The Roman Baths of Ankara are the ruined remains of an ancient Roman bath complex in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, 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 is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings" ...

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

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

and

Seljuk Seljuk (, ''Selcuk'') or Saljuq (, ''Saljūq'') may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * S ...

, material at the top and

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

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 (; , ''Galatía'') 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 (cf. Tylis), who settled here ...

. To the east of this plateau ran a roadway from the city's sacred precinct, the area of the Temple of Augustus and Rome, 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 AD, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father and then r ...

(198–217), who also constructed the

Baths of Caracalla The Baths of Caracalla () in Rome, Italy, were the city's second largest Ancient Rome, Roman public baths, or ''thermae'', after the Baths of Diocletian. The baths were likely built between AD 212 (or 211) and 216/217, during the reigns of empero ...

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), 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; ) was any site of a Greek wrestling school in antiquity. Events requiring little space, such as boxing and wrestling, occurred there. ''Palaistrai'' functioned both independently and as a part ...

'' (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 cu ...

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 Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

periods. Behind the palaestra the ''

apodyterium In ancient Rome, the ''apodyterium'' (from , "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 belongings while bathing.PBS https: ...

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

caldarium image:Caldarium.JPG, 230px, ''Caldarium'' from the Roman baths at Bath, Somerset, Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the empty space where the hot air flowed through to heat the floor. A (also called a ''calidarium'', ''cella ca ...

'' (hot bath), ''

tepidarium The ''tepidarium'' was the warm (''tepidus'') bathroom of the thermae, 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 ...

'' (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 tho ...

'' (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:Baños romanos, Ankara, Turquía, 2024-10-03, DD 45.jpg, Piscina File:Baños romanos, Ankara, Turquía, 2024-10-03, DD 32.jpg, Tepidarium File:Baños romanos, Ankara, Turquía, 2024-10-03, DD 37.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:Baños romanos, Ankara, Turquía, 2024-10-03, DD 31.jpg, Roman vase File:Baños romanos, Ankara, Turquía, 2024-10-03, DD 35.jpg, Avenue of lions

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