During our trip to Israel, one of the most striking sites was the Bet She’an National Park and its many finds. This national park houses the spectacular ruins of the glory that once was the Roman and Byzantine city of Bet She’an.
A spectacular remains and reconstruction of the 2nd century theater above is worthy of a visit.
The above pictures depict the ruins of a large Roman temple. The huge columns of the facade collapsed in the 749 earthquake, and since then have been restructured to what they have looked liked at time baring the wear and tear of the years.
These mosaics are in the semicircular plaza that was the site of commerce and entertainment. I hazard to guess what the it represents, but the description on the plaque is rather misleading as it points to it being a greek letter for sigma, which total confused me.
There was no soap for bathing, so most likely they covered their body with olive oil prior to bathing. Water was heated under fired and injected like a sauna of today. The Romans and Byzantines had areas for bathing and relaxation, then, taking a cold plunge.
The photo above shows the public lavatories. These public toilets are located next to the theater. The photo gives a closer view of the sitting places, but the exciting part is the watering system. There are two different “pipes”: one straight beneath the sitting places and the second one is much narrow one in front of the sitting place, and it was used to wash hands. And I used the word “pipes” to emphasize that there was running water at all times.
Thank you for reading and do share your thoughts on any visit to this very ancient region of the world.
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