel Gybels.

On the South side there is a corridor, which allowed the loading of the pre-sufornia for the southern basins of the calidaria. The corridor was accessible through a door on the western side of the wall with three steps, which make it clear that these rooms were located below the floor levels and away from the view of those who used the structure. The corridor has a well-preserved cobblestone pavement.

View on the southern part of the Baths complex. Photo by Michel Gybels.

Building Technique

The building technique that characterizes the first phase of the building is opus testaceum, as face of the wall structures. The bricks used in Curinga are between 3.5 and 4 cm high, varying in colour from bright red to yellow and alternating with mortar. A disastrous event affected the thermal complex in ancient times.

Example of the Opus Testaceum.

This is testified by a massive restoration intervention, both structural and conservative, characterized by a new type of building technique. That was a wall made of horizontal lithic elements alternating with bricks that were probably re-used.

The later wall re-built in opus vittatum using bricks and stones .

Another restoration of the baths, occurred in the 3rd and 4th century, was aimed at the structural reinforcement of the apse of the east caldarium, which was replaced by a curvilinear wall. Between the middle of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th century the thermal complex was disused and lost its function.

Conclusion 

The construction of the thermal complex of Acconia di Curinga is part of a lively construction activity around the middle of the 2nd century. Its presence is also confirmed by the contemporary structures found in the Roman neighborhood of Santa Aloe in the nearby city of Vibo Valentia, an area where archaeological investigations have shown the presence of building facilities together with bath facilities, attributable to the middle of the 2nd century. It is still unclear whether the baths were public or private. Probably they were part of a private villa, but other hypotheses reveal that the thermal baths could be connected to a public building.

Gone into disuse probably for the extinction of the family that owned it, the structure was transformed during the first half of the sixth century and it was used as a place of Christian worship. The building, especially the frigidarium, well suited as a place of worship for the presence of pools that could be used as baptismal fonts.

Bibliography 

MEDRI M. – PIZZO A. (a cura di), Le terme pubbliche nell’Italia romana (II secolo a.C. – fine IV d.C). Architettura, tecnologia e società, Seminario Internazionale di Studio, Roma 4-5 Ottobre 2018, Roma 2019

CESAREO C.N., Le Terme Romane di Acconia di Curinga (IV sec. d.C.). Sintesi di bellezza e ingegneria, in «Lamezia Storica», numero 1, Agosto 2022

As a part of the Empire for over 350 years, from annexation by the emperor Claudius in 43 AD to the full Roman retreat in 410, Britain today is scattered with remains of its ancient, Classical past. For a long time, the island was ignored: although Julius Caesar is known to have landed here as early as around 55 BC, no Roman would land here again for almost a century. Indeed, Tacitus suggests that the island was neglected as a matter of policy by the earliest emperors, including Augustus and Tiberius! (Tacitus, Agricola, 13).

Despite being on the very edges of the Empire, and home to a native population that the earliest writers dismiss of as simple barbarians, the island quickly took on many of the social and cultural characteristics of Roman life following the Roman conquest. Rebellions would occur over the centuries, most notably those of Boudicca in 60 AD and Carausius in the late 3^rd century, but, for the most part, Britain became a flourishing province of the Empire, and was bedecked in recognisably Roman fineries, often with a distinctly native flourish.

For the modern explorer, the remains of Rome – whether that be baths, amphitheatres, legionary fortresses or roads – can be seen all over Britain. Here are 5 of the best:  

5/ Viroconium

Situated close to the northern Welsh border, in the town of Wroxeter in Shropshire, the town of Virconium stands as an excellent reminder of how pervasive Roman culture was within the imperial provinces. Even in the far north of the Empire, many of the identifying features typically associated with Roman urban culture can be seen replicated in these decidedly British contexts.

Originally the home of the Cornovii Celts, who made their home on the iron-age hillfort on the Wrekin (the Uiroconion), the town of Viroconium was originally settled as a frontier settlement in the earliest years of the Roman conquest. Occupying a strategic location, at the end of Watling Street which ran from Dover, the site provided the Romans with a base of security from which to consolidate their control in the north.

