Cisterns of the Roman Baths are archaeological remains built during Roman times and are located in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. The cisterns were built in order to store and supply water to Roman Berytus. [1]
Cisterns of the Roman Baths are archaeological remains built during Roman times and are located in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. The cisterns were built in order to store and supply water to Roman Berytus. [1]
The Romans constructed an aqueduct fed by the Beirut River whose main source was located 10 km 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. 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.
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 fed by the Beirut River whose main source was located 10 km from the city. The aqueduct 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 Roman Baths.
The cisterns were damaged and partially destroyed during the big earthquake of 551 AD. Since then they were no more used.
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. No recent population census has been conducted, but 2007 estimates ranged from slightly more than 1 million to 2.2 million as part of Greater Beirut, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region and the fifteenth-largest in the Arab world. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast, Beirut is an important regional seaport.
The Baths of Trajan were a massive thermae, a bathing and leisure complex, built in ancient Rome starting from 104 AD and dedicated during the Kalends of July in 109. Commissioned by Emperor Trajan, the complex of baths occupied space on the southern side of the Oppian Hill on the outskirts of what was then the main developed area of the city, although still inside the boundary of the Servian Wall. The architect of the complex is said to be Apollodorus of Damascus. The baths were being utilized mainly as a recreational and social center by Roman citizens, both men and women, as late as the early 5th century. The complex seems to have been deserted soon afterwards as a cemetery dated to the 5th century has been found in front of the northeastern exedra. The baths were thus no longer in use at the time of the siege of Rome by the Ostrogoths in 537; with the destruction of the Roman aqueducts, all thermae were abandoned, as was the whole of the now-waterless Mons Oppius. Early Christian writers misnamed the remains the 'Baths of Domitian'.
Martyrs' Square, historically known as "Al Burj" or "Place des Cannons", is the historical central public square of Beirut, Lebanon.
Berytus, briefly known as Laodicea in Phoenicia or Laodicea in Canaan from the 2nd century to 64 BCE, was the ancient city of Beirut from the Hellenistic period through the Roman and Early Byzantine period/late antiquity. The city had been rebuilt by the Seleucids in the 2nd century BCE over the ruins of an older settlement centred on a Phoenician port dating back to Iron Age III and Persian periods. Berytus became a Roman colonia that would be the center of Roman presence in the eastern Mediterranean shores south of Anatolia. The veterans of two Roman legions under Augustus were established in the city, that afterward quickly became Romanized and was the only fully Latin-speaking city in the Syria-Phoenicia region until the fourth century. Although Berytus was an important city, Tyre was made the capital of the Roman province of Phoenicia. "Of the great law schools of Rome, Constantinople, and Berytus", the law school of Berytus stood "pre-eminent". The Codex Justinianeus was mostly created in this school.
The Beirut Central District (BCD) or Centre Ville is the name given to the historical and geographical core of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. The BCD, also called downtown Beirut, has been described the “vibrant financial, commercial, and administrative hub of the country.” It is an area thousands of years old, traditionally a focus of business, finance, culture and leisure.
The Garden of Forgiveness is a garden in Beirut, close to Martyrs’ Square and the wartime Green Line (1975-1990).
The Phoenicia under Roman rule relates to the Roman control of Syro-Phoenician city states, that lasted from 64 BC to the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. The area around Berytus was the only Latin speaking and Romanized in the Aramaic Phoenicia: this characteristic was fundamental in the creation of the Maronite areas of the Lebanon of our times
Gaby Emile Layoun was the Lebanese Minister of Culture, announced as part of the cabinet led by Najib Mikati. He represents the Free Patriotic Movement. Layoun is married and has two children. He holds a diploma in engineering, a Lebanese Baccalaureate in mathematics (1982) and a Sacred Heart of the city of Zahle.
The St. Louis Cathedral also Saint Louis Capuchin Cathedral is a Latin Catholic church in downtown Beirut, located to the north of the Grand Serail and Council of Reconstruction and Development. Built in 1864 by the Capuchin missionaries and named it in the honor of King Louis IX of France. The church is highly noticeable for its sandstone facades, rose-colored wooden windows, and its new towering campanile.
The Zaghouan Aqueduct or Aqueduct of Carthage is an ancient Roman aqueduct, which supplied the city of Carthage, Tunisia with water. From its source in Zaghouan it flows a total of 132 km, making it amongst the longest aqueducts in the Roman Empire.
Beirut City Hall, also known as the Municipality of Beirut, is a landmark building built in downtown Beirut, Lebanon in 1924, and has become an architectural landmark in the downtown area of Beirut Central District. It features a yellow limestone facade and combines various architectural styles. The building is located on the intersection of Foch Street and Rue Weygand in the city center. The building is in the Venetian and Arabesque architectural styles, a mix that expresses the regional identity of the area. The building was restored after the Lebanese Civil War and it currently houses the office of the Governor of Beirut and the municipal council. It is open to the public and for official registration of documents.
Riad Al Solh Square is a square in the heart of downtown Beirut, Lebanon.
Bab Idriss Square is a square in downtown Beirut, Lebanon.
Cardo Decumanus Crossing was in the heart of Roman Berytus.
Roman Berytus are located in the middle of downtown Beirut, Lebanon between Banks Street and Capuchin Street. The remains of a Roman bath of Berytus now surrounded by government buildings were found and conserved for posterity.
Roman Forum is located in Beirut, Lebanon.
Colonnaded Street is located in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. it was an important street of Roman Berytus.
The Beirut Heritage Trail is a project undertaken by Solidere with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Beirut. Marked out by bronze medallions grouted into the sidewalk, the trail will link archeological sites, historic public spaces and heritage buildings over a 2.5 km walking circuit in the historic core of Beirut.
The Cisterns of La Malga or Cisterns of La Mâalga are a group of cisterns, which are among the most visible features of the archaeological site of Carthage near Tunis, Tunisia. They are some of the best preserved Roman cisterns.
The hippodrome of Berytus was a circus in the Roman colony of Berytus. It is one of two hippodromes in Beirut.
Roman archaeological sites in Lebanon | ||
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| Roman Berytus (actual Beirut) |  | |
| Roman Phoenicia (actual Lebanon) |
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