Travels in Syria and the Holy LandBurckhardt, John Lewis
History
Travels in Syria and the Holy Land
Burckhardt, John Lewis
Palestine -- Description and travel; Syria -- Description and travel
The ancient town of Tiberias does not seem to have occupied any part of
the present limits of Tabaria, but was probably situated at a short
distance farther to the south, near the borders of the lake. Its ruins
begin at about five minutes walk from the wall of the present town, on
the road to the hot-wells. The only remains of antiquity are a few
columns, heaps of stones, and some half ruined walls and foundations of
houses. On the sea-side, close to the water, are the ruins of a long
thick wall or mole, with a few columns of gray granite, lying in the
sea. About mid-way between the town and the hot-wells, in the midst of
the plain, I saw seven columns, of which two only are standing upright;
and there may probably be more lying on the ground, hid among the high
[p.329] grass with which the plain is covered; they are of gray granite,
about twelve or fourteen feet long, and fifteen inches in diameter; at a
short distance from them is the fragment of a beautiful column of red
Egyptian granite, of more than two feet in diameter. These ruins stretch
along the sea-shore, as far as the hot springs, and extend to about
three hundred yards inland. The springs are at thirty-five minutes from
the modern town, and twenty paces from the waters edge; they were
probably very near the gate of the ancient town. No vestiges of
buildings of any size are visible here; nothing being seen but the ruins
of small arched buildings, and heaps of stone.
There are some other remains of ancient habitations on the north side of
the town, upon a hill close to the sea, which is connected with the
mountain; here are also some thick walls which indicate that this point,
which commands the town, was anciently fortified. None of the ruined
buildings in Tiberias or the neighbourhood are constructed with large
stones, denoting a remote age; all the walls, of which any fragments yet
remain, being of small black stones cemented together by a very thick
cement. Upon a low hill on the S.W. side of the town stands a well built
mosque, and the chapel of a female saint.
The present hot-bath is built over the spring nearest the town, and
consists of two double rooms, the mens apartment being separated from
that of the women. The former is a square vaulted chamber, with a large
stone basin in the centre, surrounded by broad stone benches; the spring
issues from the wall, and flows into the basin or bath. After remaining
in the water for about ten minutes, the bathers seat themselves naked
upon the stone benches, where they remain for an hour. With this chamber
a coffee room cummunicates, in which a waiter lives during the bathing
season, and where visitors from a distance may lodge. The spring
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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