The Eastern Baths at Gerasa / Jerash – The Thermal Complex and the History of its Exploration

by Jacques Seigne & Thomas Lepaon

The large eastern thermal complex is the only monument of Gerasa on the eastern bank of the modern wadi Jerash, called “Chrysorrhoas” in antiquity. This “Golden Stream” is fed by the Karawan spring (Fig. I. 2), which guaranteed throughout the times until today the necessary water supply for the city in abundance. The Great Eastern Baths served in antiquity the daily hygiene, leisure needs and social life of the indigenous population. The houses, villas and shops were predominantly in the western sector of the city. This is why two large bridges spanning over the Chrysorrhoas valley provided access from the north and from the south. Despite their monumentality and their fairy good state of preservation, the terms attracted only little attention by scholarship. It did not undergo a more profound investigation until 2012 when Thomas Lepaon chosed the baths of Gerasa as the scholarly subject for his doctoral thesis.[1] It is the aim of the pages which follow to sketch the history from their scarce initial archaeological exploration unto the moment of the inauguration of the Franco-Jordanian excavation project in 2016.

Fig. II. 1 Plan of Jerash, drawn by William John Bankes in 1818, the Great Eastern Baths in red circle (courtesty by the Dorset Archive).

II. 1. The Thermal Complex

According to our present knowledge, the bathing building originates not earlier than the mid 2nd century AD.[2].  The today visible impressing ruined structures occupy a vast terrain of approximately 9.000 m² occupying a full insula lined by the streets running over the southern decumanus and the Artemis propylon bridges. From the north and the south the entry was made possible via monumental doorways, of whose one has been studied by the French teams prior its destruction.[3]

The estimated full length of the compound amounts 204 m, its maximum width approximately 116m[4], thus covering an area of at least 23.000 m². The four barrel vaulted bathing halls, partly preserved and visible today, raise still up to a height of 11 m (Fig. I. 1; Fig. II. 4).

Today these ruins serve in part as a public garden lined by the modern paved patio called Meidan al- Hashemiyeh extending along the western flank and the eastern wadi’s shore. The surrounding terrain at their eastern border is lined by modern shops and private dwellings and the major eastern portion of the complex is today overbuilt. The central bus terminal, previously established on the central grounds of the archaeological remains, has shifted some years ago to the north of the city beyond the archaeological site. Nonetheless, the area of the Eastern Great Baths suffered considerable damage and disfiguring under uncontrolled waste deposits by the actual neighborhood or passengers, and under the devastation of this important piece of national heritage by random vandalism. The catastral compound of this monument was originally owned by a Circessian farmer who cultivated until the mid 20th century an orchard of fruit trees on his property. After his death, the land as been transferred to public hands: Today it lies with its northern sector within municipal property, in its southern and major part it belongs to the wafq of the congregational al-Hashemiyeh mosque at the southern decumanus bridge spanning of the Wadi Jerash gorge.

The remarkably good state of conservation the great eastern betrays the general organization of the bathing process, the relative chronology of its various structural components as well as their probable functions. Today two main chronological phases of construction have been identified. The oldest or first phase of this complex is a agglomeration of seven bathing rooms (Fig. II. 6 Nos. 5-9) adjacent to a courtyard identified as a palaestra (Fig. II. 6 No. 1). This space under open sky was destined for body exercises during the bathing. It was framed on three sides (north, east and west) by porticoes the rear walls of which were pierced by windows. The bathing halls themselves are characterized by highly built massive structures, consisting of masonry in soft limestone boulders and covered by barrel vaults resting on paired arches. The overall plan of the building itself is only half-symmetric. Thus, the unheated part containing pools with cold water was organized around a north-southern axis and the heated halls must have followed the same arrangement.

Fig. II. 2 The Great Eastern Baths of Gerasa in present condition with the barrel-vaulted bathing halls, seen from south.

Fig. II. 3 The Great Eastern Baths of Gerasa in present condition lined by the Meidan al-Hashemiyeh, seen from west.

Fig. II. 4 Topographic plan of the Great Eastern Baths of Gerasa indicating the acquaeduct with a smaller bathhouse northeast of the now destroyed enclosure wall with interor colonnades and gates in the north and in the south.

In a second phase, dramatic changes have been made to the original building (Fig. II. 6 below). The main transformation concerned a spatial extension to the north of the building. This included apparently 13 rooms set around a large patio 12,30 m wide and about 55 m long, the so-called northern hall. It occupies an estimated space in full restoration of the northern hall approximately 335 m². Its eastern sector is rigorously overbuilt by modern dwellings. In all likelihood, the northern hall was organized according to a rigorous plan, symmetrically on both sides of two perpendicular axes, one in north-southern orientation corresponding to the axis of the bath complex. The second one is the other one east-western axis of the northern hall. After an examination of all existing blocks, the absence on an entablature led to the conclusion that the entire hall was probably never covered by a roof. It presents itself as a large paved area lavishly adorned by fine architectural ornaments and marble statues, It gave access to a set of twelve adjacent rectangular rooms, arranged symmetrically, through large openings in antis.

