Colonia Ulpia Traiana thermal baths
So far, two thermal baths have been found in Xanten on the grounds of Colonia Ulpia Traiana : the large public thermal baths in the west of the city on Insula 10 and the hostel thermal baths in the northeast on Insula 38. The researchers consider it not unlikely that there were other private thermal baths , but this has not yet been proven.
The public thermal baths
The large public thermal baths of Colonia Ulpia Traiana formed the heart of a large-scale facility near the Roman city center. With an area of around 11,500 m², they took up the entire Insula 10 and were connected to an inner courtyard, around which colonnades with rows of shops, latrines , a water tower and an entrance hall were grouped. They were the meeting point and center of the city's social life. The bathrooms themselves consisted of generously equipped rooms, the floors and walls clad with marble, and the exterior facade and columns artistically designed.
Excavation history and protective construction
The first excavations in the area of the thermal baths were carried out between 1880 and 1882, during which the walls of a building were exposed. It was not until 1928 that the archaeologist Paul Steiner recognized its former function as a bathing building based on the analysis of the finds. In 1957, the archaeological investigations of the thermal baths continued through emergency excavations . The site was then built over with a precast concrete factory. After the Xanten Archaeological Park was founded and the factory was demolished, the thermal baths were uncovered, examined and conserved. In 1999, a protective structure made of glass and steel was erected over the preserved foundation walls. He tries to recreate the ancient shape of the building and make it tangible. Further excavations took place from 1999 to 2006. The Roman Museum has been located there since 2008, from which the excavations of the thermal baths were made accessible to the public on a second level.
Construction of the thermal baths
From the Basilica Thermarum one reached the actual bathing area through three portals: starting with the frigidarium (the cold bath area), followed the tepidarium (the leaf bath area) and then the caldarium (the hot bath area). In the area of the frigidarium, the walls of two approximately 40 m² cold bathing pools to the right and left of the hall, remains of a floor that was previously covered with black and white stone slabs, the access to the small sudatorium (sweat bath) and the drain to the latrines can be seen. In the transition to the middle area of the tepidarium there are two 90 m² sweat baths on the right and left, in the leaf bath area itself the remains of the warm bathing pool with the fire places of the hot air heating can be seen. The 350 m² caldarium consisted of a large central room with two lateral apses , additional fire places, the smoke outlet and the partition wall in the hypocaust (underfloor heating).
A total of nine ovens were found, some of which were used to heat water and some to heat the air in the area of the sudatoria. About half of the area of the stoves was used as a working space for the heaters and for short-term storage of fuel. The ovens were encased in refractory volcanic rock and probably provided with a metal plate on the front. The floors of the ovens were made of refractory brick panels that were manufactured in the Legion's own brickworks .
The palaestra , which was almost the same size and was framed on three sides by a colonnade, was connected to the south-west side . The generous free area was used for sporting activities as well as social communication. On the fourth, northeast side, a single-storey ornamental facade is suspected, on the west side there was another building, from which information about medical activities (surgical instruments) was recovered.
At the northern corner of the insula there was a water tower to store the fresh water required to operate the thermal baths. Calculations based on the pool contents in the thermal baths lead to the estimate that 244 cubic meters of water were required to fill all the bathing pools. In addition, there was the water consumption for filling tubs, the running water well, the fresh water channels of the latrines and possible wells and water features.
The hostel baths
The significantly smaller thermal baths of the Roman inn (415 m²) were located on Insula 38 in the northeast of the city. The size and location suggest that they were intended for overnight guests at the Mansio .
Excavation history and reconstruction
The hostel baths were excavated between 1979 and 1983 and scientifically evaluated between 1987 and 1989. During the excavations, a total of three stone construction periods could be detected over older wooden construction phases from the 1st century AD, which were then built over with the thermal baths in 135 AD. There is also evidence that the facility was rebuilt and reduced in size in the 2nd century AD.
The hostel thermal baths were completely restored and opened to the public in 1989. The plant was reconstructed in such a way that it can be fired on a trial basis as in antiquity. A single wood fire heats both the bath water in a large boiler and the air that is distributed under the floors of the bathroom and drawn up along the wall tiles. The "true to original" operation shows informative details of the firing and heat management in such a system as well as problems with regard to the effects of moisture on the building materials used.
Construction of the thermal baths
The facility consisted of an elongated bathing section with a frigidarium and the warm bathing area with a boiler room and praefurnium . The warm bathing area was probably divided into a tepidarium and a caldarium. On the side there was the cold bathing pool and an apodyterion (changing area) as well as a semicircular apse. A well supplies the system with fresh water, a sewer drained away the dirty water.
The findings show that the complex was extensively rebuilt in the last quarter of the second century AD and significantly reduced in size. In the second quarter of the 3rd century it was then completely abandoned and leveled. The reasons for the renovation and the abandonment are considered unknown.
literature
- Norbert Zieling : The thermal baths. In: Martin Müller , Hans-Joachim Schalles , Norbert Zieling (eds.): Colonia Ulpia Traiana. Xanten and its surroundings in Roman times (= history of the city of Xanten. Volume 1). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-8053-3953-7 , pp. 373-389.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Norbert Zieling: The thermal baths in: Martin Müller , Hans-Joachim Schalles , Norbert Zieling (ed.): Colonia Ulpia Traiana. Xanten and its surroundings in Roman times (= history of the city of Xanten. Volume 1). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-8053-3953-7 , pp. 373-389.
- ^ Entry on the site plan of the Xanten Archaeological Park in the " KuLaDig " database of the Rhineland Regional Council , accessed on December 12, 2018.
- ↑ Entry on large thermal baths in the LVR Archaeological Park Xanten in the database " KuLaDig " of the Rhineland Regional Association , accessed on September 4, 2018.
- ^ Roman Baths LVR . Retrieved September 4, 2018
- ^ Gundolf Precht: Archeology in the experiment. The hostel thermal baths of Colonia Ulpia Trainana in the Xanten Archaeological Park. Arch. Germany H. 4, 1989, p. 18ff
- ↑ Reconstruction of the Roman hostel LVR. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
