Roman Baths of Fordongianus ~ 2 June 2019 | Sardinia

The Roman baths of Fordongianus are an important archaeological site in Sardinia, located on the left bank of the Tirso river, in the upper Oristanese.
There are still springs from which water flows which, having crossed the underlying volcanic bench, reach a temperature of 54 °.
The thermal baths are located near the town of Fordongianus, an ancient urban center already known in 170 AD with the name of Aquae Ypsitanae and later changed to the Trajan Forum of the emperor Trajan who assigned the title of city with municipal status to the colony.
The thermal complex is made up of two establishments: an original plant centered on the natatio, which exploited the sources of hot water, and another with artificial heating composed of different environments.
The lack of excavation data prevents a precise dating of their construction but, based on the architectural techniques adopted, it is believed that the buildings date back to a period between 100 and 300 AD
The establishment of the first century
The first building, located to the north, was built with the opus quadratum technique, which consists of superimposing parallelepipedal squared trachyte blocks of uniform height, laid without a binder.
At the center there is the natatio, a large rectangular pool 13 meters long, 6.5 meters wide and 1.5 meters deep and equipped on the sides with four steps to descend to the bottom of the tank.
Inside it was placed hot water from the source previously mixed with cold water from some reservoirs upstream; a system of bronze locks allowed to regulate the flows and guarantee an effective temperature regulation.
The water was introduced into the pool through a decorative terminal, a protome carved in the shape of a panther's head, from whose mouth it still flows.
On the two longer sides of the natatio there were two porticoes supported by seven pillars that supported a large barrel vault placed to cover the pool; the presence of three skylights guaranteed internal lighting.
In the vicinity of the natatio there are other minor pools including that of the nymphaeum, a swimming pool dedicated to the cult of the nymphs with a lot of inscription brought to light recently.
The establishment of the third century
The second plant was built behind the first and is accessible via a portal and a small staircase. The construction technique used was called "opus caementicium" with a face in "opus vittatum mixtum".
Originally it had a mosaic floor with red and black rhomboid motifs; it was subsequently covered with a thick layer of earthenware. The walls were clad with marble slabs about a centimeter thick.
The establishment consisted of four rooms: the apodyterium, ie the dressing room, the frigidarium with two small basins of cold water, the tepidarium with warm water and the calidarium with hot water. Water was heated by two furnaces adjacent to the calidarium.
The building overlooks a large trapezoidal square of almost 700 square meters and is entirely paved with large slabs of trachyte, which was the city forum, a place where the population met to discuss problems of great importance for the community and to trade.
To the left was a long L-shaped building with seven rooms, one of which perhaps a hospitium, a temporary accommodation for the guests of the structure. This building was largely frescoed with an octagonal square decoration in rossobruno with figures of animals surrounded by plant motifs.
In the entire archaeological area the sophisticated system of channels, wells and cisterns predisposed for the management of the thermal water system can still be seen today.
History of excavations
The first to locate the remains of Aquae Ypsitanae and Forum Traiani was the historian Giuseppe Manno in 1825, but only in 1860 he published the Description of Forum Traiani.
The site was excavated regularly only forty years later, between 1899 and 1902 by the Royal Commissioner of Museums and excavations of antiquity in Sardinia, with an illustration of the site edited by the then young archaeologist Antonio Taramelli.
Subsequent excavations on the site were carried out by the Superintendency for the archaeological heritage of the provinces of Cagliari and Oristano starting from 1969.
SOURCE:
it.wikipedia.o...
SUBSCRIBE. Http://bit.ly/2C0hHdE
FACEBOOK ➜ goo.gl/yGqbhv
INSTAGRAM ➜ goo.gl/YeL2LY
TWITTER ➜ goo.gl/7NdnXE
VIDEO MAP goo.gl/mnDdUQ
BLOG SARDINIA ➜ goo.gl/KnNZge
SUPPORTACI ➜ goo.gl/jJCpXL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#terme #fordongianus #sardegna # thesilentube83