Roman Baths of Ankara

The sometimes-overlooked capital of Turkey holds many surprises for curious travelers, especially when it comes to ancient and medieval monuments. After being inhabited by Phrygians and Galatians, the city became an important provincial center of Roman rule in Anatolia as the then-capital of the province of Galatia. Today, a number of unexpected Roman monuments, such as this large bath complex uncovered between 1937 and 1944, a theater, the famous Temple of Augustus, and a curious Julian Column, are scattered among the busy streets and public buildings from the 1920s.

The Baths of Ankara (or Ancyra, as it was formerly known) were built in the third century by Tiberius Julius Justus Junianus, a wealthy resident of Ancyra living under Emperor Caracalla (who reigned from 198 to 217), who also built the famous Baths of Caracalla in Rome, in honor of Asclepius, the god of medicine. The baths contained not only bathing rooms but also a palaestra (exercise area) and were connected by road to the nearby Temple of Augustus. The baths were used until the eighth century, when a fire destroyed all but the ruins of the basement and first floor. Today, the site of the baths is an open-air museum with an entrance via a ticket office. It is also possible to view the ruins from behind the fences surrounding the site.