Ptolemaic circular bath, Roman villa found in Alexandria

An excavation in the Moharam Bek district of Alexandria, Egypt, has uncovered the remains of a rare circular public bath from the Ptolemaic era and a Roman-era villa with intricate mosaic floors. These findings shed new light on the urban development of Alexandria from the Ptolemaic period through the Roman era and into the Byzantine period, and redraw the map of the city.

The Moharam Bek district was the southeastern sector of the ancient city, an area that has not been extensively excavated before now. The discoveries confirm that the area was still inside the walls of the ancient city into the Byzantine era before later changes in the city’s urban fabric marginalized the neighborhood.

The circular bath takes the classical tholos form, characterized by a ring of columns that supported a domed or conical roof. In ancient Greece, these structures were intended for a variety of functions, both secular and religious, but public baths are exceedingly rare.

The villa had a small plunge pool fed by an advanced water management system. A variety of mosaic techniques were found decorating the floors of the bath and the villa, including fine examples of surviving sections of opus tessellatum and opus sectile, emphasizing the diversity of artistic workshops in Ptolemaic and Roman Alexandria.

Over the months of excavation, the team recovered important moveable artifacts as well as the architectural remains. The most notable finds were marble statues of deities including Bacchus and Asclepius, god of health, headless statue bodies with finely sculpted draping and statue heads with surviving stone eye inlays and polychrome point. One of the decapitated heads matches one of the bodies.

The artifacts are currently undergoing preliminary restoration before they are transferred to specialized laboratories. When conservation is complete, a selection of the most important pieces will go on display at the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria.

* This article was originally published here