1. Introduction

TheHarbourBathsofEphesusare situated near the harbour, on the northern side of the main road artery (Arcadian Street) leading from the harbour to the centre of the city. They date from the years of Domitian’s reign (81-96) and are considered a typical example of the architectural type of Bath-Gymnasium of Asia Minor, where the adoption of the imperial thermae was combined with the deeply rooted Greek architectural tradition of the simple gymnasium. InthecapitaloftheprovinceofAsia, Ephesus, thepresenceof five baths, four of which were in the imperial style, reflects the extensive Romanisation of the provinces.

2. Architectural Description

TheHarbourBathsformedamazycomplexincludingtheThermae, theGymnasiumoftheSebastoi and the xystoi, which were called stoas or Halls of Verulanus. The xystoiwerenamedafterClaudiusVerulanus, an Ephesian priest of the imperial cult, who had donated the marble slabs of the walls in Hadrian’s years. The Halls of Verulanus wasanalmostsquare,vastperistyle spacemeasuring200 x 240 m, with three rows of columns. To the west there was an opening with four columns, which led to an anteroom, which, in turn, gave to the palaestra through a pentabelon.

The palaestra was between the open space used for physical exercise and the closed space of the bath compartments. Two rooms of almost the same dimensions existed at the centre of the northern and the southern side of the palaestra, on the same axis as the peristyle open space. The southern room was used for lectures, while the northern one (Μ), the so-called Marble Room, was dedicated to the imperial cult. The latter was rectangular, while rectangular and semi-circular niches opened interchangeably in the walls and were decorated with small temples (aediculae); a larger semi-circular niche existed at the centre of the northern side.¹ Generally, the interior surfaces of the room must have formed a monumental two-storey structure with rich decorations, according to the Roman aesthetic standards, combining porticos and aediculae adorned with statues, columns and pediments, with the colourful marble floor, thus bringing out the luxury and the imposing architectural style of the composition. Access to the baths from the central road artery of the city was through an elliptic yard (the so-called atrium thermarum Constantianarum), which was surrounded by a colonnade.² On its northern side there was an oblong passage with a colonnade along its long sides.

The baths had a double row of compartments;the first row included the frigidarium and the second the caldarium. The oblong rooms with the projectingpillars, which framed the main space of the frigidarium, served as apodyterium and basilica. The architectural style withtheprojectingpillars, asintheΒ/Αspace, is a characteristic of the baths of Asia Minor and can be found at the Baths of Faustina of Miletus, at the Eastern Baths of Pergamon, at the complex of Baths-Gymnasium and ‘Caserma’ Baths of Magnesia, at the Baths of Caracalla of Ankara and, finally, at the Baths-Gymnasia of Termessus.³

The frigidarium oftheHarbourBathsincluded the pool (natatio), which covered almost the entire room –a characteristic common in all the buildings of this type in Asia Minor.⁴ The second row of compartments included the central tepidarium, three auxiliary spaces on the southern side and three on the northern. The tepidarium gave to the caldarium, which had projecting pillars. The presence of projecting pillars in the caldarium is also common in other baths of Asia Minor, such as the Eastern Baths and the complex of Gymnasium-Baths of Vedius in Ephesus, the Imperial Baths in Sardis, the Baths-Gymnasia in Alexandria Troas and the Harbour Baths in Caunus.⁵ The Harbour Baths have some similarities with the complex of Gymnasium-Baths of Vedius, mainly as regards their internal layout. The internal arrangement of the baths in two rows serves their functions. The first row of compartments accommodated the entrance, the changing room, the physical exercise and, finally, the cold bath in the pool of the frigidarium, while the second row included the hot bath, the perspiration room and the massage. However, the general division of the complex into three parts is dictated by the triple character of the whole and serves the different uses of its separate spaces.⁶

3. Chronology

TheHarbourBathsare one of the oldest known complexesofthetypeofThermae-Gymnasium in the city of Ephesus and, generally, Asia Minor. They went through at least three construction phases. The complex was basically designed in Domitian’s years (81-96). Some particular characteristics of the palaestra must belong to the middle or the end of the 2^nd century. Finally, the elliptic yard with the colonnade, which connected the baths with Arcadian Street, was added in the 4^th century, in the years of Emperor Konstantios (337-361). Private houses were built in the area during the Byzantine years.⁷

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