Aphrodisias Hadrian Baths

The Hadrian Baths at Aphrodisias are an imposing ancient bath complex at the extraordinary UNESCO World Heritage Site of Aphrodisias in Karacasu District of Aydın Province, a city dedicated to Aphrodite that flourished as one of the wealthiest and most artistically accomplished cities of Roman Asia Minor. Aphrodisias was renowned throughout the Roman Empire for the quality of its marble sculpture — its workshops produced some of the finest statuary of the imperial period, exported to Rome and across the Mediterranean — and the Hadrian Baths, named after the emperor who was among Aphrodisias' most generous imperial patrons, formed part of a civic ensemble of exceptional magnificence. The baths stood alongside a 270-metre stadium (the best-preserved ancient sports venue in the world), a theatre, and a colonnaded forum befitting a city that occupied a uniquely privileged position in the imperial favour hierarchy of Roman Asia.