The Roman Berytus (Roman Baths) are located in the middle of

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

between Banks Street and Capuchin Street. The remains of a

Roman bath In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers througho ...

Berytus ) or Laodicea in Canaan (2nd century to 64 BCE) , image = St. George's Cathedral, Beirut.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Roman ruins of Berytus, in front of Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in moder ...

now surrounded by government buildings were found and conserved for posterity.

Overview

The Roman Baths is an ancient

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

thermae In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers throughout ...

'' or bath site inside the Roman city of

. It was discovered in 1968–1969 and underwent major renovation in the mid-1990s. The archaeological ruin of one of the baths has been preserved and is occasionally used as a performance space, thus reflecting the ancient traditions of the site. One of the baths is used as an artistic performance and concert space. The modern site is also home to Mediterranean-style gardens that contain a variety of

medicinal plants Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection ag ...

once used in bathing balms. The Roman bathhouse was a meeting place for all citizens. It had four major bath chambers. The bather moved from warm to hot baths, through rooms of varying temperatures. Located under the floor, the heating system (

hypocaust A hypocaust ( la, hypocaustum) is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm th ...

) allowed the air, warmed by wood fires in adjacent vaults, to circulate between pillars of

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terra ...

disks that heated the marble floor; terracotta pipes in the walls allowed the air to rise up to the ceiling. Water from the boiler fed the marble-tiled pools in the hot room (

caldarium 230px, Caldarium from the Roman Baths at Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the empty space where the hot air flowed through to heat the floor. A caldarium (also called a calidarium, cella caldaria or cella coctilium) was a room ...

), and a large stone basin ( labrum) contained cool water for the bathers’ use. The bathing routine ended with a body massage of therapeutic oils. The high vaulted, spacious halls of the bathhouse also accommodated performances of jesters and musicians.

History

The Berytus Baths were discovered in 1968, then underwent major renovation in the mid-1990s. Roman Berytus had four major bath complexes (''thermae'') and the first was created in the early first century under

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

. An intricate network of lead or clay pipes and channels distributed the water from the cisterns external to the Baths to the various pools of the Roman Baths. In the second century was probably visited by the emperor

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania ...

. The terrible Berytus earthquake of 551 AD destroyed all the baths. Today, the Roman Berytus Baths reflect the ancient traditions of the site. One of the baths is used as an artistic performance and concert space. The modern site is also home to Mediterranean-style gardens that contain a variety of

once used in bathing balms. Actually the gardens of these "Baths" are located inside the famous Garden of Forgiveness of modern Beirut.

References

Bibliography

* Mouterde, René et Lauffray, Jean (1952) Beyrouth ville romaine, Publications de la Direction des Antiquités du Liban, Beyrouth. * Lauffray, Jean (1977) « Beyrouth. Archéologie et Historie, époques gréco-romaines. I. Période hellénistique et Haut-Empire romain", Aufstieg und Niedergang der Romischen Welt. II.8 : 135-163, Wallter de Gruyter, Berlin.
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Overview

History

See also

References

Bibliography