These baths opened in 306 AD, and they were used for around two hundred years before the Goths cut off the water supply. Although it is not much different from other baths, Diocletian’s is well known for its age and enormous scale. It’s possible that these baths were created to be better than the Baths of Caracalla, of which these new baths were twice as large as Caracalla’s entire building. However, the entire building was not only a bathhouse, it also contained libraries, gyms, theaters, gardens, and other social areas. Areas with different pools had three different temperatures, one cold, another warm, and the final, hot. Obviously, genders would be separated by room, but there was one for each gender. The floors were made of marble, with mosaics decorated all around, while the exterior was decorated with stucco that was made to look like marble. The main hall is eventually used as the model for the Basilica of Maxentius, another structure on this list.

         Returning to the baths, a hot room would provide heat from under the floor, from a furnace burning wood. Then there would be a bath full of hot water and a drier area to scrape off excess dirt. The furnace in the warm room was kept at a lower temperature, but still above natural room temperature. Because it was in the entrance hall, it had more than enough natural light, probably an area where artwork could be seen decorating the walls. Finally, the cold rooms would be used to close one’s pores, especially after having washed in the hotter rooms earlier. As mentioned earlier, these baths functioned for about two hundred years, and although it’s a short period compared to other Roman successes, the Baths of Diocletian deserve a place on this list for their scale and strong condition.