Today's Sarikaya was known in Roman times under the name Aqua Sarvenae. The ancient city enjoyed an outstanding reputation as an important spa centre. The Roman city was destroyed by an earthquake, only the ruins of the baths remained.

Some legends entwine around the Roman bath called Königsbad. E.g. the legend of the king's daughter:
The daughter of one of the Armenian kings in Kayseri suffered from an inexorable illness. The king brought his daughter to many doctors and did everything for his treatment. None of the doctors found a cure. The girl's illness progressed from day to day, the girl could no longer walk. She suffered from rheumatism, as one would have diagnosed today.
The king heard of a place where there should be healing mud and hot water. He sent his little girl to this place as a last resort. On the advice of local farmers, the poor girl, who believed she could only live a few days longer, went into the warm mud and hot water.

It did not take long until a positive effect was shown and the disease continued to improve daily. Gradually her condition improved so that she could walk again after some time and practice. In the end, the beautiful girl here was completely healed from the hot water.

The girl's grateful father had an imposing bathhouse built around the spring and surrounded the hot spring with a large marble basin. Around this bathhouse a new town was gradually built, named after the king's daughter.

Another legend says that the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, called Caracalla, had the bath built at the beginning of the 2nd century AD.