Construction of the baths was probably initiated by emperor Septimius Severus and completed during the reign of his son, Caracalla. They were inaugurated in AD 216. The baths were located in the southern area of the city, Regio XII, where members of the Severan family commissioned other construction works: the "via nova" leading to the baths and the Septizodium on nearby Palatine Hill. The site chosen for the baths formerly belonged to a vast garden estate known as the "horti Asiniani", developed by Gaius Asinius Pollio during the reign of Augustus. The Farnese Bull sculptural group which was later moved into the Baths of Caracalla was already present at the site in the time of Pollio, who imported it to display in his gardens.