Cisterns of the Roman Baths are archaeological remains built during

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...

and are located in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English 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 ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. The cisterns were built in order to store and supply water to Roman Berytus.https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/assemblage/html/4/4rxt.html THE LIFE AND DEATHS OF A HOT BATH IN BEIRUT]

Overview

The Romans constructed an aqueduct fed by the

Beirut River The Beirut River (, ''Nahr Bayrūt'') is a river in Lebanon separating the city of Beirut from its eastern suburbs, primarily Bourj Hammoud and Sin el Fil. The river flows mostly east to west from snow drains and springs on the western slopes ...

, whose main source was located from the city. When the water reached Riad Al Solh Square, it was stored in large cisterns and then distributed to the pools of the

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

. The cisterns were built in order to store water for a city of nearly 50,000 inhabitants and in the Roman centuries this was a big engineering accomplishment.

History

For centuries, the streams and wells of Ain Naba’, Berjawi and Khandaq Al-Ghamiq provided Beirut with fresh water. At the time of Roman Berytus, four large bath complexes as well as numerous private baths increased the city’s water consumption. The Romans constructed an aqueduct which crossed the river at Qanater Zbaydeh and followed the slopes of Hazmieh to Mar Mikhael and Furn Al-Chebak. The water finally reached Riad Al Solh Square; there, at the foot of the Serail Hill, it was stored in large cisterns. An intricate network of lead or clay pipes and channels distributed the water to the various pools of the

. The cisterns were damaged and partially destroyed during the big earthquake of 551 AD. Since then they were no more used.

References

Bibliography

*Davie, Michael F., Makaroun, Yasmine and Nordiguian, Leon (1997). Les Qanater Zubaydé et l’alimentation en eau de Beyrouth et de ses environs à l’époque romaine, Bulletin d’Archéologie et d’Architecture Libanaises 2:262-289. * 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. {{coord missing, Lebanon Berytus Roman cisterns Buildings and structures in Beirut Monuments and memorials in Lebanon Tourist attractions in Beirut

Overview

History

See also

References

Bibliography