Ancient Bronze Doors, Tiberias
While we were getting photographs of the historic remains in Tiberias our dragoman insisted upon our visiting an old building in the southern portion of the town. Here he said we could see some bronze doors very ancient and very interesting. We followed our guide and found the doors. Just how old they are no one can say. They are certainly of superior workmanship and unlike anything produced in modern times in Palestine. There is little doubt that they belong to the time of the Romans. They would fit well into the character of Tiberias as it has been graphically and elegantly pictured by Walter Besant. A number of people were standing in the opening of the building and were very much amused at our artist when he undertook to photograph the same. Two of the women turned their faces sideways as though they did not care to be photographed. The one in the center, however, seems to have “posed” with as much care as would any woman in an American photograph gallery. Over the shoulder of the woman in the center we see a beautiful baby face. We then moved toward the south of Tiberias and found the hot baths, close to the shore. There are four springs here and three others a few paces further south. The temperature of the water is 144 degrees Fahrenheit; the taste is salt and bitter and the presence of sulphur very manifest. These baths are regarded as especially adapted to the cure of rheumatic complaints and are visited in the summer by people from all over the country.
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