The central market baths in Khan al-Dibs in Bosra al-Sham, located in the Daraa governorate, reveal an advanced aspect of Roman architecture through a heating system based on ceramic and brick channels passing through walls and under room floors. The site was linked to commercial and service functions, making it part of the market movement and caravan reception in the old city, where its remains combine engineering details for baths with sections dedicated to storage and trade.
A Station for Caravans and Trade on the Silk Road
The Encyclopedia of Archaeology in Syria – Bosra in the Classical Ages, by Dr. Maamoun Abdul Karim, stated that Khan al-Dibs formed a strategic hub for international caravans passing through the Roman Arab province heading to China via the ancient Silk Road. The Khan occupied a carefully planned engineering location in the heart of the old city at the intersection of the Straight Street with the path coming from the Jheir Spring, allowing it to play the role of a vital free zone.
Architectural Genius and Heating System
The head of the Bosra al-Sham Antiquities Department, Alaa Al-Salah, explained in a statement to SANA that the unique engineering value of the Khan is manifested in its structural integration with the central market baths, which offer a living study of Roman technical methods in the 2nd century AD. He clarified that brick heating channels are clearly visible in the site's walls and its stone arches, with complex networks of adjacent ceramic channels integrated into the core basaltic building structure within the walls to circulate hot air emitted from ground stoves.
He pointed out that their mechanism relies on raising room floors above small pillars, allowing emitted gases and smoke to flow freely under the tiles to heat central rooms without smoke leakage. The complex was also designed with engineering fluidity, starting from the cold hall used for undressing, passing through the warm hall, to the hot hall, with precise ceramic channels laid to transport rushing water from distribution tanks.
Multi-functional Markets and Preservation Challenges
Al-Salah noted that the importance of the Khan stems from the city's location on the Silk Road, where all commercial caravans pass through. It includes multiple sections, some dedicated to selling precious materials like gold, silver, and bronze, a coin minting center, and another for food and grains. Its floors cover layers of limestone stones and mosaic carpets with various patterns. It underwent excavation and rehabilitation works at the end of the 20th century, and its floor was restored from the eastern side.
Service Structure Rivaling Contemporary Systems
For his part, archaeological expert Abdullah Osama Al-Mugaddam stated that the market was built during the Roman and Nabataean periods and represented a qualitative leap in understanding Roman service and commercial engineering. He pointed out that the intermingling of international trade lines with facilities providing relaxation and secure storage reflects the level of prosperity and economic boom the city witnessed since the 2nd century AD. He highlighted that ceramic and brick channels integrated into solid basalt walls reflect superior structural flexibility, as the building managed to absorb earthquakes and weather factors over centuries thanks to the cohesion of these two elements.
He added that the site remained for centuries a highly important social, cultural, and economic center. With the transformation of trade routes over time, the building was affected by multiple functional shifts; in the late Islamic eras, residents exploited the magnitude of its stone halls and strategic location to convert it into a station for caravan rest and a warehouse for local products. The site now faces difficulties, the most prominent of which are lack of funding, personnel, and random excavation.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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