The Baths of Cara­calla, the sec­ond largest pub­lic baths in Rome, were built by Emper­or Cara­calla in the third cen­tu­ry for polit­i­cal pro­pa­gan­da pur­pos­es: The emper­or sim­ply want­ed peo­ple to like him. The baths were func­tion­al for over three hun­dred years. Neg­li­gence, loot­ing and an earth­quake turned the com­plex into ruins but their sheer size and inge­nu­ity con­tin­ues to impress vis­i­tors.