Tyre, city, Baths

Tyre (Phoenician צר, ṣūr, "rock"; Greek Τύρος; Latin Tyrus): port in Phoenicia and one of the main cities in the eastern Mediterranean.

City Baths

The City Baths (thermae) of Tyre, close to the Mosaic Road, were built in the second century CE and rebuilt in the third. It was a pretty large complex, to which, as was common, a Palaestra was added.

Now the site of the bathhouse, on the island, close to the sea, was something of a problem for the ancient engineers. After all, the soil was somewhat humid from the nearby sea water. To solve this problem, the entire complex was raised by arcades. The well-known hypocaustum ("floor heating") was built on top of that. The building, with its cold, tepid, warm, and hot baths, must have been quite high.

The City Baths were built on top of the ancient Phoenician wall: this is the only place where something is visible of the city captured by Alexander the Great.