Remains of a 2,200-year-old mega-bath have been uncovered in Berenike, an ancient seaport in Egypt on the western shore of the Red Sea.
Berenike, sometimes written as Berenice Troglodytica, was founded in 275 BC and prospered – according to accounts by Pliny the Elder – due to its strategic location and patronage by the Ptolemaic rulers. The bustling settlement had powerful public facilities, including a huge bathhouse containing two tholoi, or circular structures, with 14 individual basins of cold or lukewarm water, as well as hot baths. Two large water tanks from one borehole feed each sink in the bathroom.
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Marek Woniek, assistant professor at the Polish Institute for Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences, who is leading excavations at the site, said, live science There may have been a gymnasium built to the west of the bath.
Woźniak’s team focuses on antiquities dating back to the Hellenistic period in ancient Egypt (circa 323 BC to 30 BC), when elements of Greek culture, such as architectural signatures, flourished in North Africa. Berenike’s ongoing excavations are being led by Marios Guaizda, assistant professor of archeology at the Institute for the Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures, and Stephen Sidebotham, a professor of history at the University of Delaware who focuses on the ancient world economy.
The population of the Berenike was swelled when the pigeon was in operation, buoyed by its importance as a trade center and resource for war elephants in East Africa, according to Woźniak. The city had a strong military presence, and the baths “served as places to meet and relax after work or exercise, and thus were often combined with gymWozniak said.
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