DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45588#0046
Zubayir — Zebir — Sha^arah
439
tecture are to be seen in a mutilated condition at several different points in the ruins,
it was not possible to discover where a temple had stood. In like manner broken
columns and capitals were found along the paved street which leads from the lower
quarters of the town up to the high ground on which the larger mosque now stands,
but no other details of these colonnades could be discovered. It may be that one of
the temples, if there were more than one, stood on the site of the present mosque;
for this building contains many details of Classical workmanship, and its walls have
many stones in them inscribed with inscriptions of the early period, one of which is
dated between 161-169 ad.1
Baths. This building lies near the lower end of the paved street, on the northern
edge of the ruins. It is low and surrounded with ruins so that one might fail to notice
it in passing. But upon crawling
through one of the windows — for
the doorways have been blocked up —
one finds himself in a well preserved
building, the rooms of which are small
but all vaulted with tunnel vaults
which are almost, if not quite, intact.
The walls of this building are about
a metre thick. There are five separate
rooms exclusive of the vestibule of
the main entrance, which is on the
south side of the building. The plan
(Ill. 386) is illustrated in the accom-
panying drawing, in which the standing
walls are indicated in black, and the
standing vaults by dotted semicircles.
At the northwest angle of the building
there was a sixth room, the two missing
walls of which are represented by
foundations indicated in grey. It will
be seen that the walls of all the rooms
but one are provided with perpendi-
cular grooves for water pipes. It is
this feature above all others that
RHAARAH' BATHS-
Ill. 386.
marks the building as public baths. The vaults
are not of equal height so that the surface of the roofs was very uneven. It seems
probable that the room of irregular shape in the northeast angle was provided with a
dome above the square into which the two tunnel vaults open. Although the walls
and vaults are still in place, the interior of the building, to judge from the present height
of the connecting doorways is filled to a depth of over a metre. It is impossible to
assign to the rooms their various uses in the processes of the bath. It seems probable
that the room to the right of the arched vestibule was the apodyterium, or disrobing
room; for this is the only apartment which is not provided with water-pipes. The
rooms are so numerous, and those on opposite sides of the building so nearly independent,
1 Div. Ill, inscr. 803.
439
tecture are to be seen in a mutilated condition at several different points in the ruins,
it was not possible to discover where a temple had stood. In like manner broken
columns and capitals were found along the paved street which leads from the lower
quarters of the town up to the high ground on which the larger mosque now stands,
but no other details of these colonnades could be discovered. It may be that one of
the temples, if there were more than one, stood on the site of the present mosque;
for this building contains many details of Classical workmanship, and its walls have
many stones in them inscribed with inscriptions of the early period, one of which is
dated between 161-169 ad.1
Baths. This building lies near the lower end of the paved street, on the northern
edge of the ruins. It is low and surrounded with ruins so that one might fail to notice
it in passing. But upon crawling
through one of the windows — for
the doorways have been blocked up —
one finds himself in a well preserved
building, the rooms of which are small
but all vaulted with tunnel vaults
which are almost, if not quite, intact.
The walls of this building are about
a metre thick. There are five separate
rooms exclusive of the vestibule of
the main entrance, which is on the
south side of the building. The plan
(Ill. 386) is illustrated in the accom-
panying drawing, in which the standing
walls are indicated in black, and the
standing vaults by dotted semicircles.
At the northwest angle of the building
there was a sixth room, the two missing
walls of which are represented by
foundations indicated in grey. It will
be seen that the walls of all the rooms
but one are provided with perpendi-
cular grooves for water pipes. It is
this feature above all others that
RHAARAH' BATHS-
Ill. 386.
marks the building as public baths. The vaults
are not of equal height so that the surface of the roofs was very uneven. It seems
probable that the room of irregular shape in the northeast angle was provided with a
dome above the square into which the two tunnel vaults open. Although the walls
and vaults are still in place, the interior of the building, to judge from the present height
of the connecting doorways is filled to a depth of over a metre. It is impossible to
assign to the rooms their various uses in the processes of the bath. It seems probable
that the room to the right of the arched vestibule was the apodyterium, or disrobing
room; for this is the only apartment which is not provided with water-pipes. The
rooms are so numerous, and those on opposite sides of the building so nearly independent,
1 Div. Ill, inscr. 803.