The hot waters that rise from beneath Amasya's soil have long given the province the character of a spa country. The sulphurous spring of Gözlek, the old bath at Hamamözü that bears the name of Arkut Bey and the modest Ilısu spring of Göynücek all belong to this character; yet among them the one that stands out most, both for its facilities and for the depth of its past, is the Terziköy hot spring. Rising in the broken country southwest of the provincial capital, at a point where the slopes open onto the plain of the Çekerek basin, this spring now forms the core of an extensive thermal resort with hotels, pools and picnic grounds. Local people and visitors from distant provinces alike come here in search of both health and rest.

What lifts Terziköy above an ordinary spa is the Roman bath that has emerged from the ground right beside today's pools. Long known only from a few pipe fragments and coins found in the hotel foundations, this past took on concrete form with an excavation carried out in the summer of 2012, and with its two-storey underfloor heating system, its arched furnace mouth and its water distribution channels that still work, the building has joined the notable examples of Roman bath architecture in Anatolia. The same hot water has thus come to feed the bathing and healing traditions of two civilisations separated by some seventeen centuries.

Location and Name

Administratively, the spa lies within the boundaries of Çivi, a village of Amasya's Central district. Çivi appears in the records of 1926 under the names "Çivi" or "Osmaniye"; it belonged for many years to the district of Göynücek and was transferred to the Central district in the 1990s. Terziköy, from which the spa takes its name, is today a small village of Göynücek district a few kilometres west of Çivi, and the records of 1928 call it simply "Terzi". The popular name "Terziler Kaplıcası" (the Tailors' Spa) also derives from this neighbourhood. That some older compilations place the spa within Göynücek is likewise a reflection of the same administrative history.

The distance of the spa from the provincial capital is given in the sources with figures ranging from 33 to 40 kilometres; official tourism literature gives 36 kilometres and the archaeological publication 35. In the mid-1970s Terziköy was reached from Amasya by a 35-kilometre state road, 11 kilometres of it asphalt and 24 kilometres gravel, and an 8-kilometre gravel road also linked the Gözlek spring with Terziköy. Today the spa is reached via the Amasya-Gediksaray road. The climate of the area is transitional between that of the Black Sea and Central Anatolia; spring and winter are mild and wet, summer hot and dry. The vegetation likewise shifts from bare slopes to well-watered green flats, while the spa grounds themselves were later afforested from end to end.

Terziköy in the Roman Period

The Roman Bathing Tradition and Hot Springs

In the Roman world the bath was one of the most important public spaces of daily life. The earliest examples were small buildings meeting people's need to wash; over time they grew into multi-purpose complexes where sport, entertainment and conversation took place alongside bathing. Large public baths built over extensive grounds and owned by the state or the city were called thermae, while smaller, privately owned bathing places within the city were known as balnea. A Roman bath consisted of units such as the changing room (apodyterium), the warm room (tepidarium), the hot room (caldarium), the sweating room (sudatorium), the section for washing in cold water (frigidarium), the exercise court (palaestra) and massage rooms. Whereas the first baths were heated with large braziers, the method of heating from beneath the floor became widespread at the beginning of the first century BC; the heat of the fire burning in the furnace was distributed to the desired parts of the bath through a system called the hypocaust.

In Turkish, buildings erected where hot water emerges directly from the ground, to which people went not only to wash but also to seek a cure, are called kaplıca, while those within towns are called hamam. Terziköy is a place of the kind where these two traditions meet. In the words of the researchers who excavated it, the site of the spring has been known among the people as the Terziköy spa "since very ancient times".

First Finds and Destruction

The first clues to the use of the spa in antiquity came to light during the foundation work for the modern hotel. Water pipes of the Roman period and copper coins dated to the fourth century AD were found here, and on the strength of these two finds it was concluded that an extensive Roman settlement had existed in the vicinity. The easily drinkable composition of the water also gave rise to the view that it was used as drinking water in earlier ages. The Amasya Museum Directorate prepared its first report on the site on 24 March 1976, and in 2007 the Amasya Special Provincial Administration commissioned the Department of Geophysical Engineering of Istanbul University to carry out a ground-penetrating radar survey to locate the remains of the ancient bath and establish their extent.

This attention, however, could not protect the site from destruction. The area of the bath remains was heavily damaged in 1996 during the construction of the modern spa buildings, and landscaping, road building and illicit treasure hunting subsequently made the damage worse. In one of their trenches the excavators found that the floor had been broken up over an area about two metres long and one and a half metres wide, and that the illicit pits had afterwards been filled in with earth. The traces of the ancient building continue southward beneath the present road; part of the structure lies under the asphalt and the concrete enclosure wall.

