PARAMYTHIA - 2000

Paramythia, Byzantine baths. N. Vasilikou (8th EBA) reports on excavation conducted in the context of restoration work.

The walls of a probable apodyterion were found, with a domed roof and a stone paved floor. On the east side are built stone benches with indentations and, in the centre of the room, a marble-clad basin with supply and drainage channels. A small adjunct room leads to a further domed room which may be the tepidarium. The floor was likely paved in marble. The two next rooms, with a hypocaust system, were likely caldaria − the smaller being a private room off the main chamber. Remains of a vaulted cistern were found in the south and, below it, the main heating system with hot-air conduits leading from the furnace. Many water channels, with terracotta pipes, were found in the eastern part of the bath. Finds were mostly glazed Middle Byzantine sherds and a few Ottoman coins. A 15th-century date is suggested.