Bradashesh, Albania – Ad Quintum Thermae 04

Ad Quintum ( sq, Stacioni Romak) was an ancient settlement and a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

thermal complex in Illyricum, near

Bradashesh Bradashesh is a village and a former municipality in the Elbasan County, central Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Elbasan. The population at the 2011 census was 10,700. The municipal unit cons ...

, present-day

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. Ad Quintum was a ''

mutatio In the Roman Empire, a ''mansio'' (from the Latin word ''mansus,'' the perfect passive participle of ''manere'' "to remain" or "to stay") was an official stopping place on a Roman road, or ''via'', maintained by the central government for the use ...

'' ("changing station" or "way station") of the

Via Egnatia The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thracia, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . of ...

, which connected western

Illyria In classical antiquity, Illyria (; grc, Ἰλλυρία, ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; la, Illyria, ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyr ...

with eastern

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...

, from the two starting points of Dyrrhachium and Apollonia, to

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...

. The two branches of the first part of the Via Egnatia converged at Ad Quintum, then the road continued eastwards through the valley of the

Shkumbin The Shkumbin (; ; la, Genusus, also la, Genessus, label=none or la, Scampis, label=none), also commonly Shkembi, is a river in Southern Europe. It is long and its drainage basin is . Its average discharge is . Etymology It derives from La ...

Description

Bradashesh, Albania – Ad Quintum Thermae 01

Ad Quintum was located on the

connecting Dyrrhachium and Apollonia with

. The Via Egnatia started with two branches, the northern one from Dyrrhachium, and the southern one from Apollonia. The two branches converged at Ad Quintum, continuing eastwards through the valley of the

. The thermal complex was built in the middle of the 2nd century AD, and continued to be populated until the 4th century AD. It was abandoned perhaps due to the civic development of nearby

Scampa Elbasan ( ; sq-definite, Elbasani ) is the fourth most populous city of Albania and seat of Elbasan County and Elbasan Municipality. It lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain in central Al ...

or to the reduced use of the road station. Its well preserved ruins can be seen near the present-day village

, right next to the SH7 road. Compared with other contemporary thermal structures, its surface is rather modest: 41.5 x 11 m². However, the architectural spaces are well structured, including a large ''

Nymphaeum A ''nymphaeum'' or ''nymphaion'' ( grc, νυμφαῖον), in ancient Greece and Rome, was a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs. These monuments were originally natural grottoes, which tradition assigned as habit ...

'', the ''

frigidarium A frigidarium is one of the three main bath chambers of a Roman bath or ''thermae'', namely the cold room. It often contains a swimming pool. The succession of bathing activities in the ''thermae'' is not known with certainty, but it is thought ...

'', the ''

apodyterium In ancient Rome, the apodyterium (from grc, ἀποδυτήριον "undressing room") was the primary entry in the public baths, composed of a large changing room with cubicles or shelves where citizens could store clothing and other belongings ...

'', the ''

tepidarium The tepidarium was the warm (''tepidus'') bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system. The speciality of a tepidarium is the pleasant feeling of constant radiant heat which directly affects the human body from t ...

'', the ''

calidarium 230px, Caldarium from the Roman Baths at Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the empty space where the hot air flowed through to heat the floor. A caldarium (also called a calidarium, cella caldaria or cella coctilium) was a room ...

'', the ''

laconicum The ''laconicum'' (i.e. Spartan, ''sc.'' ''balneum'', bath). Cf. Greek ''pyriaterion to lakonikon'' "the Laconian vapour-bath"; , . was the dry sweating room of the Roman ''thermae'', contiguous to the ''caldarium'' or hot room. The name was given ...

'' and the '' praefurnum''. The bathhouse consists of five main rooms. At the eastern end there is an apsed

exedra An exedra (plural: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek sense (''ἐξέδρα'', a seat out of d ...

that was used as a dining room. This connects to the small rectangular cold plunge-bath. The

(undressing room) also survived with fine

paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es on its walls. Further to the western end of the building the ruins of the

(heated sweating room) can be seen with the traces of the

hypocaust A hypocaust ( la, hypocaustum) is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm th ...

(underfloor heating), along with the adjacent praefernium (furnace). The site was extensively excavated around 1968 which uncovered a fine

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

and a remarkably well-preserved

thermae In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large Roman Empire, imperial public bath, bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed i ...

(bathhouse) taking advantage of the abundant springs nearby.

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* * * {{Authority control

Ad Quintum Ad Quintum ( sq, Stacioni Romak) was an ancient settlement and a Roman Empire, Roman thermal complex in Illyria, Illyricum, near Bradashesh, present-day Albania. Ad Quintum was a ''mutatio'' ("changing station" or "way station") of the Via Egnatia ...

Former populated places in Albania Illyrian Albania Cities in ancient Illyria Albania in the Roman era Ruins in Albania Tourist attractions in Elbasan County Buildings and structures in Elbasan County

Description

Gallery

See also

References

Bibliography