By as early as 80 AD however, the military were no longer required here: from this point onwards, the story of Viroconium is the story of the growth of a truly Roman settlement. It quickly acquired the trappings of Roman urbanism, including a forum, a grid-street pattern, temples, and, of course, thermae (a bath house). Many of these are date to the period of expansion between 120 – 130 AD; indeed during the reign of Hadrian, in the Golden Age of the 2^nd century AD, the town is estimated to have grown to around 173 acres and to have been one of the richest and largest cities in the northern empire, and certainly within Britain.

Today, the remains of the thermae – known locally as “the Old Work” are an impressive sight to behold. The surviving features of the frigidarium (the cold room), along with the hypocaust heating system, the structural features comprise the largest free-standing Roman ruins in England.

4/ Vindolanda Fort – Frontier Life

Located just to the south of Hadrian’s Wall in the north of Britain, near Bardon Mill in Northumberland, the auxiliary fort of Vindolanda is a priceless window into life in the Roman Empire that is arguably without parallel in the northern provinces. In use from around 85 AD through to the dying embers of Roman rule in the late 4^th century (ca.380 AD), the fort is famous for the recovery of the Vindolanda tablets. These wooden leaf tablets, which document magically day to day life in a frontier fort, are some of the oldest examples of handwritten documents in Britain.

Predating Hadrian’s Wall, Vindolanda would once have been a key part of the original imperial frontier (the Stanegate Road). Over the course of its 3 centuries of use, the fort was demolished and rebuilt no fewer than 9 times, evolving from a simple wooden encampment into the imposing stone fortification you will be able to explore today, which appears to have been developed extensively during the campaigns of Septimius Severus in the north of Britain in 208-211.

Although the remains of the fortress’ structures are well preserved and worth exploring, the real draw of Vindolanda is the truly excellent museum – Chesterholm Museum – on site. As Vindolanda remains an active archaeological site, the museum is constantly being updated with new discoveries. It is definitely recommended that visitors take their time to explore the museum and its grounds, as there are treasures everywhere. From a full-sized reconstruction of a Roman Temple in the grounds, there are truly priceless and unique remains of daily life in Roman Britain to be found within.

Until as late as 2011, one would have to travel to the British Museum in London to see the tablets, but now a selection are on display here. These delicate wooden tablets with their wispy ink writing miraculously and are true postcards from the past. Their subject matter varies massively. Some are strictly official, detailing administrative requests from the soldiers stationed here. Others though are wonderfully private. The most famous of these is probably Tablet 291, which records the invitation to a birthday party made by Claudia Severa, the wife of a nearby camp commander, to Sulpicia Lepidina!

3/ Fishbourne Palace – A Villa fit for a King?

Situated in Chichester, West Sussex, on the south coast of England, this sprawling villa, dating to around 75 AD, is the largest residential Roman building ever discovered in Britain, and is in fact the largest north of the Alps. Much of the palace has been well excavated and is today part of an excellent heritage site, which includes an on-site museum. The exquisite and very-well preserved mosaics that have been recovered from the site should be high on any Roman Britain must-see lists.

The palace’s original excavator, archaeologist Barry Cunliffe, suggested that this was once the home of Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus (King Cogidubnus to those of you who studied the Cambridge Latin Course!), a local pre-Roman chieftain, who thanks to his support for the invaders, was installed as a client king over several southern territories. Other interpretations argue instead that the palatial complex was owned by Sallustius Lucullus, a late 1^st century governor who would fall fatally foul of the emperor Domitian’s paranoia in 93 AD.

