GIANNITSA - 2006

Giannitsa. S. Zacharidis, F. Karagianni and G. Skiadaresis report the discovery of an Ot bath (hammam) in rescue excavation at 32 Venizelou street. Part of the apodyterion was preserved on this plot, with the rest of the bath continuing into neighbouring plots. The base of a perirrhanterion was found in the S of the plot, in what was probably the centre of the room, along with 2 water channels. Niches in the E and N wall were likely for bathers’ possessions. Stratigraphy and portable finds (including glazed pottery and many clay pipes) indicate that the bath was in use from the 15th−17th Ct AD, when it was destroyed by fire. It is identified as the bath of Achmet Bei mentioned by Evliya Çelebi on his visit to Giannitsa in 1668.