Bathing in beauty in ancient Gerasa

Excavations carried out between 2016 and 2018 by teams of German, French and Jordanian archaeologists have exposed a large number of statues from the Great Eastern Roman Baths in Gerasa (modern Jerash in Jordan). Apparently they toppled down after a severe earthquake.

[Picture from Albawaba.  Shutterstock/File Photo]

This monumental complex – apparently one of the largest and best preserved in the East – dates from the second half of the 2^nd century AD. Amazingly, some of the vaults of these baths still stand to a height of 12 meters. The construction was enlarged under the Severan Emperors, who added a connecting pillared hall with exedra on the north side. Scholars estimate that this hall is a reminder of the “imperial halls” that were common in Asia Minor at the time.

Several of the 27 statues are said to be intact and represent Zeus and Aphrodite, as well as the muses from Graeco-Roman mythology sitting on a throne. Based on the picture included in the article in Albawaba, and if it does indeed belong to the baths, the artwork is of a very high level.

The statue of Aphrodite in the company of Eros, is made of Pentelic marble quarried around Athens and according to the inscription on the plinth, it was donated by a priest named Demetrius around March 153/154 AD.