Whoever the actual owner was, what is striking is how quickly after the initial conquest the forms and features of a recognisably Roman culture took hold in Britain and began to be ostentatiously displayed. In size, it is roughly equivalent to Nero’s Domus Aurea, or Golden House, which sprawled across the hills to the east of the city and was a viewed as a sure sign of his tyranny. Just as strikingly, in terms of floor plan, the organisation of Fishbourne Palace closely resembles that of the Domus Flavia, another tyrant’s palace, this time that belonging to Domitian on the Palatine Hill. In its size and organisation mirroring the imperial palaces in Rome, as well as the opulence of its interior decoration, Fishbourne Palace makes a mockery of any notion that Britain was a provincial backwater for the ancient Romans. Indeed, arguably nowhere else does the assessment of Tacitus ring quite so true:

“A liking sprang up for our style of dress, and the “toga” became fashionable. Step by step they were led to things which dispose to vice, the lounge, the bath, the elegant banquet. All this in their ignorance, they called civilisation, when it was but a part of their servitude.” (Tacitus, Agr.. 21)

2/ Hadrian’s Wall – The edges of Empire

This vast defensive wall in the north of Britain are perhaps the most iconic of the Roman remains in Britain. The construction of this vast defensive frontier was begun in 122 AD under the auspices of the Emperor Hadrian, who is well known for visiting the extremities of Empire and setting its geographic limits. The wall in Britain stretched from the River Tyne in the East to the Solway Firth on the Irish Sea in the West. A significant stretch of the wall is still standing today, running for a total of 73 miles across the north of England.

The exact purpose for building the wall remains contested, but it seems clear that it served as an imposing statement of Roman strength. Hadrian’s biographer in the none-too-dependable Historia Augusta, suggests that it was built to separate Rome from the barbarians – the Picts – to the north. (SHA, Hadr., 11.2). This seems to have been part of a broader policy of the emperor: similar defensive fortifications were built around the edges of the empire, notably in North Africa for instance.

Visitors to the wall today are spoilt for choice with how best to explore the remains. English Heritage offer a number of different visitor trails for you to walk along and follow the course of the wall amidst the spectacular scenery. The wall was punctuated by fortifications, and the best preserved of these today can still be seen and explored with several – notably Housesteads and Birdoswald – doubling as excellent visitor centres and museums with material from the soldiers who once called these far-flung defences home.

1/ Aquae Sulis – Gods and Curses in a Georgian Heritage Site

No trip to explore Roman Britain could possibly be completed without exploring the ancient thermal complex of Aquae Sulis in the city of Bath in southern England. The archaeological site in the heart of the gorgeous Georgian city is exceptionally well-preserved and includes the remains of a Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House and Sacred Spring, and an excellent museum which houses material from the site.

Development of the site by the Romans appears to have begun almost as soon as the initial conquest of the island was complete, some time in the early 60’s AD. However, there is evidence to suggest that site of the baths, with its thermal hot spring, had been used as a sacred space by the native Celtic peoples long before Roman conquest. Indeed, for the indigenous people, the springs were dedicated to the goddess Sulis. Ever open to incorporating native deities into their own diverse pantheon and worshipping them around the Empire, the Romans associated Sulis with Minerva, and duly developed the site around Roman architectural forms. Indeed, the Latin name for the town – Aquae Sulis – means “Waters of Sulis”.

Within the museum at the site, one can see a plethora of defixiones, or lead curse tablets. These were dedicated to Sulis Minerva and tossed into the sacred waters. They offer wonderful insights into the lives of the ancients, as they asked the goddess for revenge on those whom they felt had wronged them in their day-to-day life.

What to See There Now ?

Timetravelrome describes and locates on the map all 5 sites described above. Find out more about these and thousands of other sites: www.timetravelrome.com

Aquae Sulis (Bath) on Timetravelrome App:

Author: Kieren Johns for Timetravelrome

Links to additional content: Viroconium, Vindolanda fort, Fishbourne Palace, Hadrian’s Wall, Aquae Sulis.

