Caldarium (hot room)

View looking south at the Caldarium, the hot room of the baths.  Note the circular shallow pool in the center and the marble tile floor was supported by columns—they are visible in the left-center and lower right portions of the image.

Note also, the niche in the walls into which a statue would have been placed.  Originally, the walls were covered with marble—some of which is visible on the wall in the left-center of the image.

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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.