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The Hadrian Baths
The Roman Emperor Hadrian was on one of his journey
through Anatolia in Aphrodisias as well. To honor his visit, the city councils
had constructed these baths. The bath consists of two separate sections for men
and women. In front of the entrance on the north side, a marble pool with large
pillars in its corners.
To the immediate right are parallel to each other: the changing room
(Apoditarium), the cold room (Frigidarium), the lukewarm room (Tepidarium) and
the hot room (Caldarium). The underground heating system consists of branched
pipes and calls itself Hypocaust. First, sandstone was used for the principle of
the building, which was then covered with marble. The foyer(Palestra}, the
rectangular rock pillars, the supports in between, and the hot area were
extremely decorative. The marble parts were decorated with the famous
illustraÂtions of the Aphrodisias sculptor school: Eros, person and animal
figures Incorporate in AcanÂthus leaves.
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The enormous mythological heads that formed the heads of
the consoles of the hot area are displayed on the walls at the entrance to the
museum.
The French railroad engineer Paul Gaudin made the first
excavations in the Hadrian bath in 1904. One part of the findings of these
excavations was moved into the archaeology museum of Istanbul and another part
smuggled without permission into a foreign country. Through the findÂing of a
fisherman's head in the Tiberius Portico in 1989, Professor Kenan Erim was able
to prove that the heirs of Gaudin sold the torso of this sculpture to the
Pergamon museum in Berlin. An official application was filed for return of this
piece. |
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