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Bath Buildings in Ancient Pergamon (Asia Minor). Comparison in Terms of Architecture, Technique and Social ImplicationsSarah JAPPGerman Institute of Archaeology Berlin - ALLEMAGNEType de contribution : contribution aux actesThe ancient city of Pergamon is situated on the western coast of Asia Minor. The area was settled from prehistoric times. During the Hellenistic period the city became the capital of the Attalid kingdom. After the death of the last Attalid king, the Pergamenian kingdom became part of the Roman province of Asia. During the early Byzantine period the city declined, only partially regaining its wealth in the late Byzantine period. After the Arab conquest the area was abandoned.Currently only a few bath buildings are known in the city of Pergamon. One reason for this unusual situation could be the fact that the area of the Roman city situated in the plain adjoining the citadel hill has never been excavated due to the modern city of Bergama, being founded on top of the ancient ruins. So we know only of some private baths and four public ones: the Hellenistic and the Roman Thermae of the Great Gymnasium, a bath building near the Upper Agora and another bath in the lower part of the city near the Heroon for Diodoros Pasparos. Two other buildings, one near the southern foot of the citadel hill and the other in the southeastern part of the acropolis were sometimes identified as thermae but as neither has been excavated this can not be confirmed.The so-called Hellenistic Bath of the Great Gymnasium was erected during the mid first century BCE at the western end of the complex. The main elements such as a caldarium equipped with a hypocaustum and an adjoining room with a warm water basin, a frigidarium with a cold water basin, a tepidarium and a heating room are extant. A sudatorium was later added. The bath can be assigned to the "Blocktype".The Roman Bath of the Great Gymnasium was added during the second century CE at the opposite eastern side of the complex. The heated rooms are concentrated in the southeast of the bath. A courtyard with the frigidarium is situated in the southwest and the apodyterium and representative rooms are placed in the northeast. The architecture of this bath is reminiscent of public thermae throughout the Roman world. All rooms were adorned with marble slabs on the walls and floors and most were vaulted. Contrary to the Hellenistic Bath this structure follows the system of the "Ringtyp". Both bath buildings were presumably visited by people, typically the inhabitants of Pergamon but foreigners like tradesmen and artists too, using the sport and cultural facilities of the gymnasium.On the main street leading from the acropolis to the living quarters at the slope of the citadel hill and at a distance of 100m from the Upper Agora, the ruins of a small bath building are preserved. The main room is round and occupies the centre of the complex. However, the poor state of preservation allows little information about the heating system, the use of water and the function of the different rooms. Probably the sequence of rooms can be assigned to the "Reihentyp". The bath originates from the Roman Imperial period (second century CE), but it seems to have had an early Hellenistic predecessor. Even if the bath is not of remarkable size it was obviously a public bath. Whether the inhabitants of the neighbouring houses and/or the visitors to the market were using the hygienic and social networking possibilities of the bath cannot be known with any certainty.Down the hill another small bath building was excavated during the 1970s by the German Archaeological Institute. It is situated in the area of the "Stadtgrabung", again directly on the main street. It is surrounded by private dwellings as well as public and semi-public buildings such as the adjacent Heroon for Diodoros Pasparos, a benefactor of the city in the first century BCE and the nearby building of the Dionysic cult association of the Bukoloi. This bath building is better preserved than the one mentioned before. It was composed of an entrance hall, a courtyard which gave access to the apodyterium and a small frigidarium consisting of only a basin, a simple caldarium, a round sweat room and a furnace room. The building was erected in the Early Imperial period and underwent several changes during the following centuries. In the fourth century it was probably abandoned. Most likely the inhabitants of the adjoining villas and houses were the users of this bath; however, an interrelation with the cultural facilities of the Heroon of Diodoros Pasparos cannot be completely excluded.Where the social implications of the baths are concerned, all were public buildings erected by private persons. While the two thermae in the Great Gymnasium were probably free of charge to all inhabitants of Pergamon as well as foreigners visiting the city, the attendants of the small bath buildings in the "Stadtgrabung" and near the Upper Agora presumably had to pay an entrance fee. How the visit of men and women in those baths was arranged remained unanswered in most of the cases.The thermae in Pergamon, except the Roman Bath of the Great Gymnasium, seem to stand in the tradition of the early baths. This is not only confirmed by the small number of rooms and their size but also by the simple heating system and the sparse use of warm/hot water. For example the bath building in the "Stadtgrabung" was heated in the first phases by braziers and small built furnaces. Only the sweat room had a hypocaust; the caldarium was warmed by a hot air channel. Only the Roman Bath clearly displays new inventions and an elaborated design, which is an interesting phenomenon in a wealthy city particularly comparing the situation with other cities in Asia Minor.