Римски бани

 ruins, archaeological site, Roman Empire

This small area was a bath complex in the lower tier of the ancient city of Kamiros.

Two bathhouses of the Roman period are preserved in the residential zone. The first, the so-called ”Large Thermae”, was located to the south of the agora. The second, and better preserved but much smaller bathhouse, the ”Small Thermae” is at the beginning of the main street. On its entrance there is a small atrium, which leads to a narrow corridor with a fountain at the far end. Opening off the corridor, along its length, are the familiar chambers of Roman thermae: the frigidarium for the cold bath, the tepidarium for the warm bath and the caldarium for the hot bath. Next to the caldarium was the praefurnium, a narrow passage in which burnt the fire that heated water in a metal cauldron. A pipe that pierced the wall separating the caldarium from the praefurnium channelled the hot water to the bathtub. The generated hot air circulated under the floors of the caldarium and the tepidarium, heatingthe rooms; it escaped through clay vents built into the walls. A triangular cistern supplied water to the bathtubs in the three chambers, along pipes that perforated the wall of the cistern.