Fikret K. Yegül

The Thermo-Mineral Complex at Baiae and De Balneis Puteolanis

Baiae, in the Bay of Naples, was the center of the most extensive thermo-mineral resort in antiquity and a coveted location for the pleasure estates of Roman aristocracy. Excavated in 1950–51, the hillside of Baiae revealed extensive remains of a thermal city, domed and vaulted structures, gardens, pools, fountains, colonnades, and arcades. Were this complex and its extensions public baths and cure facilities, or private and royal Villas? The answer is sought through an analysis of the literary and architectural evidence, and the unique visual testimony provided by De Balneis Puteolanis, a profusely illustrated early thirteenth-century manuscript.

A Study in Architectural Iconography: Kaisersaal and the Imperial Cult

Halls in Roman baths and gymnasia with rich multi-story Facades have been associated by scholars with the Imperial Cult and called Kaisersale. By studying their architectural origins and symbolic content, this article shows that indeed they were religious places, honoring the Emperor and dedicated to his cult, but not official seats of the cult like neokorate temples.

The Marble Court of Sardis and Historical Reconstruction

AbstractOne of the major monuments uncovered by the Harvard-Cornell Archaeological Expedition in Sardis, Turkey, is a gigantic bath-gymnasium complex of the imperial type dating from the 2nd century A.C. (FIG. 1 ). The eastern half of the complex is occupied by a large open courtyard surrounded on all sides by colonnades, the palaestra; the western half consists of many large vaulted halls and rooms arranged symmetrically around a major east-west axis and is intended for bathing. At the west end of the palaestra is an impressive vestibule displaying a rich, two-storied arrangement of colonnaded architecture, dedicated to the Imperial Cult (FIG. 2). This hall, named ‘Marble Court’ by the excavators on account of its rich marble architecture and decoration, was reconstructed from the ground up by a joint team of American and Turkish architects, archaeologists, and epigraphists between the years 1964 and 1973. Together with the reconstruction of the Stoa of Altalus in the Athenian Agora, the Marble Court of ...

Development of Baths and Public Bathing during the Roman Republic

Material remains of baths – basins, pools, terracotta, stone and metal tubs – and well-developed hydraulic systems found in crete, cyprus and anatolia, such as the second millennium palaces at Knossos, Boğazköy and Zincirli, attest to the remarkable degree of technical and aesthetic sophistication attained in bathing, at least by the privileged classes of Bronze age civilizations (Naumann, 1971: 195, 442–3; Lloyd, 1967: 78–9). Looking back to the legendary past, in homer’s world bathing in warm water was a luxurious and refreshing experience, a special reward reserved for heroes at the end of a trip or battle. In the Iliad men who returned from reconnaissance “washed away in the sea the thick sweat from their skins and necks” (Il. 10.572), and as retold by athenaeus centuries later, after having this way refreshed themselves “they went to the polished tubs and bathed, smearing themselves with oil, they sat down to their meal” (Deipnosophistae 1.24 d, trans. c. Gulick, 1927, Loeb). In these aristocratic contexts hot bathing was a fairly simple matter of washing from a cauldron of hot water mixed with cold to comfortable warmth. however, already in the fifth century the conservative view in Greece criticized hot, pleasure bathing as a sign of decadence and aspired towards the frugal lifestyle of the Spartans, who supposedly only bathed in cold water (“Laconian style”). among the ancient Mediterranean civilizations, romans deserve to be singled out in their extraordinary devotion to bathing as a social and recreational activity deeply rooted in daily life. Bathing in public was a central event in roman culture and a very important part of the roman day. Demonstrating little interest in cold water bathing (unless it was a medical recommendation), romans developed and perfected the heating and water supply technologies of baths, which changed bathing from a simple act of hygiene to one