Header image: Aquae Sulis, By Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0,

Spectacular Building

The massive bath complex was constructed by the Emperor Caracalla, of the Severan dynasty, between AD 212 and 216. The Baths of Caracalla were the second largest bathing complex in the Roman Empire (only the Baths of Diocletian were larger). The large natatio (a swimming pool the size of a modern Olympic pool) was roofless, and surrounded by overhead bronze mirrors positioned to direct sunlight into the bathing area. The massive columns of the central frigidarium were 12 metres high and weighed almost 100 tonnes. In addition to the series of hot and cold bathing rooms, the baths boasted a sauna, an enormous public library, two palaestrae, an athletic track, gardens, massage rooms, perfumeries, cafes, and shops. Excavations of the underground levels also found a Mithraeum and water mill.

Thirteen thousand prisoners of war from Septimius Severus’s earlier Scottish campaign laboured to construct the baths. Six thousand skilled tradesman and six hundred designated marble workers were also employed. The massive construction project would have required the delivery of 2,000 tonnes of material every day over the six years, in addition to the intricate decorative work, in order to complete it within that time. The Aqua Marcia aqueduct was built by Caracalla at the same time specifically to serve the baths.

The aqueduct supplied a massive 70 litres (18.5 gallons) of water every second to the baths. Water was stored in an enormous cistern divided into 18 compartments with a total capacity of 80,000 cubic metres. Fires were kept burning day and night to heat the water that provided steaming baths for Rome’s citizens. An entire subterranean level complete with storage rooms, wide passageways, and 50 furnace ovens, exists beneath the baths. It is this technological heart of the baths that is now accessible to the public.

Hot Water for 6.000 Daily Visitors

During its peak, some 6,000 Romans visited the baths every day. The baths were large enough to accommodate 1,600 bathers at any one time. To keep the water in the caldarium’s seven hot pools at a constant, sweltering 40°C (104°F), slaves tended the 50 underground ovens 24 hours a day. It required 10 tonnes of wood to be carted into the city every day just to heat the water for the Baths of Caracalla. A 3km (almost 2 mile) network of tunnels connected the 50 ovens. The tunnels were 6 meters (20 ft) wide, with vaulted ceilings, and brick floors. Wheel ruts in the brickwork show the passage of centuries of carts, laden with wood.

The ovens were built as brick platforms mounted on steps with storage space beneath for the wood. The water was heated in massive copper tanks and fed through the baths in a network of lead pipes before draining away. For the slaves working in these subterranean levels, it would be been stiflingly hot. To recreate the experience, light and sound installations animate the underground galleries with fire and water as visitors walk through the underground passageways. Within the tunnels, it is now possible to see, fully restored, one of the massive ovens that once heated the water that flowed through the complex.

What to See Here:

The Baths of Caracalla are one of the most majestic archaeological sites in Rome. Its incredible preservation clearly shows the architectural and technological greatness of the ancient Romans.  Even though only an incomplete shell of its brick-faced concrete structure survives, this is still enough to give you a unique sense of the scale of Roman monumental architecture; something that’s easily lost in the city, even in sites like the Forum.

What the baths don’t give a sense of is the elaborate decorations that would have ornamented its floors, walls, and ceilings. Only traces survive: of naval scenes (reminiscent of those found at Ostia) and, more famously, the large curved floor mosaic that shows all of the famous gladiators and athletes of the time—people once as recognisable as any of today’s A-listers.

Not to miss is the bath complex’s triple groin vaulted frigidarium. As the most important room in the baths, it would have been breathtaking: supported by grey granite columns and white marble capitals. This is to say nothing of its sculptural display, of which, regrettably, nothing remains onsite. Offsite, however, in the Archaeological Museum of Naples, is the famous statue of the Farnese Hercules taken from the baths: a sculptural addition no small part influenced by the fact that Hercules was a god Caracalla tried to cultivate an affiliation with.

You may feel the grandeur of the edifice watching a short 3D video.

Caracalla Bath on Timetravelrome app:

To find out more: Timetravelrome.

Author: written for Timetravelrome by Michelle Richards. “What to see” text was written by Alexander Meddings.

Header photo: Panorama of the Baths of Caracalla, by Ethan Doyle White, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 .