Roman Bath, Ankara

The Roman Baths is an ancient complex located in Ankara, which was discovered during excavations conducted between 1937-1944. The baths were constructed in the third century by the Roman Emperor Caracalla in honor of the god of medicine, Asclepios, and were in use for approximately 500 years until they were destroyed by fire in the eighth century.

The site is open to the public as an open-air museum and features ruins of the basement and first floor, including the dressing room (apodyterium) and three bath chambers (hot bath, warm bath, and cold bath). The tepidarium (warm bath) and caldarium (hot bath) are unusually large due to their popularity during the city's cold winters, and the most prominent surviving features are the brick columns that supported the floor. The site also features a display of tombs, gravestones, altars, and other inscriptions from the Roman, Byzantine, and late Hellenistic periods.

The baths are located on a plateau known as Çankırı Kapı, identified as a tumulus with Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, and Phrygian settlement materials. The ancient city of Ancyra (modern Ankara) was strategically located at the crossroads between the East and West and served as the capital of the province of Galatia during the Roman period. The adjacent columned roadway was uncovered during the development of Ankara into the new Turkish capital in the 1930s.