Archaeologists working at Vrelo-Šarkamen in eastern Serbia have uncovered a lavish Roman bath built inside a palace tower. The bath belonged to an imperial residence linked to Maximinus Daza, a Roman emperor who ruled from 310 to 313.
Excavations in the tower where the imperial private bath was discovered. Credit: Krajina Museum
The find comes from the lowest level of the palace’s massive southwest corner tower. Researchers say they know of no close example elsewhere in the Roman Empire where an imperial bath was built inside a tower in this way.
Vrelo-Šarkamen is a fortified residential complex built in the early fourth century. The site has been studied for decades, with the latest work led by researchers from Serbia’s Institute of Archaeology and the Museum of the Krajina. The palace is linked to Maximinus Daza, one of the rulers of the Roman Tetrarchy.
The new discovery shows how carefully the residence was planned. The bath had a circular layout shaped by the tower’s interior. A dome once covered the room, with six openings built into the roof for windows.
Detail of the well-preserved hypocaust heating system. Credit: Krajina Museum
The bath was divided into technical areas and rooms for bathing and rest. Three bathing pools have been found, along with a sudatorium, a room used as a sauna.
A well-preserved hypocaust system gives researchers a clear view of how the bath was heated. Small circular pillars supported the floors, leaving space beneath them for hot air to move through the building.
The heating system was supplied by a praefurnium, or furnace. Archaeologists also found the base where a copper boiler once stood. The boiler itself is gone, likely removed because copper was valuable and often reused after a building fell out of use.
The surviving base still shows where the boiler stood and how it connected to the water-heating system. Preserved Roman copper boilers are rare, with a known example found at Pompeii.
Porphyry bust of a tetrarch from Athribis, now in the Cairo Museum. The bust is identified as Maximinus, though this identification cannot be confirmed. Credit: Udimu, CC BY-SA 4.0
The bath also had separate routes for service work. Staff responsible for maintaining the heating system and feeding the furnace entered the technical area through a large western entrance. This kept their work apart from the spaces used by people living in the palace.
The eastern side of the bath presents a different puzzle. An entrance there connects with a paved corridor inside the residence, but researchers haven’t yet worked out how people crossed the change in floor levels to reach the bath.
The purpose of all rooms around the tower also needs further study. Researchers still need to establish how the western entrance worked and how the bath connected with other parts of the palace.
The discovery adds a new piece to the story of Vrelo-Šarkamen. Three decades ago, archaeologists found an imperial mausoleum at the site containing a unique set of gold jewelry.
The newly found bath points to another side of the same residence. Its heating system, pools, sauna and unusual position inside a tower show the level of comfort built into this imperial complex.
For archaeologists, the preserved structures offer a rare chance to reconstruct both the technology and daily use of a Roman imperial bath. Further work at the site is expected to answer how the bath fitted into the wider palace and how its unusual design was used.
More information: Krajina Museum