DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4641#0087
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The Artist conceives the columns in the foreground to mark the site of ancient baths, from the hot
springs still issuing round the ruins which lie on the shore of the Lake, about half an hour's walk south
of the City. The whole way from the Town is marked by traces and remains of the ancient City;
several columns of grey granite, twelve or fifteen feet long, lie together about half way to the baths.
An old bathing house remains, and is still used by the common people ; but Ibrahim Pasha, in 1838,
raised, at the distance of some rods from the site, a handsome edifice for public and private bathing,
consisting of a large circular apartment, covered with a dome, and having a marble pavement around a
fine circular reservoir, to which steps descend. The roof is supported by columns. Many doors lead
into this apartment. At the period of the Artist's visit, this bath was crowded with pilgrims, who
at this season were returning from Jerusalem. The building contains private apartments for those who
can afford to pay for them, which are well and orientally furnished, and some have beautiful marble
baths. Above the old bathing house is a large reservoir,1 into which the water is first received, and
allowed to cool before it flows into the bath; this is necessary, for its temperature when it issues from
the spring is 144° of Fahrenheit. There are four springs nearly together; the taste of the water is salt
and bitter, like hot sea water, and it gives out a strong odour of sulphur.
Those waters are considered highly efficacious in rheumatic affections and debility, and are much
resorted to from all parts of Syria. They are spoken of by Pliny,2 and by Josephus,3 and they were
called Ammaus (Warm Baths). In the Talmud, the springs are mentioned as the ancient Hammath.
The view of Tiberias and the Lake from this spot, backed as it is by the snowy summits of Lebanon, is
strikingly picturesque; but it wants wood, though the vegetation is rank in grass, brambles, and low shrubs.
1 Roberts's Journal.
Hist. Nat. v. 15.
Joseph. Antiq. xviii. 2.
*Mfc.
m
f©ll ©W TimmmAl
Li
'KM© T©WAM1§>U 5L 21 IB A EST® EST,
The Artist conceives the columns in the foreground to mark the site of ancient baths, from the hot
springs still issuing round the ruins which lie on the shore of the Lake, about half an hour's walk south
of the City. The whole way from the Town is marked by traces and remains of the ancient City;
several columns of grey granite, twelve or fifteen feet long, lie together about half way to the baths.
An old bathing house remains, and is still used by the common people ; but Ibrahim Pasha, in 1838,
raised, at the distance of some rods from the site, a handsome edifice for public and private bathing,
consisting of a large circular apartment, covered with a dome, and having a marble pavement around a
fine circular reservoir, to which steps descend. The roof is supported by columns. Many doors lead
into this apartment. At the period of the Artist's visit, this bath was crowded with pilgrims, who
at this season were returning from Jerusalem. The building contains private apartments for those who
can afford to pay for them, which are well and orientally furnished, and some have beautiful marble
baths. Above the old bathing house is a large reservoir,1 into which the water is first received, and
allowed to cool before it flows into the bath; this is necessary, for its temperature when it issues from
the spring is 144° of Fahrenheit. There are four springs nearly together; the taste of the water is salt
and bitter, like hot sea water, and it gives out a strong odour of sulphur.
Those waters are considered highly efficacious in rheumatic affections and debility, and are much
resorted to from all parts of Syria. They are spoken of by Pliny,2 and by Josephus,3 and they were
called Ammaus (Warm Baths). In the Talmud, the springs are mentioned as the ancient Hammath.
The view of Tiberias and the Lake from this spot, backed as it is by the snowy summits of Lebanon, is
strikingly picturesque; but it wants wood, though the vegetation is rank in grass, brambles, and low shrubs.
1 Roberts's Journal.
Hist. Nat. v. 15.
Joseph. Antiq. xviii. 2.