The Roman architects who designed the towns and cities of the Roman empire were .
masters of urban planning, and the city of Rome is the model metropolis. On a typical .
day the Roman citizen could go to worship at the Pantheon. Then, maybe squeeze in .
some shopping at the marketplace before the show started at the Colosseum. Ending the .
day with a nice relaxing dip in the caldarium at the Baths of Caracalla.
Roman architects adopted the grid plan of the Etruscan and later Greek cities, dividing .
towns into four quarters defined by intersecting north-south and east-west arteries, called .
the cardo and the decumanus. A good example of a Roman town built on the grid system .
can be found at Timgad.
Rome was a sprawling metropolis laid out much like the city of Los Angeles. There .
was plenty of entertainment for the Roman citizen to enjoy including sporting events and .
theater. The Colosseum was an enormous entertainment center built in 72 CE. Roman .
audiences watched a variety of athletic events and spectacles, including animal hunts, .
fights to the death between gladiators or between gladiators and wild animals, .
performances of trained animals and acrobats, and even mock sea battles, for which the .
arena was flooded by a built in mechanism. The Colosseum also served as an arena to .
punish state criminals.
The emperors of Rome built large public bathing complexes to gain public favor. The .
baths were recreational and educational centers, as well as places to clean themselves. .
The marble, brick, and concrete Baths of Caracalla were laid out on a symmetrical plan. .
The bathing facilities were located together in the center of the main building to make .
efficient use of the below ground furnaces that heated them and to allow bathers to move .
comfortably from hot to cold pools and finish with a swim. On either side of the baths .
were other facilities such as exercise rooms, shops, latrines, and dressing rooms.
