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Great Eastern Baths

Great Eastern Baths / © Foto: Haupt and Binder, Universes in Universe

The Great Eastern Baths of Gerasa - Jerash

On the eastern bank of Wadi Jerash, called Chrysorrhoas in antiquity, stand the ruins of one of the largest and best preserved bathing complexes of the ancient Orient. Located outside of the fenced archaeological site, the ruins are partly overbuilt by modern houses and squares. Nevertheless it's definitely worth the walk down there, particularly because of the imposing barrel vaulted halls, which can be up to 11 meters high. The monumental structures occupy about 9.000 m2.

The monumental barrel vaulted halls rise to a height of 11 meters.

Two long bridges over the Chrysorrhoas (today Wadi Jerash) connected the urban area of ancient Gerasa with the eastern bathing complex. Today, one can easily reach the east bank of Wadi Jerash walking over the reconstructed South Bridge, which is an extension of Gerasa's Southern Decumanus.

The Baths on the east bank of Wadi Jerash seen from the main archaeological site of Gerasa.

South Bridge. On left, the archaeological site; on the right bank behind the mosque, the Great Eastern Baths.

The construction of the Great Eastern Baths was accomplished in two phases. In the first phase, dated to the second half of the 2nd century AD, were erected the seven large bathing halls, characterized by their massive structures of soft limestone with barrel vaults resting on paired arches. Adjacent to them was a courtyard identified by the scholars as a palaestra (a space under open sky for body exercises), framed north, east and west by porticoes.

Great Eastern Baths, view from the west side.

Massive structures of soft limestone with barrel vaults resting on paired arches.

In the background, on the other side of the Wadi, the Nymphaeum and the Sanctuary of Artemis.

The bathing complex was enlarged in a second construction phase, towards the turn of the 2nd to the 3rd century AD. The work carried out mainly concerned a pillared hall with exedrae, which was built to the north of the original building.

View from the north to the area of the North Hall and the surrounding rooms, built in the second construction phase.

Remains of the North Hall and the exedra (in the foreground).

This so-called North Hall, reminiscent of the "imperial halls" of Asia Minor, was decorated with sculptures.

The large display of a statuary program in the bathing complex, together with the numerous spaces with visibly non-bathing functions, allow the scolars to assume that the Great Eastern Baths were a facility which also framed important political, social, and religious functions, and that it played a significant role in the civic life of ancient Gerasa.

During excavations carried out between 2016 and 2018, many fragments of marble sculptures, some of them in very good condition, were found in a basin next to the so-called North Hall. See the
Special presentation
including a video interview with Prof. Dr. Thomas M. Weber-Karyotakis.

Portrait head of a Severian matrona, found on 18 May 2016 in the exedra of the North Hall at the Great Eastern Baths.
End of 2nd or begin of 3rd century AD.
White marble with oblique thick greyish-blue veins.
Height: 37 cm; width: 32 cm

(© Text by Universes in Universe from information in different sources.)

Location:

Great Eastern Baths
Jerash Archeological City
Location on map


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See also in Art Destination Jordan:

Web guide for cultural travellers - a wealth of information and photos.

Contemporary art, archaeology, art history, architecture, cultural heritage.

Supported by
Jordan Tourism Board

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