1. Location

The Varius baths (P. Quintilius Valens Varius) (map. no. 41) in Ephesus are located on the north side of the Curetes Street (map no. 36), behind the temple of Hadrian (map no. 40). The eastern end of the complex was defined by the so-called Bath Street (map no. 39), while to the west ran the covered (via tecta) Academy Street (map. no. 42). The Baths were oriented according to the hippodamian system. The main entrance of the establishment was located at the beginning of the Bath Street while access was also possible from the Curetes Street via a stairway to the east of the temple of Hadrian and an oblong corridor (V).¹

2. Architectural description

The Varius Baths present an irregular ground plan, as they had to adjust to the trapezoidal lot of the city block. This asymmetrical building establishment can not be classified into one of the main building types of the bath/gymnasia complexes. The Varius Baths did not have a palaestra, which was a common facility in these complexes, while the arrangement of the hot and cold washing rooms was as follows:

The corridor (1) led to the apsidal hall (2), whose ground plan resembles the basilica type. Five rectangular niches were carved on the eastern wall, while three niches were carved on the western. To the west this hall communicated via an arched opening supported by three columns on either side, with another oblong room, measuring 35 x 8.5 m. It has been assumed that the apsidal basilical hall with the room, served multiple purposes, as they functioned as an antechamber to the bath facilities and a meeting place, but also as an area for sports, i.e. a gymnasium and a changing room (apodyterium).²

An opening in the north side of the apsidal basilical hall (2) led to the frigidarium (3), rectangular in shape, containing an elliptical pool (natatio frigida). The frigidarium was located in a central position within the complex and communicated with all the other rooms of the baths: to the northeast with the warm room (5), to the northwest with the warm room (7), to the west with the caldarium (8), to the southwest with an intermediate hall (10) which led to the sudatorium and to the south with the apsidal basilical hall (2).

The warm room (5), rectangular in shape, had rectangular niches on its three sides: to the west, to the east and the north. In the north, a doorway led to a second warm room (6), square in shape, with a rectangular niche in its western side, which to the southwest communicated with a third warm room (7), which had immediate access to the caldarium (8). The caldarium had three semicircular pools on its western side: the central pool which was larger and the two side ones were smaller, while a fourth pool, rectangular in shape lay on the north side. In the southeastern side of the caldarium a narrow passageway led to an intermediate hall (10) which on the west gave access to the sudatorium, a rectangular sweating room. The heating system was operated from the praefurnium, from where the hot air was channeled under the floors of the heated halls.³

3. General remarks and chronology

Daily visits to the baths were a typical custom for the citizens of the eastern provinces during the Roman era. The lack of bathing facilities in private houses gave to the bathing establishments a public character, while they also functioned as meeting places. This is testified by the arrangement of the rooms: next to the hot and cold washing rooms (caldarium and frigidarium respectively) there was the basilical hall, a space designed as a meeting place. With the pax romana secured by the emperor Augustus (312 BC-14 AD), the Roman lifestyle was extended throughout the Empire. Thus, the erection of bath/gymnasiais observed in Asia Minor mainly during the 1^st and 2^nd centuries AD.⁴

The bath complex dates from the first half of the 2^nd century AD and was identified by inscriptions as the Varius Baths.⁵ It was renovated, however, approximately at the end of the 4^th century AD by a rich Christian woman, Scholasticia, as it had serious damages due to earthquakes. The statue of Scholasticia was set up in one of the niches of the apsidal basilical hall during the Late Roman period, where it was discovered together with its inscribed base.⁶ Moreover, the apsidal basilical hall (A/B) gradually ceased being used as an exercise space and functioned exclusively as a meeting place.⁷

The donation of the Christian Scholasticia indicates that Christianity was not always negative towards the institution and function of baths. It seems that this was contradictory because on the one hand the church could not reconcile itself with the pagan origin of the baths, but on the other it advocated the therapeutic virtues of water and encouraged sponsorship for the establishment of public hygiene facilities for citizens.