Ancient bathhouse’s pools uncovered at sanctuary

ÇANAKKALE

The caldariums have been cleared and the excavations have moved toward the bathhouse’s frigidariums, where the cold-water cools are located. (DHA photo)

Archaeological excavations at the Apollon Smintheus Sanctuary in Çanakkale’s Ayvacık district have brought to light the cold-water pools, known as the frigidarium, and the changing room, or apodyterium, of a Roman bathhouse believed to date to the third century A.D.

Excavations and restoration work at the sanctuary in Gülpınar village have been ongoing since 1980 with the participation of archaeologists, anthropologists, restorers, architects, art historians and epigraphers.

The work is being carried out under the permission and support of the Culture and Tourism Ministry’s General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums under the direction of Professor Davut Kaplan of Ondokuz Mayıs University’s Department of Archaeology. The project is also being conducted in coordination with the Çanakkale Governor’s Office, the provincial directorate of culture and tourism and the Çanakkale Archaeology Museum.

This year’s excavations are focusing on the cold-water pools and changing room of the Western Bath, which is believed to have been built in the third century A.D.

Kaplan said excavations in 2025 uncovered the bathhouse’s water reservoir and a special corridor beneath it that was likely used by servants or slaves to heat or clean the bathhouse.

“We then uncovered the first hot room of the bathhouse, the caldarium. There are two such hot rooms,” Kaplan said.

He explained that the bathhouse belonged to the pagan period of the Roman Empire and that many pagan structures in the area were later destroyed or reused following the spread of Christianity.

“Because the marble was removed from both the walls and the floor, we cannot find the luxurious marble-covered rooms of the bathhouses intact. The caldarium was the same. All the marble had been removed from this room, which was heated both from the walls and the floor. Only the walls and rubble of the bathhouse remained for us,” he said.

Kaplan said the caldariums had now been cleared and that excavations had moved toward the bathhouse’s cold rooms, where cold-water pools were located.

“We have not opened the pools yet, but right next to them is the first section of the bathhouse, the entrance area. This is where people entering the bathhouse first undressed, prepared themselves, applied oil and chatted,” he said.

“We are currently excavating this area. We have reached the floor and are trying to determine its boundaries,” he added.

Kaplan said Roman bathhouses were more than places for bathing and were also used as spaces for luxury and social life by the upper classes.

“Unlike Turkish baths, where you sweat and wash in a single space, the upper-class Romans used bathhouses as part of a luxurious lifestyle. Therefore, their bathhouses were more organized and elaborate, with marble-covered surfaces or mosaic floors,” he said.

Kaplan said the excavation team had identified two doors in the changing-room area, one leading directly to the furnace, or praefurnium, and another used by slaves and servants to leave the bathhouse.

“The main entrance to the bathhouse will be uncovered through further excavations,” he said.

“We have connected the cold rooms to the warm rooms and the warm rooms to the hot rooms. We have found the service corridors and identified the entrances to the furnaces, but we have not yet reached the main entrance of the bathhouse opening onto the sacred road,” he added.

The Apollon Smintheus Sanctuary, dedicated to Apollo Smintheus, is one of the important archaeological sites in the Troad region and has been the subject of systematic excavation and restoration work for more than four decades.