The 2012 Excavation

The work that brought the ancient building to light scientifically for the first time lasted two months, through June and July of 2012. Carried out with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in cooperation between the Amasya Museum and Hitit University, the soundings and excavation were directed by Celal Özdemir, then director of the Amasya Museum, with Esra Keskin, director of Hitit University's Centre for Black Sea Archaeology, as scientific adviser. Along with the museum's archaeologists, the team included art historians, a photographer and workmen. The excavation area was chosen northwest of the spot known as "Terziköy Hamamı", within a 49,054-square-metre plot planned as the picnic and landscaping grounds of the hotel and day-use facilities. The results were first presented as a paper in 2013 at the Symposium of Medieval and Turkish Period Excavations and Art History Research, and were published as an article in 2016, expanded with new findings.

In the first trench, opened east of the garden, walls of rubble masonry were encountered only 20 to 30 centimetres below the surface, and on the sloping parts 10 to 15 centimetres down. As the trench went deeper, a collapse layer heavily destroyed by burning, roof tiles and pottery sherds appeared between the walls. In the large room bounded by walls of rubble stone and mortar, ranging from 70 to 85 centimetres in thickness, the finds included a demijohn, a bronze patera, a bronze vessel, two bronze bells, a bronze hand balance, a plough iron, two terracotta jugs and a bowl. In the more simply walled room just to the south, a corroded copper coin of the Eastern Roman period was found. The character of the finds suggests that these rooms were used as a cellar or storeroom.

The Water Distribution Unit

One of the most striking results of the excavation is the water distribution unit uncovered 3.10 metres below the surface in the second trench, opened south of today's modern pool. The upper part of this rectangular structure, aligned north-south and measuring 5.20 by 3.40 metres, is built of roughly dressed rubble and mortar, its lower part of neatly rusticated blocks of green schist. About 2.20 metres below the wall, channels carrying the thermal water in various directions were found, together with shafts used for cleaning them. The shafts, measuring on average 0.75 by 0.88 and 0.60 by 0.70 metres, join channels covered with well-cut stone lids and distribute the water in four directions.

The researchers established that in antiquity the thermal water rose here naturally as an artesian flow, and that the water welling up of its own accord was collected by the channels and distributed to the various parts of the bath and its annexes. More remarkable still, these distribution channels and shafts were found to be still in working order at the time of the excavation. The water system set up by Roman engineers continues to function despite the more than fifteen hundred years that have passed and all the new construction built on top of it.

Hypocaust and Praefurnium

The hot sections of the bath were revealed in the third trench, opened parallel to the enclosure wall. Here an extremely even floor of small brick fragments set in sand-and-lime mortar was found first, and in the southeastern part of the trench the hypocaust and the hot room (caldarium) were uncovered. The room identified as the upper storey of the hypocaust actually measures 5.25 by 8.25 metres; it was probably reduced in size during its second phase of use. Terracotta supports 73 centimetres high and 18 centimetres in diameter were found here, arranged in seven rows across and thirteen rows lengthwise. Each was made by stacking eight round bricks, 7.5 centimetres thick and 18.5 centimetres in diameter, with two centimetres of sand-and-lime mortar between them. The gaps through which the hot gas circulated vary between 40 and 43 centimetres. The lower storey of the system consists of rectangular piers 0.65 by 0.35 metres in section and 50 centimetres high.

The feature the excavators emphasise is this two-storey arrangement itself. A two-storey hypocaust is rare in Roman bath architecture; one known example is in the Barbara Baths at Trier in Germany. At Trier the short piers of the lower storey are built of square bricks, whereas at Terziköy they are of concrete. According to the researchers, the system may have been chosen because of the size of the room above it, or, as in saunas, to reach high temperatures and keep the heat for a long time. The abstract of the article states that in this respect the Terziköy bath is "unique" within Roman bath architecture.

In the fourth trench, opened east of the hypocaust, the furnace mouth (praefurnium) and the hot room of the bath came to light. A round arch of well-cut stone, 3.5 metres high, 1.20 metres wide and 1.47 metres deep, still stands here. This arch is the passage through which, in Roman baths, water heated in large metal boilers in the furnace, together with hot air and flue gas, reached the hypocaust sections. A channel reaching halfway up the arch, 65 centimetres above the floor and 101 centimetres wide, opens into the room containing the piers that carry the 37-centimetre-thick cut-stone floor. The excavators compare the height and width of this arched furnace mouth with those of the Imperial Baths at Trier; furnace mouths kept so high allow a person to walk inside them and are generally found in large baths. Two terracotta storage jars (pithos) standing in place were also found at the level of the top of the praefurnium entrance.