The relative chronology of the two main phases of the northern hall is not a major problem, but its precise dating by absolute data remains uncertain. At the current state of our knowledge, it is possible to assume that the implementation of the first phase of the bath complex ranges in an interval from the middle of the 2nd century AD towards its end, and that the additional structures assigned to second phase around the northern hall were added at the turn of the 2nd to the 3rd centuries AD, at the earliest.

The bathing building has suffered serious damages by the earth quakes in late antiquity, and further demolishment caused by the Circessian resettlement of the site since 1875. Several structures have been quarried down by the new settlers for their dwellings and completely vanished today. Fortunately, some of them can be restituted by old photos and engravings conserved in archives in America and Great Britain.[5]

II. 2. The Northern Hall

In the north-southern axis of the bath building, a large agglomeration of al large transversal hall with lateral rooms – the so-called northern hall – was added (Fig. II. 7; Fig. II. 8; Fig. II. 9), richly decorated on the four sides along a paved central courtyard in east-western orientation. To the north, a large exedra, widely unexcavated until 2016, seems to form a focal point of the entire complex. In the walls, a row of pedestals supporting pillars form a revetment framework of architecture in Corinthian order embellished by exquisite architecture decoration. The dividing wall has been pierced by windows as two water color paintings by W. J. Bankes testify.[6] The surfaces of the masonry had purely decorative character, because – contrary to older research opinions – this vast hall had never been entirely roofed.

II. 3. A brief Annual of Land Use and scholarly Exploration (1810–2016)

In contrast to the present days negligence of the monument, European travelers at the begin of the 19th century took notice of the eastern baths as a landmark. They appear in descriptions and maps by U. Seetzen (1810), J. L. Burckhart (1812)[7], W. J. Bankes (1816, fig. II. 1)[8], J. S. Buckingham with Finati (1816 and 1818)[9], and C. Barry (1819), G. Robinson (1830)[10], R. Hay (1833)[11], S. Munk (1841)[12], J. Dickenson (1853)[13], E. G. Rey (1858)[14]; A. Duc de Luynes (1864)[15], C. Warren (1867)[16], W. Libbey – F. E. Hoskins with H. Kiepert (1870)[17], Prince S. S. Abamelek-Lazaref (1897)[18], G. Schumacher (1898–1900)[19], and others, but somewhat schematic and with incomprehensible details. Also the important Anglo-American mission to Jerash whose results had been published under the editorship of Carl Kraeling (1938) seems not having provoked any substantial interest of the scholars. Possibly overwhelmed by the large size of the monument and by the number of other in their opinion more exciting buildings in the ancient city, the archaeologists of that mission did not even execute one sounding in the baths and the plans of the architects are rather summary by character.

On a morning in July 1984, Ms Aïda Naghawi, representative and Director of the local Department of Antiquities of Jordan, discovered to her surprise in an overnight illegally dug construction trench remains of architraves, friezes, column drums, elements of niches, inscribed bases, marble statues, blocks of architecture, in part delicately decorated. These elements encountered during the night by bulldozing work. The removal of these heavy blocks proved to be too difficult by bulldozer alone, nontheless due to the occurrence of solid walls, floors, columns and pilasters in situ, and especially due to a large number of fallen architectural blocks. Finally, the construction machinery  was forced to abort the operation. The bulldozer, however, managed to dig on a surface of almost 300 m² and more than a meter deep. Nearly 450 m³ of earth and various blocks had nevertheless been extracted and deposited about 10m from the excavation. Several bases of statues laid on the heap of debris, while several others were quickly recognized at the bottom of the trench. Immediately Ms. Naghawi stopped the illicit construction and undertook an archaeological rescue excavation. Very soon further fragments of marble statues and bases with carved inscriptions came to light. Considering the high importance of these discoveries, from this time onward any modern construction work has been prohibited at this location.

Fig. II. 5 The Great Eastern Baths of Jerash with the northern hall, proposed section before the 2016 campaign from the north to south with elevation.

The continued rescue excavation undertaken by the Department of Antiquities under the direction of ‘A. Nagawi for several subsequent months cleared the western portion of a large courtyard, dubbed the “northern hall” by the excavators. This vast space, oriented in east-western direction, approximately 12,30 m wide, consisted of at least five rooms, of which four are opened to the central space through porticoes of columns in antis. The most notable elements uncovered were more than 15 predominantly inscribed bases for statues attached to the columns and pilasters of the different crossing points or entries, as well as several marble statues lying on the pavement between the inscribed bases. Considering the urgency and the risks of destruction or theft the statues and a part of the inscribed bases were quickly transported to the secure storages of the Department of Antiquities.

