On my next and final outing in Tunisia I made my way, again by train, to the extensive Roman bath complex about 10km north of Tunis. These magnificent baths were built during the reign of Antonin around 200 CE to add a Latin architectural element the Roman takeover of Carthage. The baths and their surrounding gardens occupied a prime seafront local about 1 kilometer by 1 kilometer right next to the burgeoning city of Carthage.
Walking towards the ruins today, one must pass through a botanical garden containing many varieties of leafy tropical plants and colorful singing birds flying from treetop to treetop. There are strange plastic telephone booth sized booths every 100 meters housing bored yet serious looking young men in guard uniforms. Serious because each one of the twenty or so I saw carried a mean looking machine guns slung over their shoulders.
It looked like the young guards were prepared to suppress a major theft attempt of what was left of the Antonin Bath, which, after centuries of neglect and purposeful destruction by the Vandals in 500 CE, was no significant amount. Indeed, it took a large effort on the part of my imagination to reconstruct what these ruins might once have looked like in their glory days. With over 400 columns, 20 domes, and arches spanning 60 feet, the Antonin Baths must have been a sight to rival any of the wonders of the ancient world.
Reading an information plaque, I saw a reconstructed floor plan of the baths that boasted dozens of rooms, both big and small, all playing some role in the function of the structure. There were steam rooms, hot water rooms, cold water rooms, massage rooms, smoking rooms, eating rooms, socializing rooms, business rooms, and, no doubt, fornicating rooms. It was like a miniature city, with all of its different parts all playing a role in the functioning of the whole.
Today all that remains are a few imposingly tall columns still in their original places, and seemingly endless miles of underground passages, water storage canals and chambers. And of course Roman arches to be seen everywhere – their most enduring architectural legacy to the world.
The setting of the baths right by the sea is beautiful in its own right; perfectly capturing the symbiotic relationship between humankind and nature. The Romans ingeniously made use of the tide water to clean out certain parts of the baths, saving themselves the trouble.
The Antonin Baths represent the height of Roman bath building, and came only after centuries of building other, lesser baths in all parts of the Roman Empire.
- XNM
