Roman bath of Garni

Founded:III century

Condition:Dilapidated

Status: Museum-reserve

From Yerevna: 27 km/38 min.

The archaeological excavations carried out on the territory of Armenia made a huge contribution to the development of public services in populated areas. This mainly concerns the technology of building bath rooms. Now on the territory of Armenia, bath rooms dating back to the 2-3 century AD. One of them is located on the territory of the Temple Garni.

It is located approximately50 mnorth-west of thetemple Garni and consists of four adjacent rooms. The First room (lat. Apoditerium), due to its location and rich interior design (mosaic floor, pool created in a curved niche, etc.) was a bath-dressing room. The Second (Latin Frigidarium) and Third (Latin Tepidarium) rooms, having the same layout and size, were bath rooms for cold water and mud baths, respectively. Most of the fourth room (Latin Caldarium), which immediately follows the cold and warm water rooms, has its own shape and size. There was a room with hot water, and there was also a part for heating water.

All rooms with their main facades face southeast, and the room with hot water, facing the main facade to the southeast, with its entire spatial composition is located in the southwestern part of the entire bathhouse structure. The mosaic consists entirely of15 natural stonescollected from the Azat River and polished with water.

Multi-colored mosaic depicts the sea. Various deities are represented, such as mermaids (Nereids), a man with a ponytail, a fisherman, and many large and small fish. The images include various expressions related to the sea, such as “Depth of the Sea” or “Sea of the World”, and the names of the gods (Glaucos, Tethys, Athos, Argios, Pothos, etc.). In the center of the mosaic, in a wicker frame, are busts of a man and a woman, written in Greek respectivelyOceanus and ThalassaAccording to mythology, the ocean is considered the father of all gods, and the sea is considered the mother of Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love.