Courtyard, Pools and Spolia

When the excavation was extended northward, it became clear that the walls of the caldarium continued in that direction and that a pavement of large cut stones, 5.25 metres long and 1.50 to 3.50 metres wide, lay in situ. South of this pavement extends a square 12 metres long and 3.76 metres wide, paved with large cut stones. This was a forecourt or open area; a narrow stone-paved lane to its west also gave access to the rooms. Some of the paving stones are limestone and some green schist, and the lead clamp sockets on them show that they were spolia taken from earlier Roman and even late Hellenistic buildings in the area. East and north of the courtyard, thick-walled rooms built of rubble and mud mortar were found to continue without interruption toward the area of the first trench and beneath today's toilet block.

Northwest of the courtyard, two small rectangular pools set side by side were found. One is 66 centimetres deep and the other 80; the centre of the second ends in a funnel shape. The interiors of the pools are rendered with exceptional care in brick-dust mortar. A medium-sized terracotta jar was found in place at the junction of the shared wall, and a large jar buried in the ground beside the oval niche on the left.

Phases of the Building

From the size of the excavated area and the presence of rooms with different functions, the excavators concluded that the building had been constructed in its day as a large complex. The different building techniques and the small finds show that the bath was in active use in two separate phases: the first belongs to the third and fourth centuries AD, the second to the fifth and sixth centuries. Besides small finds of terracotta, glass and metal, coins of the reign of Justinian I were also recovered; the article dates these coins to 526-528. The architectural layers revealed that the site was inhabited from the Early Roman period until the first half of the sixth century, that is, that it was a settlement lived in for roughly six hundred years. The heavy burnt layer in the first trench fits this interpretation; according to the researchers the building probably lost its importance and was abandoned after a great fire. In 2013 the site was registered as a first-degree archaeological conservation area.

The Old Bath from the Ottomans to the Republic

Written information on the centuries after the abandonment of the Roman building is very scarce. That there is no definite record of the spa's history is openly acknowledged in the compilations as well. What is known is that at the site of the main spring a pool of Ottoman date, four metres by four, together with a wooden building containing simple changing rooms, remained in use for a long time. This plain structure was a modest village bath where for centuries the villagers and the people of nearby towns bathed and sought relief from rheumatism and digestive complaints. In later years the pool of the old bathhouse section was enlarged and rebuilt so that more people could rest there in comfort.

The history told of the other spas of the region helps us understand the tradition in which Terziköy lived. It is related that the spa at Hamamözü was turned into a bath with two domes by Arkut Bey in the Seljuk or Ottoman period, and that after the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877-1878 immigrants from the Caucasus took over its running. No named founder or pious endowment (waqf) record of this kind is known for Terziköy; the legal status and manner of operation of the spa in the Ottoman and early Republican periods have not yet been the subject of published research.

The Geology of the Hot Water

Terziköy is one of Amasya's three major geothermal fields and the one that has been studied most thoroughly. The first work at the site by the General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA) was carried out in 1973 by the geologist Timur Kartal, and the hydrogeological report of 1974, accompanied by a 1:25,000 geological map, was aimed at developing the spa. According to this report, the study area contains Palaeozoic metamorphic schists, Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous limestones, Eocene flysch with volcanics passing laterally into it, Neogene series and Quaternary deposits. The area lies just beside the North Anatolian Fault Zone. Hot water coming from a limestone reservoir rises along the fault immediately north of the facilities to form the spring; the hotter water at depth, however, mixes with surface water and groundwater as it rises. The report noted that at that time the spring did not meet the needs of the facilities, which also used it as utility water, and that drilling was needed to increase both the temperature and the volume of the water.

In the same period, between 15 January and 30 November 1974, MTA's geophysical team carried out a resistivity survey of the Terziköy and Gözlek fields using vertical electrical soundings. The study concluded that the high-resistivity body corresponding to the Jurassic limestone north of the spa continues and widens at depth, and that the low-resistivity zones on the western edge of this body are related to the hot water. In the introduction to the report, published in 1976, Terziköy is described as a "historic" spa "known since very early times for its healing waters".

Contracts between MTA and the Governorship of Amasya brought the site back onto the agenda from the late 1990s. The geological-hydrogeological study completed in 1999 covered an area of about 144 square kilometres and showed that the emergence of the hot waters is controlled by fault systems trending northeast-southwest. At that time the facilities' need for hot water was met by the spring itself, at 37 degrees and 10 litres per second, and by the Terziköy-1 well, at 36.5 degrees and 4 litres per second. Besides these, the area had other springs with a combined flow of 6 litres per second and temperatures between 31 and 32 degrees. Evaluating the geological data together with soil-gas measurements, the study proposed a new fault-controlled drilling site with a depth of around 450 metres (plus or minus 50 metres).

