Discovered by chance in 1989 during restoration work on the building, this ritual bath has become one of the most interesting places
for studies of the Jewish quarter. The bath would seem to be from the Byzantine age, and the experts suggest that is may originally have been a
Byzantine cistern, transformed into public baths by the Syracusan Jewish group in the Middle Ages. Steep stairs with forty-eight steps, gouged out of the rocks
lead to a room with mighty pillars supporting a cross-vault roof, only interrupted by a shaft that evidently provided ventilation and light. All around is a bench,
presumably used by people as they waited for their turn.
The bath is made up of five basins, three in the central area arranged in trefoil fashion and two at the sides in more private areas. The whole
premises is ten meters (32.75 ft.) down so as to reach the water-bearing stratum supplying the bath. The source was also known in antiquity, as attested
by the presence in the area of two ancient Greek wells. The water for the underground basins in Casa Bianca, however did not come from these two wells.
Each basin was filled directly from the source through a crack in the rock deliberately created at the bottom of the basin. The basins are 140 centimeters
(55 in.) high to allow for full immersion in an upright position; the bottom is reached by going down eight steps.
<< previous | 1 | 2
Discovered by chance in 1989 during restoration work on the building, this ritual bath has become one of the most interesting places
for studies of the Jewish quarter. The bath would seem to be from the Byzantine age, and the experts suggest that is may originally have been a
Byzantine cistern, transformed into public baths by the Syracusan Jewish group in the Middle Ages. Steep stairs with forty-eight steps, gouged out of the rocks
lead to a room with mighty pillars supporting a cross-vault roof, only interrupted by a shaft that evidently provided ventilation and light. All around is a bench,
presumably used by people as they waited for their turn.
The bath is made up of five basins, three in the central area arranged in trefoil fashion and two at the sides in more private areas. The whole
premises is ten meters (32.75 ft.) down so as to reach the water-bearing stratum supplying the bath. The source was also known in antiquity, as attested
by the presence in the area of two ancient Greek wells. The water for the underground basins in Casa Bianca, however did not come from these two wells.
Each basin was filled directly from the source through a crack in the rock deliberately created at the bottom of the basin. The basins are 140 centimeters
(55 in.) high to allow for full immersion in an upright position; the bottom is reached by going down eight steps.
<< previous | 1 | 2
