Baths of Hadrian

Baths of Hadrian

View looking northwest from the hill that the Theater is built into.  The columns in the center of the image are ones that outline the west end of the Southern Agora.  Beyond them, the walls of the Hadrianic Baths are visible.

The Hadrianic Baths were built to honor a visit of the Roman Emperor Hadrian to Aphrodisias (r. AD 117-138).  There is a Palestra (workout area) on the east side, and the usual rooms of a Roman Bath — Apoditerium, Frigidarium, Tepidarium, Caldarium, and furnace room.  These rooms were vaulted.  The limestone walls still stand.  Originally they were covered with marble, most of which has been robbed out.  The floors were paved with carved marble tiles.  The bath complex measures 280 x 215 feet.