There are at least two baths complexes in the city of Oenoanda. The study that covers both of these is of these Andrew Farrington's volume, The Roman Baths of Lycia - An Architectural Study.
These buildings for lack of a better descriptor are Ml1 and Mk1. These curious namings are the product of the edifices' location on a grid plan used to identify the structures in the city.
Ml1
This structure is located on the south side of the road leading north-east from the agora towards the so-called Esplanade, and stands opposite Baths Mk1. The building, which was constructed almost entirely of local limestone, consists of a main block with a colonnaded courtyard to the south of it, both standing on a platform terraced into the lower slope of the "acropolis hill" on the north side of the city. It is delimited to the south and east by a terrace wall of polygonal masonry, which on the south side runs parallel to the main block before deviating slightly to meet the street to the south-east at a right angle; while to the north and west the hillside was held back by a massive retaining wall later incorporated in the city-wall. This retaining wall can be distinguished from the rest of the Roman city-wall by its more regular, more monumental masonry (as opposed to the city-wall's somewhat irregular, rubbly internal face).
The structure had a three-chamber row arrangement with transverse element, with adjoining palaestra (room 5 in plan below, aka Ml2), which was later remodelled. It is not known if the apsidal gallery immediately to the south east of the bath block was part of the bath complex.
The structure was an orientation of 334ยบ and the ground area of the bath complex is ca 290m².
In Farrington's analysis of of the main structure he observes that: "Room1 communicates with palaestra 5 and 2. Northwesterly door between rooms 1 and 2 added at later stage (?) Room 2 communicates with room 3 by two doorways. Southwestern doorway added later (?) Room 3, small apse with single small window in north-west wall. Arch between rooms 3 and 5. Room 4, projecting doorway in north-east wall, small window immediately below springing of vault in south-east wall".
As for the rooms' functions he posits that room 1 is an apodyterium cum frigidarium, that rooms 2 and 3 are tepidaria (?) and room 4 is a caldarium.
He also speculates that rooms 3 and 4 have marble blocks forming the wall of plunge pools.
Of the palaestra, he speculates that the holes in the external wall of room 2 might beam holes of a portico surrounding the palaestra (with a peristyle at some stage). At a later date a door was inserted to the north-east street with a ramp or steps up to the level of the palestra.
In the centre of the palaestra is a sunken area 8.9m X 8.9m, surrounded by two steps. Fourteen column bases and fragments of columns (of at least 2m in original length) were found lying in the palaestra. There was also evidence of an Ionic capital and entablature. There were at least 6 inscribed statue bases.
As for the Apsidal gallery, he notes that the north-east end of the gallery terminates in the city wall (the so-called Great Wall) dated to or after the mid third century.
Finally, Farrington muses that the podium of the palaestra of Mk1, which is on the same orientation may also belong to the same building program.
As for the dating, he suggests ca 70-90 AD for the bath block, the palaestra might be Several era or before, with the Apsidal gallery being possibly partially post-Severan.
Mk1
This structure is of an entirely greater scale than the aforementioned bath structure. Indeed, in the absence of the demolished stoas of the upper Esplanade, this is the largest extant building of ancient Oenoanda, aside from the theatre.
Its location is at the north end of the podium on the north-west side of the north-east street running up from the agora. As mentioned it stands opposite the Baths at Ml1.
Farrington describes the arrangement as an adapted three-chamber row with a central room (2) set at right angles to the axes of the other rooms. He speculates that room 4 was probably not roofed. There is an impressive two-storey arcuated facade standing on a podium, rising from the palaestra.
The palaestra was added later. The area of the bath block (including room 4) is ca 690m².
Farrington posits the rooms functions as: room 1 an apodyterium cum frigidarium (?), room 2 as a tepidarium, room 3 as a caldarium and room 4 as, possibly, a nymphaeum.
The largest room of all was the apsidal hall at the western end of the block. This had a width of about 14m. Ling & Hall comment that this would have demanded a vault of an unusually large span, unless there were internal divisions or supports of some form; on the possibility that the space was unroofed.
Below can be seen the current state of the arcade facing the palaestra:
Noticeable in the above is the high level of the ground due to the absence of excavation of the palestra.
Below can be seen a reconstruction of how the arcade originally appeared:
The colonnade of the palaestra uses free-standing pedestals for the columns. Below can be seen an axionometric view of complex:
Sources:
The Roman Baths of Lycia - An Architectural Study
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