The Roman Baths of Ankara are the ruined remains of an ancient

Roman bath In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers througho ...

complex in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, which were uncovered by excavations carried out in 1937–1944, and have subsequently been opened to the public as an

open-air museum An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is “the unconfined atmosphere� ...

History

The baths are located on a plateau, traditionally known as Çankırı Kapı, which rises 2.5 meters above the west side of Çankırı Caddesi, about 400 meters from the centre of the old Ankara district of

Ulus Ulus may refer to: Places * Ulus, Bartın, a district in Bartin Province, Turkey *Ulus, Ankara, an important quarter in central Ankara, Turkey ** Ulus (Ankara Metro), an underground station of the Ankara Metro Other uses * ''Ulus'' (newspaper), a ...

, and has been identified as a höyük (tumulus), with

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

, mixed with

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

and Seljuk, material at the top and

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empir ...

n settlement material at the base. The ancient city of Ancyra (modern Ankara) stood at the crossroads between the East and West and during the Roman period, the city's strategic location led to its rise to prominence as the capital of the province of

Galatia Galatia (; grc, Γαλατία, ''Galatía'', "Gaul") was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir, in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace ...

. To the east of this plateau ran a roadway from the city's sacred precinct, the area of the

Temple of Augustus and Rome Temple of Augustus and Rome is an augusteum located in Altındağ district of Ankara. It is thought to have been built around 25–20 AD. Besides being one of the most important Roman period ruins in the city, it is also known for ''Monumentum ...

, a section of which, flanked by second or third century grey-veined marble columns with Corinthian capitals, was uncovered during the construction of Çankırı Caddesi, during the development of Ankara into the new Turkish capital in the 1930s. The baths were constructed in the third century by the Roman Emperor

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor ...

(198–217), who also constructed the

Baths of Caracalla , alternate_name = it, Terme di Caracalla , image = File:Baths of Caracalla, facing Caldarium.jpg , caption = The baths as viewed from the south-west. The caldarium would have been in the front of the image , coordinates = ...

in Rome, in honour of Asclepios, the god of medicine. The baths were in use up until the eighth century when they were destroyed by fire leaving only the ruins of the basement and first floor. The adjacent höyük (tumulus) was excavated by Prof. Dr. Remzi Oğuz Arık in 1937 revealing the Phrygian and Roman remains. General Director of Museums Hamit Z. Koşay and field director Necati Dolunay administered further excavations, funded by the Türk Tarih Kurumu (

Turkish Historical Society The Turkish Historical Society ( tr, Türk Tarih Kurumu, TTK) is a research society studying the history of Turkey and the Turkish people, founded in 1931 by the initiative of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, with headquarters in Ankara, Turkey. It has been ...

), which revealed the bath buildings in 1938–1939 and fully exposed them in 1940-1943. Excavation's architect Mahmut Akok investigated and drew a reconstructed plan of the baths before their restoration was begun. Prof. Dr. Arık was able to date construction of the baths to the reign Caracalla by coins found during the excavations supported by contemporary inscriptions, whilst further coins indicated the baths were in continuous use for about 500 years, undergoing repair from time to time.

Layout

The site is entered via the ticket office on Çankırı Caddesi which opens out onto the old ''

palaestra A palaestra ( or ; also (chiefly British) palestra; grc-gre, παλαίστρα) was any site of an ancient Greek wrestling school. Events requiring little space, such as boxing and wrestling, took place there. Palaestrae functioned both in ...

'' (wrestling court), which was surrounded by a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cul ...

with 128 marble columns (32 on each side) now ruined and is home to a display of tombs, gravestones, altars and other inscriptions from the Roman,

and late

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

periods. Behind the palaestra the ''

apodyterium In ancient Rome, the apodyterium (from grc, ἀποδυτήριον "undressing room") was the primary entry in the public baths, composed of a large changing room with cubicles or shelves where citizens could store clothing and other belongin ...

'' (dressing room) and the three bath chambers, ''

caldarium 230px, Caldarium from the Roman Baths at Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the empty space where the hot air flowed through to heat the floor. A caldarium (also called a calidarium, cella caldaria or cella coctilium) was a room ...

'' (hot bath), ''

tepidarium The tepidarium was the warm (''tepidus'') bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system. The speciality of a tepidarium is the pleasant feeling of constant radiant heat which directly affects the human body from t ...

'' (warm bath) and the ''

frigidarium A frigidarium is one of the three main bath chambers of a Roman bath or ''thermae'', namely the cold room. It often contains a swimming pool. The succession of bathing activities in the ''thermae'' is not known with certainty, but it is thought ...

'' (cold bath), are laid out in a typical design. The abnormally large dimensions of the ''tepidarium'' and ''caldarium'' has been put down to the popularity of these warmer areas during the city's cold winters. The most prominent surviving features are the brick columns which supported the floor and around which air heated in underground ovens was circulated to warm the rooms above. The remains of the columned roadway are visible to the north of the ''palaestra''.

Gallery

File:Ankara Roma Hamamı Caldarium.jpg, Caldarium File:Ankara Roma Hamamı Hypocaust.jpg, Hypocaust File:Ankara Roma Hamamı Piscina.jpg, Piscina File:Ankara Roma Hamamı Tepidarium.jpg, Tepidarium File:Ankara Ancient Roman Bath Sarcophagus.JPG, Sarcophagus File:Ankara Ancient Roman Bath sarcophagus's inscription.JPG, Sarcophagus's inscription File:Ankara Roma Hamamı Tunnel of service.jpg, Tunnel of service File:Roman bath in Ankara 0231.JPG, Column capitals and Roman tomb inscriptions scattered around the Roman Bath in Ankara. File:Ankara Roma Hamamı.jpg, A view of Roman Baths of Ankara File:Ankara Roman Baths 3315.jpg, Ankara Roman Baths

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Baths of Ankara

Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Turkey Archaeological museums in Turkey Archaeological sites of classical Anatolia Buildings and structures in Ankara Buildings and structures completed in the 3rd century Museums in Altındağ, Ankara Museums of ancient Rome in Turkey Galatia (Roman province)

History

Layout

Gallery

See also

References