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Hammat Gader
חמת גדר (Hebrew)
Modern hot springs-fed pools
Hamat Gader is located in Israel
Hamat Gader
Location within Israel
32°41′03″N 35°39′55″E / 32.68417°N 35.66528°E / 32.68417; 35.66528
LocationIsrael
RegionNorthern District
Young Nile Crocodiles at Hamat Gader's Crocodilians Farm

Hamat Gader (Hebrew: חַמַּת גָּדֵר; Imperial Aramaic: חמתא דגדר, hammata degader; Ancient Greek: Ἑμμαθά, Emmatha or ῎Αμαθα, Amatha;[1] Arabic: الحمة السورية al-Hamma) is a hot springs site in the Yarmuk River valley, located in an area under Israeli control, near the Golan Heights and the border with Jordan. It contains a spa, modern and ancient baths, a crocodilians farm and a zoo.

Hamat Gader, known for its health benefits and recreation since classical antiquity, was mentioned in several historical texts. Built by the Romans in the 2nd century, the site featured a bath complex and a theater. An ancient synagogue, complete with mosaics and inscriptions, also stood within its walls. Despite earthquakes damaging the site in the 7th and 8th centuries, it continued to attract visitors until abandonment in the 9th century, eventually becoming buried beneath silt.[2]

It is set on several mineral springs, the hottest of which reaches temperatures of up to 52 °C.[3]

Geography and geology

Hamat Gader lies in the valley of the Yarmuk River, near the southern edge of the Golan Heights and close to the border with Jordan, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the tripoint shared by Israel, Jordan, and Syria.

The site's geothermal activity is linked to its position along the Dead Sea Transform, the fault system that forms part of the boundary between the African and Arabian tectonic plates.[4] Movement along this fault has shaped the Jordan Rift Valley and periodically generated earthquakes in the region, including one that damaged the bath complex in the 7th century CE.[2]

Five springs rise at the site: four are hot, mineral-rich, and sulfurous, and one yields fresh, cool water.[5] The hottest, Ein al-Maqla, historically the main source for the Roman-era baths, reaches temperatures of up to 52 °C (126 °F).[5] The spring that supplies the modern bathing pools, Ein Balsam, flows at a comparatively cooler 40–42 °C (104–108 °F) and a rate of 500–700 cubic metres per hour.[3]

A geochemical study of the springs found their waters to be mixtures of two distinct water sources, both ultimately derived from rainfall that infiltrated the ground and was subsequently heated at depth before resurfacing.[6]

Etymology

The ancient Hebrew name, Hammat Gader or Hammath Gader, means hot springs of Gader,[7] also translated as Hammath-by-Gadara.[8] The ruins of the ancient city of Gadara stand south of Hammat Gader,[7] on the plateau edge above the springs, in modern Umm Qais.

The Arabic name Al-Hammeh or El-Hamma dates back to the medieval period[7] and also relates to "hot springs". The ancient synagogue was uncovered on the mound known as Tell Bani,[8][9] whose name is a corruption of the Greek word balaneion (βαλανειον), meaning "bath".[10][11]

History

Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad periods

Ancient Roman bath with arches

Hamat Gader was already a widely known health and recreation site in Roman times.[12] It is mentioned in Strabo,[13] Origen[14] and Eunapius,[15] as well as in Talmudic sources, which record visits by sages from Rabbi Meir (mid-second century CE) who discussed the Sabbath-boundary status of Hammat Gader relative to nearby Gadara.[10]

Construction of the bath complex began in the 2nd century by the 10th Roman Legion, which was garrisoned in the city of Gadara. Two distinct construction periods are evident at the site: The Roman-Byzantine Period, during which most of the bath complex was built, and the Muslim period, during which major changes were made to the existing structures.[16]

The site includes a Roman theatre, which was built in the 3rd century CE and contained 2,000 seats.

A section of the mosaic pavement recovered from the ancient Hamat Gader synagogue, now installed in the entrance hall of the Supreme Court of Israel.

