Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (13.2001(2002))

MAREA

EGYPT

BYZANTINE BATH

The functional division of the bath into the
men's part and the women's part was now
confirmed beyond all doubt. A wall divided
the two parts with the women's section
being entered from the east through unit
K2) and the men's from the wes;t through
unit B. The present exploration was focused
on this part of the bath, units A and L in
particular (Figs. 1, 3 and 4).
Room A, which had not been explored
beyond the top layer in the previous season,
was now cleared and found to comprise two


Fig. 2. Doorway with surviving threshold
between rooms A1 and A2 (supported
by the scaffolding), view from the
east (Photo T. Kalarus)

independent parts, A1 and A2. A doorway
connected the two parts, a partly surviving
threshold in this doorway (Fig. 2), con-
sisting of a marble slab with a circular hole
for mounting the door pivot and thickly
plastered side walls of brick.
Nothing survives of the floor of room
A1 (which measures 2.90 by 5.25 m) but
a small section against the northern wall.
Based on this evidence, it is possible to say
that the floor consisted of a lime mortar
surface poured over a 20-cm thick bedding
of sand and small pebbles. No evidence of
marble flagging has been observed here.
In room A2 (2.20 by 3.70 m) marble
flagging was recorded as imprints in the
floor bedding only in the northern end of
the room, directly by the entrance from
room B (the presumed apodyterium,
otherwise cloakroom, excavated last year).
The debris filling this space yielded
enough painted plaster fragments — the
colors surviving in excellent condition —
for a vegetal ornament to be reconstructed
(Fig. 3). The colors, which range from
yellow and red to black and white, re-
present the preferred pigments used in
decorating Coptic ceramics.
There can be little doubt - in view of
the commonly accepted principles of
circulation in Roman baths and the nature
of the wall decoration — that chamber A2
served as a tepidarium where clients
accustomed their bodies to a moderate
temperature. That the room was heated is
further confirmed by burned clay and brick
discovered in the wall east of the entrance,
testifying to the presence of a second set of
tubulatio positioned opposite the previously
uncovered set in the room's west wall.

2) For site location and results of the first season, see H. Szymanska, K. Babraj, PAM XII, Reports 2000 (Warsaw 2001)
35-45.

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