Ancient Home, Prayer Room Open at Rome’s Baths of Caracalla

Journalists look at the frescoes coming from the sacellum, a small votive chapel, of a two-story home, or "domus," dating from around 134-138 AD that was partially destroyed to make way for the construction of the Caracalla public baths, which opened in 216 AD, are on display at the Caracalla archaeological park in Rome, Thursday, June 23, 2022. (AP)
Journalists look at the frescoes coming from the sacellum, a small votive chapel, of a two-story home, or "domus," dating from around 134-138 AD that was partially destroyed to make way for the construction of the Caracalla public baths, which opened in 216 AD, are on display at the Caracalla archaeological park in Rome, Thursday, June 23, 2022. (AP)
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Ancient Home, Prayer Room Open at Rome’s Baths of Caracalla

Journalists look at the frescoes coming from the sacellum, a small votive chapel, of a two-story home, or "domus," dating from around 134-138 AD that was partially destroyed to make way for the construction of the Caracalla public baths, which opened in 216 AD, are on display at the Caracalla archaeological park in Rome, Thursday, June 23, 2022. (AP)
Journalists look at the frescoes coming from the sacellum, a small votive chapel, of a two-story home, or "domus," dating from around 134-138 AD that was partially destroyed to make way for the construction of the Caracalla public baths, which opened in 216 AD, are on display at the Caracalla archaeological park in Rome, Thursday, June 23, 2022. (AP)

One the most spectacular examples of ancient Roman baths, the Baths of Caracalla, has become more spectacular. Authorities in Rome on Thursday opened to the public a unique private home that stood on the site before the baths, with a frescoed ceiling and prayer room honoring Roman and Egyptian deities.

The two-story home, or “domus,” dates from around 134-138 AD, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. It was partially destroyed to make way for the construction of the Caracalla public baths, which opened in 216 AD. The site today is a big tourist draw for the multi-leveled brick remains of the Imperial Roman baths, libraries and gyms and the marble mosaics that decorated the floors.

The home, believed to have belonged to a wealthy merchant’s family given the quality of the frescoes, therefore represents what was at the same site before the baths, and shows how the city evolved in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, Daniela Porro, Rome’s archaeological superintendent, said at the opening.

The domus ruins were first discovered in the mid-19th century about 10 meters (yards) underneath the current ground level of the baths. They were excavated about a century later, with the inner prayer room and fragments of the frescoed dining room ceiling removed for restoration and conservation.

The prayer room had been briefly exhibited but has been closed to the public for 30 years. It reopened Thursday alongside some of the never-before-seen ceiling fragments that feature images of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and agriculture, using prized Egyptian blue and Cinnabar red pigments, conservators said.

“Both the subject type and the particularity of the painting are unique in the Roman panorama of the Hadrianic age” when the domus was built, said Mirella Serlorenzi, director of the Caracalla site.

The inner temple features images of the Roman gods Jupiter, Juno and Minerva on one wall, and silhouettes of the Egyptian deities Isis and Anubis on other walls, evidence of the religious “syncretism” — the blending of different belief systems — that was common in Roman public monuments but not in domestic ones of the period.

“It’s the first time we find something like that in Rome, but also in the world because it’s not like there are a lot of them,” said Serlorenzi.

She noted that what experts know about Roman-era painting comes primarily from the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii near Naples, which were destroyed and their remains preserved under layers of volcanic materials when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.

“So Roman painting after the 1st century AD has remained a mystery because we just haven’t had rooms so well conserved up to the ceiling,” Serlorenzi said.

The domus exhibit, entitled “Before the Baths: The House where Gods Lived Together” is now a permanent part of the Caracalla itinerary.



California Man Wins $50 Million in Lawsuit over Burns from Starbucks Tea

FILE - This is the Starbucks sign on Black Friday shoppers line at a Starbucks kiosk in the Walden Galleria in Buffalo, NY., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
FILE - This is the Starbucks sign on Black Friday shoppers line at a Starbucks kiosk in the Walden Galleria in Buffalo, NY., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
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California Man Wins $50 Million in Lawsuit over Burns from Starbucks Tea

FILE - This is the Starbucks sign on Black Friday shoppers line at a Starbucks kiosk in the Walden Galleria in Buffalo, NY., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
FILE - This is the Starbucks sign on Black Friday shoppers line at a Starbucks kiosk in the Walden Galleria in Buffalo, NY., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

A delivery driver has won $50 million in a lawsuit after being seriously burned when a Starbucks drink spilled in his lap at a California drive-through, court records show.
A Los Angeles County jury found Friday for Michael Garcia, who underwent skin grafts and other procedures on his genitals after a venti-sized tea drink spilled instants after he collected it on Feb. 8, 2020. He has suffered permanent and life-changing disfigurement, according to his attorneys.
Garcia's negligence lawsuit blamed his injuries on Starbucks, saying that an employee didn't wedge the scalding-hot tea firmly enough into a takeout tray.
“This jury verdict is a critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility,” one of Garcia's attorneys, Nick Rowley, said in a statement.
Starbucks said it sympathized with Garcia but planned to appeal, The Associated Press reported.
“We disagree with the jury’s decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive," the Seattle-based coffee giant said in a statement to media outlets, adding that it was “committed to the highest safety standards” in handling hot drinks.
US eateries have faced lawsuits before over customer burns.
In one famous 1990s case, a New Mexico jury awarded a woman nearly $3 million in damages for burns she suffered while trying to pry the lid off a cup of coffee at a McDonald’s drive-through. A judge later reduced the award, and the case ultimately was settled for an undisclosed sum under $600,000.
Juries have sided with restaurants at times, as in another 1990s case involving a child who tipped a cup of McDonald's coffee onto himself in Iowa.