Vedius Gymnasium (Ephesus)

The Vedius Gymnasium in Ephesus (in present-day Turkey) is a Roman bathing complex of the type of the thermal gymnasium.

The building, opened between 147 and 149 AD, represents a combination of a Roman thermae (Latin thermae) of the type of the large imperial baths and a Greek gymnasium (Ancient Greek γυμνάσιον). Alongside the harbor, theater, and East Gymnasium, the Vedius Gymnasium, erected in the time of the emperor Antoninus Pius, is the youngest imperial bath‑gymnasium complex in Ephesus.

The approximately 13,000 m² large building in the north of the city is oriented along an east‑west longitudinal axis and has a symmetrical floor plan. On the longitudinal axis are the main bathing rooms (Caldarium, Tepidarium and Frigidarium with Natatio). The Caldarium located in the west of the complex is additionally flanked by Tepidaria and Unctoria. Two large apodyteria north and south of the Frigidarium functioned as changing rooms. The operation of the complex was largely carried out via the substructure floor. Between the thermae and the gymnasium a large double‑T‑shaped hall (basilica thermarum) provides a connection. In the eastern part of the bath block a richly equipped marble hall opens toward the gymnasium, which could be used for representative purposes. One latrine in the bath floor and one in the substructure floor served the human needs of bath visitors as well as of passers‑by, who could also use the semi‑public facilities.

While the thermae served bathing, personal hygiene and as a social meeting place, the gymnasium with its palaestra was used for physical exercise, intellectual education and events of all kinds.

The building named after its founder (M. Claudius P. Vedius Antoninus Phaedrus Sabinianus) remained in use as a bath after a major revitalisation in the first quarter of the 5th century until the end of the 5th century. In the second half of the 6th century it was destroyed by a great fire.