A large synagogue was built in the 5th century CE.[17] The synagogue complex is enclosed by a 32.5-meter-long wall and oriented southwards towards Jerusalem. The main prayer hall, nearly square at 13 meters per side, boasted two rows of columns, an apse, and a bema set into the southern wall. Adorned with a mosaic floor, the hall retained four well-preserved Aramaic inscriptions, while damaged sections bore inscriptions detailing donations from various locales.[2][11] Sukenik's 1932 excavation uncovered the main structure along with the Aramaic mosaic inscriptions and a Greek inscription from the chancel screen.[17][2] Subsequent analysis by G. Foerster in 1982 shed light on earlier phases of construction.[2]

The empress Aelia Eudocia composed a poem praising the qualities of the multiple springs which was inscribed so that visitors could see it as they went into the pool.

Some of the buildings including the famous thermae were damaged by an earthquake and restored in 663 by the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiyah who ruled from Damascus.[18] A century later the 749 Galilee earthquake hit. Eventually, in the 9th century, the baths were abandoned and a thick layer of silt covered the ruins.

Ottoman period and British Mandate

In the early 20th century, a railway station was established at Hamat Gader as part of the Ottoman built Jezreel Valley railway, a branch of the Hejaz railway linking Haifa to Daraa in southern Syria. The al-Hamma station, geographically isolated from the rest of the line, was the last stop within the later boundaries of Mandatory Palestine.[19]

At the time of the 1931 census, the Palestinian Arab village of Al-Hamma, located at the site, had 46 occupied houses and a population of 170 Muslims, 1 Jew, and 1 Christian.[20]

In 1941, as part of a wider British programme of fortified police stations known as Tegart forts, built in response to the 1936–1939 Arab revolt, a police post was established on a bluff above al-Hamma to guard the resort hotels, the railway station, and the nearby rail bridges over the Yarmuk. It was staffed by a small British police garrison until the end of the Mandate.[a]

Beginning in 1944, a 45-room hotel and pension, "Marpe" (Hebrew: מרפא, lit. 'Healing'), operated at the site under a British Mandate concession held by the wealthy local landowner Suleiman Nadif, with financing from Haifa businessman Zeev Sapir.[21] Sapir was forced to abandon the site for security reasons in the autumn of 1947, but the Nadif family continued to operate the hotel alone until the Six-Day War of 1967.[21]

On the night of 16–17 June 1946, Palmach forces destroyed the railway bridge over the Yarmuk near al-Hamma as part of the Night of the Bridges (Operation Markolet), a coordinated Haganah operation against eleven bridges connecting Mandatory Palestine to neighbouring countries.[22][23]

Syrian control

Ein Gev - Al Samra - Al Hamma Demilitarized Zone, per the Israel–Syria Mixed Armistice Commission

After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, according to the armistice agreements of 1949 Between Israel and Syria, it was determined that the area (which had been allocated to the Jewish state under the 1947 UN partition plan) would be included in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between Israel and Syria. The villagers and their property were formally protected by Article V of the Israeli-Syrian agreement of 20 July that year.[24][25] However, Israel thought the Arab villagers could pose a security threat, and Israeli settlers and settlement agencies coveted the land. Israel therefore wanted the Palestinian inhabitants, a total of 2,200 people, moved to Syria.[24]

On April 4, 1951, a two-vehicle military patrol set out for Hamat Gader in order to assert Israeli sovereignty over the site, over the objections from the Northern Command that Syria was likely to attack it.[26] Since military forces were not permitted in the DMZ, members of the patrol were disguised as policemen.[26] As predicted, the Syrians attacked the patrol and seven Israeli soldiers were killed.[26][27] In retaliation, Israel bombed the Syrian police station at al Hamma and another Syrian position, killing two women, and demolished the empty houses in Kirad al-Ghannama, Kirad al-Baqqara, Al-Samra and Nuqeib in order to render the DMZ "clear of Arabs".[26] The incident also drew diplomatic involvement from the United States, which pressed both Israel and Syria to avoid further escalation.[28] Syria retained control of Al-Hamma itself until the Six-Day War in 1967, and the site remained a recurring point of friction between the two countries in the interim.[29] Several of the soldiers killed in the attack were recent immigrants to Israel. One of them, Shimon Balas, had arrived from Yemen shortly before his death.[30] A memorial to the seven, Yad Lashiva'a ("Memorial to the Seven"), was dedicated at the site on 1 June 2015.[30]

