All roads lead to Rome, but only the Appian Way or Via Appia was also called Via Sacra (Sacred Way), and dubbed Regina Viarum (Queen of Roads).
It was not by chance. Rome was the most northern of the 30 towns forming the Latin Confederation, and so special consideration was given the road leading South, to the fatherland of the Latins, and also further afield to Magna Graecia in Southern Italy, IE to the cradle of the Italian Civilization.

Caracalla was emperor Septimius Severus' son.

The gigantic baths, which could host up to 2,000 citizens, were Rome's second largest, as Diocletian's bath in the Esquiline were also larger.

The imposing compound included three gigantic covered pools (with hot, warm and cold water), gyms, halls for meetings and lectures.

Just after the gate, you first find the site where St. Peter according to the tradition had a vision of Jesus (Domine, quo vadis? Lord, where shall I go?) when he feared that he would meet his caputre and death in Rome.

The first walls of Rome were the Servian, built by the king Servus. Part of them can still be seen near the Termini train station.

Marcus Aurelius fortified the town in the 3rd century AD with imposing walls, interspersed with high towers, largely extant today.

For many centuries they defended the town, although the Alaric's Goths managed to break through in 410 AD.

Map showing the extension of the first tract of the Appian Way, which was paved in 312 BC til the first town south of Rome, called Bovillae, where from the Gens Julia, the family clan of Julius Caesar originated. Today this tract is an archeological park, the largest in Europe.

The tomb was later transfomed into a fortress by the Caetani family, who imposed a toll in the Middle Age. There is also an adjoining convent, now transformed into an archeological museum (entrance: 5 Euros).