Installation details

english name
Roman bath (Kalenderhane)
turkish name
Not applicable
original name
'Balneum' ('Private bath'?)
ottoman name
Not applicable
events
event persons
-
purposes
still exists
No
type
Bath
location
-
description

From ca. 400 onwards, a late Roman private bath was built near the aqueduct bridge, only 1.30 m away from the bridge pier. It existed up to the early sixth century, when it was demolished. A part of this Roman bath was covered by a Byzantine church, built adjacent to the aqueduct bridge itself. Today, these Roman baths and the present-day building are part of the Kalenderhane Mosque.

The bath had multiple rooms, of which the foundations can still be seen today:

  • Room A (surviving outside): hypocaust (heated) floor.

  • Room B: circular room adjacent to Room A, now partially overbuilt during the Church phase.

  • Room C: circular room west of Room B. Its hypocaust floor was destroyed by the construction of a canal.

  • Room D: little evidence.

Under these rooms ran five channels, and terracotta pipes have been found. How the water system within the bath actually worked, remains obscure.

comments
In contrast to public baths, this bath was likely a private balneum: it was privately owned, but available for public use against a fee. Such private baths are mentioned in the Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae 425.
systems
The present day situation of the remains of the Roman bath between the northside of the Mosque and the Valens aqueduct bridge. Photo taken from the aqueduct bridge (north).
Bird
Photo taken during the excavations of the Roman bath by Striker and Kuban (1966-1978).
Pictures of the Roman bath, 1978 and 1970.