The Terziköy-2 well, drilled close to the proposed site, was completed at 325 metres in 2001 and put into production. From the surface down, the borehole passed through 10 metres of slope debris, a 253-metre sequence of Eocene agglomerate, andesite, basalt, tuffite and flysch, and at the bottom 62 metres of Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous limestone. The well yielded artesian hot water at 40.1 degrees and 32 litres per second, with a wellhead pressure of 1 atmosphere. This temperature is higher than that of the spring and the first well; the researchers attributed it to a roughly 64-metre layer of clay and marl belonging to the Eocene flysch, which acts as a cap rock and was absent in the first well. The water from this well was intended for new facilities such as an Olympic swimming pool.

To protect the hot water from pollution, a separate conservation zone study was also carried out in 2002. According to the study, the fact that the springs are enclosed by a layer of low permeability is a favourable feature of the site; nevertheless, three separate protection zones were defined in the area to safeguard the springs and wells, with the conditions to be observed in each zone set out. In MTA's geothermal inventories the natural outflow of Terziköy is listed at 37 degrees and 10 litres per second and its wells at between 37.2 and 40.1 degrees; the hot water is counted among the resources used for spa bathing, spa facilities and greenhouse heating.

Chemical Properties and Use of the Water

In spa compilations the Terziköy water is classified among the sodium bicarbonate and calcium waters. The spring water is a hypotonic and isothermal water at 37 degrees, containing 0.7009 grams of total minerals per litre, with a pH of 6.67 and a radioactivity of 4.5 eman. It is also stated that the composition contains bicarbonate at 80.03, calcium at 50.64 and sodium at 28.01 per cent milliequivalents, and that the water contains salts of radioactive composition and some carbon dioxide. Under the classification of the International Association of Hydrogeologists these waters fall into the class of "mineral-poor hot water" (acrotherm). The flow of the water is given in spa compilations as 12-13 litres per second.

Differing figures for the water temperature circulate in the sources, and each corresponds to a separate measurement. Measurements gave 37 degrees for the spring outflow, 36.5 for the first well and 40.1 for the second; the figure of 39.5 degrees often found in promotional texts is the temperature of the pool water. The summary of MTA's 1974 report gives 57 degrees for the spa water; this value is markedly higher than all later measurements, and confirming it would require consulting the full text of the report. The fact that the water is around 37-38 degrees allows it to be used directly without cooling and makes it suitable for long baths.

Traditional use and old spa guides attribute a wide range of healing properties to the water. According to these sources the water restrains the sympathetic nervous system, stimulates the parasympathetic system, increases the effect of enzymes and acts on the hormonal system; it reduces stomach acidity, increases the flow of bile and is diuretic. It has also been written that drinking cures lower cholesterol and fatty acid levels and reduce blood sugar in diabetics. Among the people these properties turned into the belief that the water increases male potency, and the old guides also noted that this brought the spa many customers. Bathing and drinking cures are recommended for rheumatic paralysis, stomach and intestinal diseases, kidney and urinary tract disorders, joint calcification, after-effects of fractures and dislocations, and nutritional disorders. The promotional text of the provincial culture and tourism directorate likewise states that the water is good for rheumatism and for stomach, intestinal, urinary tract and nutritional disorders.

The waters of Terziköy and of the Arkut Bey spa at Hamamözü are regarded as having the same chemical structure and the same medical indications. The old spa guide defines these waters as oligometallic, with a total mineral content of around half a gram, and writes that they may be used in the non-inflammatory phases of rheumatic syndromes, in non-inflammatory spastic and painful conditions of stomach and intestinal diseases, in painful and spastic gynaecological conditions, and, because of their sedative effect, in high blood pressure. It is also stated that the waters have been registered by the Ministry of Health for their complementary and supportive properties. All these benefits rest largely on traditional knowledge and older balneological assessments; a spa cure should not be seen as a treatment that takes the place of a doctor's advice.

Modern Facilities and the Thermal Tourism Centre

The spa grounds are owned by the Amasya Special Provincial Administration. The foundations of today's facilities were laid in 1996, when the spa hotel and its annexes were built. In 1998 the area was declared a Thermal Tourism Centre by a decision of the Council of Ministers, and it was subsequently transferred to FİMAR Holding for 49 years under the build-operate-transfer model. In this way the old spa, on the scale of a village bath, was turned step by step into the largest thermal resort area of the province.

