Articles written by Visitors to the Site
Roman Baths of Odessos
modern day Varna
by Irena, from Bulgaria
Odessos was one of the most prosperous towns of the Roman province of Lower Moesia.
It is believed to have been at the end of the second century AD, the earliest coins found in the baths plumbing system dating from the reign of emperor Septimius Severus (AD 193-211).
The latest coins are from the reign of Tacitus (AD 276). It is therefore assumed that the baths were being used up until the end of the third century AD.
The initial excavations of the Roman baths at Odessos were carried out between 1959 and 1971, the northeastern part of the building remaining unexcavated. The structure is indeed very large and covers an area of approximately 7000 square meters.
A part of the walls of the western apodyterium (where people used to take off their clothes and leave them to their slaves for safe-keeping)
Part of the western vestibulum (vestibule)
some of the remains of western apodyterium, looking towards the
small tepydarium (a hall for warm water bathing) and toward the main
frigidarium (a hall for cold water bathing)
The western apodyterium and entrance to the main tepydarium
One of the walls of the western apodyterium
A view toward the main tepydarium, from the western apodyterium
Teh ruined walls of the western apodyterium; in the distance the small frigidarium
The western small tepydarium, a view to the caldarium (a hall for hot water bathing)
The western apodyterium, a view toward the main frigidarium
The eastern apodyterium, a view of a marble cornice in the frigidarium
The caldarium (behing it, the western façade of today's St.Atanass chapel)
A view of the eastern apodyterium, a dislodged stone basin lying just in front of one of the doors
One of the walls of the eastern apodyterium seen from the outside
The so called prefurnium – the place of the ovens heatening the
water and the air in the halls for bathing with hot and warm water; this
hall is constructed with a double floor – the upper layer had been carried
by vertically placed thick steam-pipes made of clay;
The big hall of the Thermes, looking towards the entrance to the main