(1) This piece of masonry, 7.3 m. high, formed part of the palaestra of the public baths, the plan of which is laid out in front of the Museum.(2) Found in the south-east palaestra or exercise court of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome in 1545, it was heavily restored and fitted out as a fountain by the Farnese.(3) The gymnasium included a large palaestra surrounded by columns, and the baths in the east wing were fully equipped during the reign of Trajan when the emperor had the roof repaired.(4) He noted two features special to Eastern baths: the absence of the palaestra (exercise court) and the diminished importance of the frigidarium (cold plunge).(5) Part of the adjacent tepidarium was also revealed, together with a furnace-house, service rooms and part of the palaestra or exercise-yard with the remains of a cockfighting pit.
