42 Friday, February 20, 1981
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Ta Golan Heights Thermal Baths Excavated by Israelis
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JERUSALEM — People
from all over the ancient
world came to the El Hama
(Hammat Gader) thermal
baths on the Golan Heights
to curee -their ailments, ac-
cording to archeologist
Yizhar Hirschfeld of the
Hebrew University's Insti-
tute of Archeology, who is
excavating this 1,600-year-
old site and finding it to be
larger and more elaborate
THE JABOTINSKY SOCIETY
Presents
JEFFREY SHERMAN and ARNOLD ARONOFF
In A Discussion Of
"WHY I CHOSE HERUT"
Moderated by Rabbi Milton Arm
in the Youth Lounge of
Congregation Beth Achim
21100 W. 12 Mile Rd.
Wed., Feb. 25 at 8:00 P.M.
Public Invited
Free Admission
To my clientele I was
unable to reach, I am
now at Joseph Xavier
Salon and looking
forward to hearing from
my friends.
Barbara
than was imagined.
"It was an international
spa of imperial propor-
tions," he reports. "Built in
the Third Century, it re-
mained in use continually
for 600 years, and was
known as one of the largest
and most beautiful baths in
the world, second only to
Baiae at Naples." The
Fourth Century Greek his-
torian Eunapius wrote of
these baths, famous in the
Roman and Byzantine
periods.
Hirschfeld and architect
Giora Solar have conducted
three seasons of excavations
at the baths of behalf of the
government Department of
Antiquities, the univer-
sity's Institute of Archeol-
ogy, the Israel Exploration
Society, and the Govern-
ment Tourist Corp. which is
restoring El Hama as a
tourist site.
Nearby, the newer Ham-
mat Gader baths have been
renovated and opened to
modern bathers.
Working with a team of
30 volunteers from all-
over the world, the ar-
cheologists have un-
covered 4,500 square
meters of the ancient
baths but it is clear there
is much more. So far, they
found five large bath
halls linked by roads and
lead pipelines. Bathers
apparently went from
one hall to another,
gradually becoming ac-
customed to the increas-
ing heat.
The mineral spring on
which the main hall is built
has water at a temperature
of up to 52 degrees centig-
rade (126 degrees
Fahrenheit), much too hot
to bathe in, so the builders
installed lead pipes to bring
in cold water to dilute the
pools.
Among the many objects
found beneath the debris
that has covered the baths
all these centuries were
three marble slabs bearing
Greek inscriptions of great
historical interest. One of
them, among the largest
ever discovered in Israel
(71x185 cm), contains a poe-
tic text which speaks of the
wonders of the hot springs,
and mentions the name of
the Empress Eudocia who
lived in Jerusalem in the
mid-Fifth Century.
A second inscription men-
tions the imperial official,
Alexandros, in whose days
the construction of the tepid
water bath was completed.
The third inscription
describes the renovation
of the baths in the days of
Mu'awiyah, founder of
the Umayyad dynasty, in
662 CE. This is the first
written evidence of co-
operation between the
Muslim conquerors and
the local Christian estab-
lishment, and therefore,
according to Hirschfeld,
an historical find of great
importance.
"The Dome of the Rock in
Jerusalem is mute ar-
cheological evidence of such
co-operation," he adds, "but
here we have it 'black on
white.' It even mentions the
date, the fifth of December."
One of the bath halls was
reserved for lepers. It is
situated in a narrow pas-
sageway between two other
halls, and all the entrances
and approaches can be
closed off. The many intact
pottery lamps found here fit
the description by An-
toninus of Placentum, who
wrote in the year 570:
"The lepers are led into
the large bath opposite the
hot pool through the gate,
with lamps and incense, and
the doors are closed and
they remain there all night.
When they fall asleep, those
who are to be cured see
visions . ."
The main and hottest
bath was in the Oval Hall,
where the archeologists
found the walls
Standard Club Is Closing
26571 W. 12 Mile at Northwestern
Call for Appointment 352-8755
The Standard Club, a pri-
vate club founded by Jewish
businessmen in 1934, voted
Wednesday night to close
GET INTO THE SPRING SWING
WITH A NEW 1981
GAS SAVING PONTIAC
OR GMC TRUCK
and liquidate its assetts.
The club moved from the
Book Cadillac Hotel to the
Renaissance Center four
years ago, but declining
membership has placed the
club's debts at $100,000
plus $175,000 owed in rent.
Some members blamed
falling membership on the
increasing numbers of
members who work in the
suburbs rather than
downtown. Others blamed
the competing Renaissance
Club for luring away
Standard Club members.
The club voted to disband,
assess each member $350 to
cover the club's debts, and
formed a committee to study
opening a new club.
RT MORAN PONTIAC
29300 TELEGRAPH
JUST NORTH OF TEL-TWELVE MALL
Islam Dialogue
JERUSALEM (ZINS) —
Israeli President Yitzhak
Navon last week called on
Diaspora Jewry to "estab-
lish a dialogue with Islam"
so that Israel and the Mus-
lim world could better
understand each other.
preserved in some places
to a height of 10 meters
(33 feet). This gives the
visitor an idea of the
grandeur that once was.
The largest hall dis-
covered so far is the Hall of
Niches, in which each wall
contains a central round
niche flanked by four re-
ctangular Ones, two on each
side. Along the sides of the
pool are ,marble fountains,
from which water flowed
into the pool through the
mouths of carved animal
heads. This was apparently
the coldest pool, where the
bathers could refresh them-
selves.
Tepid water was supplied
in the Hall of Pilasters,
where two columns of pil-
lars supported an enormous
vaulted ceiling some 14
meters high. Beautiful
Corinthian capitals were
found along the remains of a
central colonnade here. The
entrances to the other halls
were ascertained along the
southern wall of this hall,
beneath three niches which
held statues of the gods.
The Hammat Gader
baths are near the an-
cient synagogue exca-
vated in the 1930s by
Prof. Eleazar Sukenik of
the Hebrew University.
The display of the
synagogue's
richly
colored mosaics with
their Hebrew inscrip-
tions, together with the
opening of the El Ha.:
baths to visitors sho
make this, once again,
great
international
tourist attraction.
The evidence indicates
that the baths were de-
stroyed by an earthquake in
the Ninth Century.
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