Israeli control

Israeli control over Hamat Gader was secured during the Six-Day War in 1967, when the Israeli army occupied the surrounding Golan Heights, allowing free access to Hamat Gader for Israelis. Since then, it has been under Israeli control and has been developed as a tourist attraction, health resort and an alligator and exotic bird reserve. The health resort opened in 1977.[31]

The site's first director, responsible for its planning, establishment, and management from 1976 to 1979, was Pamela Tarnter, a member of Kibbutz Mevo Hama who had immigrated from Britain as part of the Hever Hakvutzot movement's nucleus during the Yom Kippur War.[32][33]

Today, Hamat Gader also includes a crocodilian farm with crocodiles, alligators and even caimans and gavials. It houses approximately 200 crocodilians and is described as one of the largest crocodile farms in the Middle East.[3]

Since 1977, Hamat Gader has been owned and jointly operated by a company held by four kibbutzim of the southern Golan Heights: Mevo Hama, Kfar Haruv, Afik, and Meitzar.[34][35]

Tourist site

Hamat Gader at night

The Hamat Gader tourist site is centered around thermal baths and a crocodile farm. The water of the thermal baths contains sulfur at a concentration of 4.7%, and is popularly described as having a therapeutic effect on skin conditions, asthma, and joint pain.[3]

The bathing area includes several spring-fed pools of varying temperature, jacuzzis, and a boutique spa hotel.[36] Alongside the crocodile farm, the site's animal park includes a petting zoo, a small wildlife reserve, and a trained-parrot show, while the wider grounds have fishing ponds and, during the warmer months, a water park with slides.[36]

The excavated Roman baths, along with the theatre and synagogue remains, have been closed to the public since the 1980s due to safety and conservation concerns; a restoration plan for the archaeological park has been drafted but not yet implemented.[37]

See also

Further reading

  • E.L. Sukenik, The Ancient Synagogue of el-Hammeh, Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society, 1935. pp. 101–ff.

Notes

  1. ↑ The station was one of dozens built following the 1938 recommendations of a committee headed by Charles Tegart.