The cooperation between the Department of Antiquities and the foreign missions of the Jerash International Project enabled members of the French team to conduct a preliminary architectural study of the discovered structures, and subsequently of the complete bathing complex. A first survey of the remains visible was realized soon after this endorsement. This campaign produced a series of detail drawings and sketch transcripts, and secured the position of the blocks still in situ or moved by the rescue excavation. The inscribed bases were systematically copied by drawings. The map sketches documented the precise locations of their discovery, either in situ, fallen by earthquake or completely displaced in later stages of occupation.

The lack of further financial support made the continuation of these works diffult. A new rescue excavation became necessary soon after a new bath building, the so-called “small eastern baths” (Fig. II. 4), were discovered again by illegal nocturnal construction attempts. This new and equally endangered ancient monument led to an interruption of the investigation of the “northern hall”. Abandoned by the scientists and neglected by monitoring authorities, the area quickly transformed itself into a dump and garbage deposit accumulated by the inhabitants of the neighboring buildings. As some of the carved blocks, especially the capitals, did not exceed in weight 150 kg and as they were unprotectedly exposed rather close to the bus station installed in the ruins, they disappeared quickly from the site and were sold by dealers at Amman where they now adorn villas of wealthy citizen and diplomats.

Fig. II. 6 Schematic disposition of the two phases of structural development of the Great Eastern Baths at Gerasa: Phase 1 (above) and Phase 2 with the added northern hall (below).

Fig. II. 7 The northern hall, plan displaying the areas not yet excavated in 2016. The white areas had been uncovered by the Jordanian excvavation under the directorate of Aida Naghawi in 1986.

Fig. II. 8 The northern hall, indicating the position of statue bases uncovered in 1986, part of them have been moved to the museum’s terrace for further protection.

In 1986, the construction of a new building at the site of the “small eastern baths” resulted in the discovery of the enclosure wall marking the northern limit of the Great Eastern Baths. A large portal (4.16 m wide, in the meantime completely vanished) gave northern access to the bathing area. Also one column base belonging to northern Interior portico of the courtyard (palaestra?) was found at that time still in situ.

In September 1987, two hitherto unknown inscribed statue bases reused in the Circessian settlement were discovered about 10 m north of the “northern hall” during the demolition of an old bakery. By all likelihood,  these bases come from the area of the Great Eastern Baths. In September / October of the same year, the terracing of the hill of the former Tourist Resthouse in the Antiquities site, today transformed into a Museum, provided a safely monitored space to regroup  the inscribed bases from the Great Eastern Baths on the terraçes around this provsional Museum. In August 1990, modern trenches to bury telephone cables overlapped the southern enclosure wall of the Great Eastern Baths along the border of the southern decumanus arriving from the ancient bridge. In November of the same year, the notes, sketches, and records accumulated since 1984 mapped on a general plan of the entire area between the two bridges (Fig. II. 2).

Fig. II. 9 The northern hall, in the condition at the conclusion of the 2016 campaign with the adjacent exedra partly cleared.

In October 1993, the supervision of the work focused on the construction of a new buildings immediately north of the explored area in 1984. This yielded in the discovery of a strong wall limiting the northern flank of the northern hall. Despite some organization problems – the constructor interdicted access for archaeologists to the construction site – the location of the wall was identified and added to the mentioned general plan of the site.

In 2004 / 2005, the implementation of a major tourism project led to the shift of the bus and taxi station in the immediate vicinity of the ancient baths to the northwest beyond the ‘Ain Karawan traffic circle. The free area, locally baptized “Meidan al-Hashemyeh”, was subsequently used as a promenade for pedestrians and strollers (Fig. II. 3). This measure allowed the archaeologists to clear the west wall of the courtyard completely established at the edge of the wadi.  It also provided the precondition to resume excavations in the northern hall and its annexes. Thus, a clearance was conducted at that time in the excavated area of 1984, followed by the partial excavations to the west, east and south of the northern hall. During this work, six new bases were uncovered, comprising several inscribed ones, as well as new fragments of statues. One of these sculptural fragments proved to be a copy of the Hellenistic dancing Satyr “with fruit scarf and panther” carrying the Dionysos child (see here cat.-no. 6), two lifesize heads (see here cat.-no. 1, cat.-no. 2) and several minor fragments of carved marble (see here cat.-nos. 15a-r). A full survey on identified marble sculpture fragment is attached as chapter IV by Thomas M. Weber-Karyotakis to this report. In the same period some treasure hunters disfigured a portion of the west wall of the frigidarium. They chiseled large holes into the masonry in order to find gold allegedly hidden within. This as illicit as futile operation proceeded during nighttime until the transversal arch of an adjacent bay. This arch is now in a rather instable condition and endangered to collapse at one unfortunate day. In 2007, as part of a tourism development, a modern floorpaving, several park lamps and benches were implemented around the ancient bathing building while the preliminary operations to restore the remains were initiated. In 2008, however, the restoration project was stopped by the municipality as the tourism installations had been in large part already destroyed by vandalism. The paved area was converted to a soccer field and the excavated area again reassigned into garbage deposit and the vaulted Roman bathing halls into public latrines.

Fig. II. 10 The exedra of the northern hall in the condition by the conclusion of the 2016 campaign.