The capacity of the facilities has changed over time, and figures from different periods appear side by side in the sources. An old spa guide speaks of a spa hotel with 76 beds in 36 rooms, 26 private bathrooms, two general treatment pools and a swimming pool measuring 14 by 7 metres with a depth between 1.20 and 1.70 metres; smaller lodgings also stood near the hotel. Another description lists a hotel with seventy-two beds, a motel with forty-five beds, a restaurant, swimming pools, private cabins, shops, a children's playground and picnic grounds. Today the area has a five-star thermal hotel along with bungalows, open-air and indoor pools, separate sections for women and men, family pools and spa services. Visitors can meet almost all their needs within the same grounds for the duration of a cure.

The number of visitors at Terziköy varies markedly with the season. In summer the spa serves as a day-trip recreation ground with picnic areas and open-air pools, but it finds its main visitors in the cooler seasons and above all in winter; crowds peak on public holidays and religious festivals. The openness of the view over the plain, the calm surroundings far from the noise of the city and the extensive afforested grounds lend themselves to combining hours by the pool with short walks. For a traveller exploring the historic centre of Amasya, Terziköy is a nearby stop where the fatigue of the journey can be shaken off at its end; a cultural tour and a nature trip thus complement each other on the same route. The protected site containing the excavation area has not yet been laid out as an archaeological site open to visitors.

Other Spas in the Area

Considering Terziköy together with the other hot springs of the region gives a better understanding of Amasya's thermal geography. The Gözlek spring lies south of the provincial capital in the township of Gözlek on the Göynücek road, in a marshy area on the bank of the Çekerek River; it is also known as "Gözlek Hamamı" or "Gözhöyük Kaplıcası", and its water, rich in sulphur, is held to be good for rheumatism and skin diseases. Gözlek and Terziköy have been studied together in MTA work since the 1970s. Another bath spring reported to lie between the villages of Misak and Çivi, and the Çırçır spring water at the place called Karakaya, are also water sources of the same area.

The Ilısu spring within the boundaries of Göynücek resembles Terziköy in its medical and technical properties; but because no investment was made in it, it has remained in the background as a small spa serving only the people of the region. The Arkut Bey spa at Hamamözü, at 640 metres above sea level, with three springs, temperatures of 38-40 degrees and a pH of 7.4, is regarded as Terziköy's closest relative. According to MTA inventories, the temperature of the natural outflows in the Gözlek, Terziköy and Hamamözü geothermal fields lies between 37 and 40 degrees and their flow between 2 and 10 litres per second; wells drilled in these fields have produced fluids at between 35.5 and 42.5 degrees with flows of 11.5 to 125 litres per second. Together these three fields make Amasya one of the notable spa provinces of the central Black Sea region.

Chronology

3rd-4th century AD: First phase of use of the Terziköy Roman bath; the copper coins found in the hotel foundations are also dated to the fourth century.

5th-6th century AD: Second phase of use of the bath; coins of the reign of Justinian I. The building is abandoned after the first half of the sixth century, probably following a fire.

1926: The village of Çivi, where the spa lies, appears in the records as "Çivi" or "Osmaniye".

1928: Terziköy, which gives the spa its name, is recorded as "Terzi".

1973: The geologist Timur Kartal studies the geology of the spa area; the hydrogeological report is completed in 1974.

1974: MTA carries out a resistivity survey of the Terziköy and Gözlek fields between 15 January and 30 November; the report is published in 1976.

1976: The Amasya Museum Directorate records the ancient remains in a report dated 24 March.

1990s: The village of Çivi is transferred from Göynücek to the Central district.

1996: The spa hotel and facilities are built on land owned by the Special Provincial Administration; the construction severely damages the ancient bath.

1998: The area is declared a Thermal Tourism Centre by decision of the Council of Ministers.

1999: MTA's geological-hydrogeological study covering 144 square kilometres is published.

2001: The Terziköy-2 geothermal well is completed at 325 metres; artesian water is obtained at 40.1 degrees and 32 litres per second.

2002: A conservation zone study with three protection zones is prepared for the spa springs.

2007: The Special Provincial Administration commissions a ground-penetrating radar survey to establish the extent of the ancient bath.

2012: The Amasya Museum and Hitit University excavate in June and July; the two-storey hypocaust, the praefurnium and the water distribution unit are uncovered.

2013: The spa grounds are registered as a first-degree archaeological conservation area; the excavation results are presented at a symposium.

2016: The article by Esra Keskin and Celal Özdemir on the Terziköy bath is published.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Official sources

Other sources

Online sources