You are standing above the sirdab. A sirdab is an underground room which stays cool in a warm climate. At Hisham’s Palace the Umayyads built a cold-water bath house inside the sirdab.
1. This sirdab is very old and dates to the 8th century. Here is a picture of how the sirdab looked when archaeologists uncovered it. Compare the picture with the present situation. What similarities and differences do you see?
Similarities:
Differences:
2. One of the tasks of an archaeological park is to make cultural heritage accessible to the public. Which measures did the park take regarding the sirdab to achieve this aim?
There is no internal water source at Hisham’s Palace. A major investment was needed for the Umayyads to secure the water supply of the palace. They built several constructions in order to transfer the water from the wadis and springs in the mountains to the palace. An example of such buildings is an aqueduct: a bridge which channels the water in the required direction. This picture shows an old aqueduct near Jericho.
3. Where did the water of this particular sirdab come from? (hint: do not forget to read the text board near the sirdab)
Walk down the stairs and enter the room.
In the Umayyad time the people could not have a shower at home, because they did not have access to water inside their own house. Only the richer people and the caliphs had access to water inside their property. When people wanted to wash themselves or wanted to relax they went to a bath house. There are two different kinds of bath houses. Right now you are standing in a cold-water bath house; the cold water from the wadis and springs was channelled to this building and just flew down into the bath from a hole in the wall. The Umayyads also had warm-water bath houses. In this kind of bath house they used fire to heat the water inside the bath house: a cosy place to relax and socialise with other people!
4. Explain why common people had to go to a public bath house and the caliph could have his own warm-water bath house at Hisham’s Palace.
5. So now you are standing in the remains of a cold-water bath. Have a look at this picture. Compare it with the room you are standing in. What was the function of the different features in the bath house that are marked in the picture?
1:
2:
3:
In this picture you see the technique which the Umayyads used to heat the water in warm-water bath houses. The bath house under the shelter (location 5 of this tour) is an example of this.
6. Look at the picture and fill in the missing words in the text. Use the following words:
floor, furnace, hot air, pillars, pipes and water.
Bath houses were built on 1._ _ _ _ _ _ with space between it. To warm the water in the bath house, a servant had to burn wood in the 2._ _ _ _ _ _. Consequently, the 3._ _ _ _ _ _ spread over the room. To warm the walls of the bath houses, 4. _ _ _ _ _ _ were running through the walls and spread the hot air. Below the bath house, the air becomes warmer and warmer, causing the 5. _ _ _ _ _ _ and – in the end – the 6. _ _ _ _ _ _ to get heated. With such system the Umayyads warmed the water in their bath houses.
