Where Roman Soldiers Took a Bath

GONIO, GEORGIA—Polish archaeologists have made a surprising find of an ancient bath complex at the Roman fort of Asparos during their first excavation season. According to PAP, the team was greatly surprised by the quality of the building materials and techniques used, which were not typical for a soldiers’ bathhouse, as well as its decoration, including mosaic flooring, a luxury unusual for this type of bath. Equally surprising was the date of the complex, says excavation director Radosław Karasiewicz-Szczypiorski. The bath dates to the second half of the first century A.D., during the reign of the emperor Vespasian, at least a century or more earlier than other Roman structures found in this part of Georgia.