The site is on the
Yarmuk River, 7 km (4.5 mi.) east of the Sea of Galilee (map
reference 212.232), in a valley 1,450m long, 500 m wide, and 180 a. in area. The
name Hammat Gader and its baths is preserved in the Arabic place name,
Hammeh, and in the name of the mound on which the ancient synagogue was
discovered, Tell Bani (the mound of the bath). There are five hot springs in the
valley: two, 'Ein el-Jarab and 'Ein Bulos, to the north of Tell Bani
(a corruption of the Greek word βαλανειον, meaning "bath"); two in the southern
part, 'Ein er-Rih and 'Ein el-Maqle (Hammat Selim); and one, 'Ein Sakhneh,
to the northeast of the valley of Hammat Gader. The site identified with
Hammat Gader was first mentioned, although not by name, by the geographer
Strabo (XVI, 2,45), who described the hot springs near the city of
Gadara toward the end of the first century BCE.
The baths are mentioned by
Origen (mid-third century CE) in his
Commentary on John 6:41; however, the appearance of the name of the emperor
Antoninus Pius (r. 138-161 CE) in the Eudocia inscription discovered in the
excavations (see below) invites the supposition that they were built before
Origen's time. They are also mentioned by
Eusebius at the beginning of the
fourth century (Onom. 22:25-27, 74: 11-13). At the end of the fourth century
the Greek biographer
Eunapius, who visited the site, wrote in his Life of
Jamblichus that the baths of Hammat Gader were second in beauty only
to those of
Baia in the Bay of Naples. The colorful crowds of people who
filled the place were described by his contemporary, Epiphanius (Haer. 30, 7).
According to Talmudic sources, many sages visited Hammat Gader, from
Rabbi Meir (mid-second century CE) onward:
Judah ha-Nasi,
Hanina,
Jonathan,
Hamma bar Hanina, and
Ami, the latter with
Judah ha-Nasi II.
These scholars discussed the problems of the Sabbath boundaries between
Gadara and Hammat, located below
Gadara (Reeg, Ortsnamen, 258-259).
The synagogue inscriptions also testify to the numbers of foreign visitors
(Naveh, nos. 32-35).
In the fifth to seventh centuries, the baths building was at its most glorious.
The complex was extensive and ramified. Evidence of this is found in the Hall
of Fountains in which the six building inscriptions found were
written in a Greek rhetorical style. In these inscriptions mention is made of
Empress Eudocia (421-460),
Emperor Anastasius I (491-518), and the
Caliph Mu'awiya I (661-680), founder of the
Umayyad dynasty in Damascus.
The Eudocia inscription is a paean to the hot springs and baths of Hammat
Gader. The inscription lists sixteen names of different parts of the baths
building-halls, pools, and fountains-on a marble slab (71 by 181 cm)
laid in the pavement beside the bathing pool in the Hall of Fountains.
In the inscription, flanked by two crosses, the name of the authoress
appears,
Empress (Augusta) Eudocia.
The name of
Emperor Anastasius is
mentioned in two inscriptions as having granted a money gift (λωρον)
to the place. In these and in two other inscriptions, mention is made of
a figure unknown from other sources, Alexander of Caesarea, the governor
of
Palaestina Secunda,
who resided in Beth-Shean (Scythopolis), the capital
of the province. According to the inscriptions, Alexander built (or restored)
various portions of the structure-the bathing pools,
tholos structures, and
others. These building inscriptions attest to the fame of the baths at Hammat
Gader and to the crowds who streamed to them for cures. The wealthy and
powerful also sought to perpetuate their names in magnificent construction
projects here.
In the second half of the sixth century CE, Hammat Gader was visited by the
pilgrim known as
Antoninus of Placentia. He testifies that the inhabitants of
Hammat Gader named the medicinal baths after the
prophet Elijah (Thermae
Heliae). According to Antoninus, the baths were a center for the healing of
lepers, who were accommodated in a hostel supported at public expense
(Itinerarium Antonium, 7).
Nothing is known of the history of the baths at the end of the Byzantine
period. It may be assumed, however, that they suffered damage or neglect
during the troubled times in the first half of the seventh century, because they
were completely renovated by
Caliph Mu'awiya I shortly after he ascended the
throne in Damascus. The sixth building inscription in the Hall of
Fountains -which was found in situ, in the wall of the hall's central alcove,
2.1 m above the floor -- commemorates the renovation in Greek. The marble
slab (50 by 80 cm) apparently was laid on the day the baths opened in 662 CE.
The Umayyad restoration was carried out by the governor Abdullah Ibn
Hashem and under the care of a local
alderman of
Gadara, Johannes.
The last phase of the baths is attested by several graffiti in
Kufic script found ·
on the paving slabs and walls. One of the inscriptions contains the word ·
'Allahuma, an early form of address to 'Allah, in use until the mid-eleventh
century, at the latest. In addition, the Muslim geographer
el-Muqaddasi
(tenth century) speaks of the baths in the past tense. The bath complex
was probably destroyed in the earthquake of 749. The fallen debris was
eventually covered with earth, and the building was abandoned; however,
the place continued to be visited by sick people until modern times.
Hammat Gader
