1. The monument

Bath Ι 12 Α of Antioch on Kragos, Cilicia, is located to the east of a gorge with north-south direction, the southernmost ending of which is the sea. The closest buildings on the east side of the gorge are a temple to the northeast, the monument Ι 14 C and the stadium Ι 10 to the southeast. Τhe bath, which covers a total area of 450 m², has been preserved in poor condition and the excavations have not been completed yet. It dates to the 3^rd or 4^th century.

2. General observations

According to Yegül, a group of baths in the small provincial cities of Cilicia and eastern Pamphylia in the Late Roman period share quite a few general ground plan features, with the asymmetric arrangement of small and medium-sized barrel-vaulted chambers, as well as features of the articulation of the facades, with the apsidal endings of some of the external walls of the structures.¹ Bath Ι 12 Α belongs to the local type, although it presents a particular variation: the hall- or “central” type of baths, with a large central hall dominating, surrounded by the small rooms, as is also the case in baths ΙΙ 7 Α of Anemourion and ΙΙ 1 Α of Syedra in Pamphylia.

More specifically, among the hall-type plan baths, the baths of Antioch on Kragos and Syedra are rather distinctive because they are remarkably similar as regards their dimensions and the arrangement of the different chambers. Rosenbaum believes that the more recent bath of Syedra was modelled on the ground plan of the bath of Antioch on Kragos.² Researchers are divided over the use of the spaces. Yegül considers that the large central hall Α was used for social or minor sports activities.³ According to Nielsen, the hall type baths comprise a central cold chamber, with the hot chambers arranged along one of its sides – the caldarium usually recognized by its apsidal ending–, while on the other side spaces used for social activities are arranged.⁴

3. Architectural description of Bath Ι 12 Α

3.1. The central hall

The ground plan of Bath Ι 12 Α of Antioch on Kragos is arranged around a large oblong central hall⁵ (room Α), which gives access, through arched openings usually, to the hot and cold chambers of the bath. On the north wall of this hall three rectangular niches are opened, while on the south wall a small opening near the entrance, which led to the southern chambers of the bath. The central hall is covered by a barrel-vault. Τhe rooms on the north and on the south sides are covered by barrel-vaults vertical to the one of the central hall. Access to the central hall is through the middle of its east side. To enter the central hall, the visitor has to cross the oblong vestibule (room G) running along the east side of the building.

3.2. The chambers around the central hall

On the north side of room Α three arched openings lead to three barrel-vaulted rooms (B, C and D). Τhe first room after the entrance (Β), with a nearly square ground plan, is lighted through an arched widow on its north wall. Τhe next room (C), with a rectangular ground plan, is also lighted through a window on the north wall, below which three niches are formed, the central one being semicircular and the two flanking ones rectangular. On each one of the east and the west walls of the room a semicircular niche is opened. To the north the bath ends in a projecting square space (room F), which is behind room C and is contiguous to the gorge, since its north wall is the rock of the gorge. To the west an arch separates the west part of hall Α from the rest of the space. Because in the bath of Syedra the respective arch forms a passage to a basin, it is valid to assume that this architectural arrangement in Antioch served the same purposes. Another apsidal projection (space Η) to the south articulates the external wall of the bath, which includes a small fragment of a wall painting, near the apse, as well as the end of a clay drain.

This drain served the drainage system of the building and ran along a ditch 3 m deep, which starts to the north of room D, inside the gorge, and runs across the building as far as its south apsidal projection. In the south part of the bath, between the south external wall and the central hall, there was an underground passage serving the heating system of the hypocausts. The fact that the apse (space Η) did not directly communicate with the central hall shows that it served a special purpose, while its proximity to the underground passage indicates that this space may have served as caldarium.⁶

3.3. Construction