1. The monument

The largest thermae of Antioch on the Orontes, the ones with the richest mosaic decoration, were discovered in 1932. They were brought to light during archaeological excavations of the American mission in the wider area. The monument belongs to the type of imperial baths, including a total of twenty magnificent, large and imposing chambers arranged in the central part of the ground plan, while auxiliary spaces are symmetrically arranged along the sides. Three constructive phases are discernible in the structure, dating from the 3^rd c. AD until the second half of the 6^th century AD.

The outline of the ground plan of the bath, in double-cross shape, is formed by a main longitudinal axis directed north-south, which is also an axis of symmetry and vertically crossed by two other secondary axes directed east-west, which cross the chambers of caldarium (hot chambers) and frigidarium (cold chambers). The separate rooms are arranged around the three main chambers of the frigidarium, the tepidarium (warm chambers) and the caldarium, which were successively accessed in this order by the visitors.

2. Αrchitectural Description

2.1. Entrance

Access to the thermae was through an imposing propylon on the south facade of the building. It comprises a staircase and a colonnade, and is flanked by two massive square towers.

After leaving the propylon, the visitor could proceed through either the central or one of the side entrances on the main facade, which led to the two large apodyteria through two small vestibules. Each apodyterium has an additional room on the south side, so that there were more space for the visitors to changing and store their clothes.

2.2. Frigitarium, Tepidarium

The apodyteria communicated with the central octagonal space of the frigidarium through side doors. The vaulted frigidarium was the main architectural element of the bath. The octagonal pool was at the centre, while four semicircular niches were formed at the ends of its diagonals, where also stood the exedrae. The south entrance to the frigidarium led to the central space of the tepidarium. The latter included an oblong central chamber, which communicated with three side rooms arranged in order from smallest to largest, auxiliary spaces formed both on the east and the west side. Fisher¹ assumes that the smallest of the three successive side rooms of the tepidarium served as apodyteria, the middle-sized ones as sudatoria (for wet sweating) and the southernmost ones as laconica (for dry sweating), as imply the presence of small colonnettes of hypocausts under the floor.

2.3. Caldarium

Between the oblong main chamber of the tepidarium and the central chamber of the caldarium there is a vestibule, under the floor of which hypocaust colonnettes were found as well. The southernmost nucleus of the bath, the caldarium, consisted of a central octagonal hall and four side rooms arranged in pairs on the east and west sides. The central octagonal hall has four exedrae and its outline is similar to the frigidarium. Τhe pairs of the side rooms on its west and east sides are identical, communicate with each other, have semicircular niches on the one of the narrow sides and are equipped with hypocausts. On the south walls of all the rooms of the caldarium rectangular niches were opened (rooms 5, 8, 20), which communicated with the praefurnium (the furnace) and the basins.

3. Chronology

The bath complex was built in an area formerly occupied by houses, as show the archaeological evidence. Three major constructive phases may be noticed: the first one goes back to the years of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (195-211 AD), as suggests a numismatic find; the second phase began after the second half of the 4th c. AD, according to the style of the mosaic pavements of the bath, while the third phase dates to the second half of the 6th c. AD, based on the mosaic pavement of chamber 51, which is inferior to the others in terms of artistic value and technique. Minor alterations and additions including some new annexes, continued to be carried out until around 1000 AD.

4. Evaluation

The special character of the Late Roman thermae of Antioch on the Orontes, in which the spaces are arranged according to the imperial type, is evident both in the absence of a palaestra² and in the successful and extensive use of the octagon. The octagon as an architectural form developed in the West, but it was in the East that it was isolated and given monumental character; this development is confirmed, according to Yegül, by the similarity of Bath C of Antioch with the South Baths of the Syrian city of Bosra.³ In any case, the architectural type of the baths, already known from previous periods, evolved and was adopted by the cultural tradition and attitude of the East, before it eventually developed according to local architectural styles.