incisions into the marble surface. More remarkable, however, is the
moving characterization of Caracalla’s suspicious nature, a further
development from the groundbreaking introspection of the portraits
of Marcus Aurelius. Caracalla’s brow is knotted, and he abruptly
turns his head over his left shoulder, as if he suspects danger from be-
hind. The emperor had reason to be fearful. An assassin’s dagger
felled him in the sixth year of his rule. Assassination would be the fate
of many Roman emperors during the turbulent third century CE.
LEPCIS MAGNAThe hometown of the Severans was Lepcis
Magna, on the coast of what is now Libya. In the late second and early
third centuries CE, the Severans constructed a modern harbor there as
well as a new forum, basilica, arch, and other monuments. The Arch of
Septimius Severus has been rebuilt. It features friezes on the attic on all
four sides. One frieze (FIG. 10-65) depicts the chariot procession of
the emperor and his two sons on the occasion of their homecoming
in 203. Unlike the triumph panel (FIG. 10-41) on the Arch of Titus in
Rome, this relief gives no sense of rushing motion. Rather, it has a
stately stillness. The chariot and the horsemen behind it are moving
forward, but the emperor and his sons are detached from the proces-
sion and face the viewer. Also different is the way the figures in the sec-
ond row have no connection with the ground and are elevated above
the heads of those in the first row so that they can be seen more clearly.
Both the frontality and the floating figures were new to official Ro-
man art in Antonine and Severan times, but both appeared long before
in the private art of freed slaves (FIGS. 10-9and 10-10). Once sculptors
in the emperor’s employ embraced these non-Classical elements, they
had a long afterlife, largely (although never totally) displacing the Clas-
sical style the Romans adopted from Greece. As is often true in the his-
tory of art, the emergence of a new aesthetic was a by-product of a pe-
riod of social, political, and economic upheaval. Art historians call this
new non-naturalistic, more abstract style the Late Antique style.
BATHS OF CARACALLA The Severans were also active
builders in the capital. The Baths of Caracalla (FIG. 10-66) in Rome
were the greatest in a long line of bathing and recreational complexesLate Empire 27710-65Chariot procession of Septimius Severus, relief from the attic of the Arch of Septimius Severus, Lepcis Magna, Libya, 203 ce.Marble,
5 6 high. Castle Museum, Tripoli.
A new non-naturalistic aesthetic emerged in later Roman art. In this relief from a triumphal arch, Septimius Severus and his two sons face the viewer
even though their chariot is moving to the right.
N0 1 00 300 200 feet
0 50 1 00 meters12345510-66Plan of the Baths of Caracalla, Rome, Italy,
212–216 ce.(1) natatio, (2) frigidarium, (3) tepidarium,
(4) caldarium, (5) palaestra.
Caracalla’s baths could accommodate 1,600 bathers.
They resembled a modern health spa and included
libraries, lecture halls, and exercise courts in addition
to bathing rooms and a swimming pool.1 ft.