Bathhouses in Iudaea, Syria-Palaestina and Provincia Arabia from Herod the Great to the Umayyads

Bathing culture was one of the pillars of the Roman society and bathhouses are one of the largest categories of this communal and social building complexes excavated in the Roman world. The large number of surviving remains and their regional variety makes bathhouses vital for the study of local societies in the Roman-Byzantine period.

The archaeological evidence is presented for 181 Roman-style bathhouses from the region of Iudaea/Syria-Palaestina and Provincia Arabia, part of the provinces of the Roman East. These were constructed from the reign of Herod the Great (second half of the 1st century BCE) to the end of the Umayyad rule (mid-8th century CE). The bathing complexes of the Roman, Byzantine and the Early Islamic periods, ranging from large public thermae to small bathing suites, are described and discussed detail - from dating and setting, through building techniques and materials, to plans and decorations. Typologies of the bathhouses and their components are supplemented by exploration of the socio-cultural insight provided by the structures themselves. The accepted historical narrative of the regional bathing facilities is updated in the light of new information. Data used for the study will be accessible through an online open access database.