Roman baths of Gafsa

{{short description|Structure in central Tunisia}}

File:Roman Pool in Gafsa.jpg

File:Roman baths at Gafsa Tunisia photographed 1905.jpg

The Roman baths of Gafsa ({{langx|fr|Piscines Romaines}}) are well-preserved{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lgYewEO9-OIC&dq=gafsa+roman+baths&pg=PA367 |title=Car Illustrated: A Journal of Travel by Land, Sea, & Air |date=1905 |language=en}} remnants of the Limes Tripolitanus era of North African history, when Gafsa, Tunisia was called Capsa.{{Cite book |last=Young |first=George Frederick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4yCGAAAAMAAJ&dq=gafsa+roman+baths&pg=PA526 |title=East and West Through Fifteen Centuries: Being a General History from B.C. 44 to A.D. 1453 |date=1916 |publisher=Longmans, Green and Company |language=en}} According to a history of water in the Roman world, "there are two open-air central pools" in part because it was a Trajanic colony.{{Cite book |last1=Henig |first1=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VcqAEAAAQBAJ&q=gafsa&pg=PA60 |title=Water in the Roman World: Engineering, Trade, Religion and Daily Life |last2=Lundock |first2=Jason |date=2022-08-11 |publisher=Archaeopress Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-80327-301-3 |pages=60 |language=en}} The baths and the nearby Gafsa Oases were both established because of a local spring that emerges from the nearby mountains.{{Cite book |last1=Sterry |first1=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B9PKDwAAQBAJ&dq=gafsa+roman+baths&pg=PA208 |title=Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond |last2=Mattingly |first2=David J. |date=2020-03-26 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-49444-1 |pages=208 |language=en}} Sallust mentioned the oasis/settlement existing circa 100 BC. A "Byzantine fortress" also remains.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=03e5AAAAIAAJ&q=gafsa+roman+baths |title=Economic Yearbook of Tunisia |date=1964 |publisher=Azzedine Ben Achour |language=en}}

The American 16th Infantry Regiment used the baths for a respite during the North African campaign of World War II.{{Cite book |last=Regiment, 16th |first=United States Army Infantry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-JfvAAAAMAAJ&dq=gafsa+roman+baths&pg=PA25 |title=The 16th Infantry, 1861-1946 |date=1999 |publisher=Cricket Press |language=en}}