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Israel's spa craze actually has a 2000-year-old history which started at the hot springs of Hammat Tiberias when, during Roman times, they were the focus, if not raison d'être, of a community of 40,000 fervent bathers. Check out the history of the site at the Hammat Tiberias National Park, which features a small museum in what was part of a Turkish bathhouse. The main highlight is a synagogue dating from the 3rd to 5th centuries AD, which has a beautiful zodiac mosaic floor. Much has been made of the mosaic's curious mix of Jewish and pagan symbols, but somehow this seems quite apt in Tiberias, a town that, historically, seems to have been able to reconcile the spiritual with the more earthly. The fame of Hammat Tiberias was such that in AD 110 the Emperor Trajan had a coin struck dedicated to the springs - with the image of Hygeia, the goddess of health, shown sitting on a rock, enjoying the water. The springs were also mentioned by Al-Idris, an Arab writer who lived during the Crusades, and were recommended by the Jewish sage Rambam to his patients.
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This 2nd-century rabbi, who helped to compile the Mishnah, is buried here. The tomb is marked by two synagogues: Sephardic (on the left with the white dome) and Ashkenazic (with the blue dome). In the courtyard of the Sephardic synagogue is a pillar topped by a large bowl, and four days before the Lag B'Omer holiday a bonfire is lit here on the Pesah Sheni (second Passover) holiday. Crowds of religious Jews visit throughout the year to pray, and it is a belief that God will answer the prayers of pilgrims with personal problems.
Not the Biblical Rachel. This Rachel is the wife of Rabbi Akiva, who is buried in a different part of town.
With Jewish and Muslim sections.