The Bath-Gymnasium Complex

The Bath-Gymnasium Complex

Bathing was part of an important Roman social tradition, which spread throughout the Roman Empire. That tradition emphasized the benefits of leisure and combined the pleasure of bathing in tepid, warm, and cold water with conversation, exercise and intellectual pursuits. Roman bath buildings are the physical manifestation of that tradition and their remains help clarify our understanding of it. In the traditional Turkish bath, or hamam, we see a distant but direct extension of the Roman baths and bathing.

This complex at Sardis is one of at least two monumental bath buildings in the city and covers 23,000 square meters (figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). It belongs to a fairly standardized type of “Imperial” bath known in other cities of Asia Minor such as Ephesus, and throughout the Roman empire. In plan, the rooms and halls are symmetrically arranged, with pools of hot and cold water (the caldarium and frigidarium) located on the central axis (figs. 9, 10). The eastern half of the complex was an open court (palaestra) that provided space for exercise and ceremonies. The western half was the bath unit, composed of many large halls covered by vaults.

The two-story colonnaded space known as the Marble Court was originally separate from the baths and was used for special ceremonies (fig. 11, 12, 13). An inscription on the first story (with red-painted letters) dedicates this space to the Roman Imperial family: Emperors Caracalla and Geta, and their mother Julia Domna; and records that the hall was gilded by the city and two ladies of consular rank (fig. 14); the sarcophagus of one of these ladies, Claudia Antonina Sabina, was found at Sardis and is in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

The complex was probably completed in the late 2nd or early 3rd century AD. Repaired and modified in succeeding centuries, including the conversion of one of its halls into a Synagogue, the bath fell into ruin in the 7th century AD.

The Marble Court, Synagogue, and other parts of the Bath were restored between 1964 and 1973 (figs. 15, 16, 17).

  • Fig. 1

    Plan of Sardis (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 2

    Plan of the Bath-Gymnasium Complex and adjacent structures (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 3

    Restored hypothetical axonometric drawing of roofs (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 4

    Restored axonometric study of the structural system of the Bath Block: piers, arches, and vaulting (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 5

    Restored E-W section through Caldarium (BWH), Central Hall (BCH), Frigidarium (BE-H), Marble Court, and Palaestra, looking N, 2nd C. AD (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 6

    Restored N-S section through Synagogue, Palaestra, and LNH, looking N (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 7

    Restored N-S section through the Marble Court (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 8

    Aerial view of the Bath-Gymnasium Complex (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 9

    Reconstruction of Frigidarium (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 10

    Reconstruction of Caldarium (BCH) (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 11

    View of Marble Court, 1973 (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 12

    Marble Court from north entrance (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 13

    View of opus sectile floor of the Marble Court (now covered with earth for protection) (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 14

    Inscription on Marble Court, aedicula 8 (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 15

    View of Synagogue and Bath during excavation (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 16

    Bath-Gymnasium Complex during reconstruction (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

  • Fig. 17

    Bath-Gymnasium Complex during reconstruction (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Further Reading

Yegül, The Bath-Gymnasium Complex at Sardis

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