References

  1. ↑ Brown, J., E. Meyers, R. Talbert, T. Elliott, S. Gillies (30 January 2019). "Places: 678131 (Emmatha)". Pleiades. Retrieved August 8, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "CXXXIV. Hammatha (Emmatha, Ḥammat Gader, el-Ḥamme) nos. 7371-7497", Volume 5/Part 2 Galilaea and Northern Regions: 6925-7818, De Gruyter, 2023-03-20, pp. 1465–1609, doi:10.1515/9783110715743-020, ISBN 978-3-11-071574-3, retrieved 2024-02-23
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Hamat Gader Hot Springs". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  4. ↑ Abbott, Lon; Cook, Terri (12 December 2019). "The Dead Sea Transform: The Master Sculptor". GeoExpro. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Hamat Gader's hot springs". Your friends in Israel. January 20, 2025. Retrieved August 28, 2026.
  6. ↑ Mazor, E.; Kaufman, A.; Carmi, I. (1973). "Hammat Gader (Israel): Geochemistry of a mixed thermal spring complex". Journal of Hydrology. 18 (3–4): 289–303. doi:10.1016/0022-1694(73)90053-X. Retrieved August 28, 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 Negev, Avraham; Gibson, Shimon, eds. (2001). Hamath Gader. New York and London: Continuum. pp. 2015–2016. ISBN 0-8264-1316-1. Retrieved 27 January 2022. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help) (Snippet view).
  8. 1 2 May, Herbert Gordon (February 1944). "Synagogues in Palestine". The Biblical Archaeologist. 7 (1). The University of Chicago Press for the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR): 1-20 [see p. 15]. doi:10.2307/3209112. JSTOR 3209112. S2CID 194966510. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  9. ↑ Levin, Gabriel (2013). The Dune's Twisted Edge: Journeys in the Levant. University of Chicago Press. p. 182. ISBN 978-0226923673. Retrieved 26 January 2022. Levin is quoting Eliezer Sukenik.
  10. 1 2 Hirschfeld, Yizhar (1993). "Hammat Gader". In Stern, Ephraim (ed.). The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Vol. 2. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society & Carta. pp. 564–566. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  11. 1 2 Arbel, Y.; Porat, P. (2024). "Hammat Gader, the Synagogue: Final Report". Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel. 136. Israel Antiquities Authority.
  12. ↑ Hirschfeld, Yizhar (1987). "The History and Town-Plan of Ancient Ḥammat Gādẹ̄r". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 103: 101–116. JSTOR 27931308.
  13. ↑ Geog. XVI, 45.
  14. ↑ Commentary on St. John, VI, 41, 210
  15. ↑ Vit. Soph. 368-370. Ma'oz, Zvi Uri (1997). "Hammath-Gader". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. p. 468. ISBN 0195112156.
  16. ↑ Hamat Gader Information Site Deprecated link archived 2006-02-12 at archive.today
  17. 1 2 Eleazar Sukenik, "The ancient synagogue at Hamat Gader" (in Qobes, Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, 1934), pp. 41-61
  18. ↑ Hirschfeld, Yizhar; Solar, Giora (1981). "The Roman Thermae at Ḥammat Gader: Preliminary Report of Three Seasons of Excavations". Israel Exploration Journal. 31 (3/4): 197–219. ISSN 0021-2059. JSTOR 27925800.
  19. ↑ Khalidi, Walid (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Institute for Palestine Studies. p. 518. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
  20. ↑ Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine. p. 82.
  21. 1 2 "סיפור מלון "המרפא" של זאב ספיר וסולימאן נדיף במובלעת אל חמה". אבשלום שחר (in Hebrew). Retrieved August 28, 2026.
  22. ↑ "The Palmach and the Night of the Bridges". History of the Palestine Police during the British Mandate. January 10, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Second Yarmouk bridge (Jiser El-Hamme) – Mad-in-Israel". Mad-in-Israel. December 17, 2020. Retrieved August 28, 2026.
  24. 1 2 Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. p. 513. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
  25. ↑ UN Doc S/1353 Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine Syria Israel Armistice Agreement of 20 July 1949
  26. 1 2 3 4 Benny Morris (1993). Israel's Border Wars, 1949–1956. Oxford University Press. pp. 378–279.
  27. ↑ Gruson, Sydney (5 April 1951). "Israelis Report 7 Slain By Syrians: Tel Aviv Charges That Troops Crossed Into Demilitarized Zone on Sea of Galilee". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  28. ↑ "310. Editorial Note". Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  29. ↑ Khalidi, Walid (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Institute for Palestine Studies. p. 519. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
  30. 1 2 "In the Golan, 7 fallen soldiers get memorial in bullet-ridden basalt". The Times of Israel. 27 June 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  31. ↑ Hamat Gader in the 20th Century
  32. ↑ "במפלי חמת־גדר" [In the waterfalls of Hamat Gader]. Maariv. 14 March 1979. Retrieved 28 August 2026 – via National Library of Israel Newspaper Collection.
  33. ↑ "אצנית ומבקרת משקאות מרכזת את ההפעלה של אתר הפיקניקים" [Runner and beverage inspector runs the picnic site's operations]. Maariv. 20 March 1977. Retrieved 28 August 2026 – via National Library of Israel Newspaper Collection.
  34. ↑ Mirom, Sagie; Mirom, Makabi (29 August 2021). "Veteran members of Kibbutz Meitzar win suit against Israel Land Authority over transfer of "Hamat Gader" shares" [התקבלה תביעת וותיקי קיבוץ מייצר נגד רמ"י בעניין העברת מניות "חמת גדר"]. Ihaklai (Israel Farmers Federation) (in Hebrew). Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  35. ↑ "Kfar Haruv" (in Hebrew). Golan Regional Council. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  36. 1 2 "Hamat Gader resort attraction hot springs hotel and camping". Hamat Gader. April 4, 2023. Retrieved August 28, 2026.
  37. ↑ "Hamat Gader". Ran Wolf Strategic Planning. Retrieved 28 August 2026.

32°41′2.51″N 35°39′55.43″E / 32.6840306°N 35.6653972°E / 32.6840306; 35.6653972

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