Page 175 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

A Walk to Caesarea: A Historical-Archaeological Perspective 161

mosaic depicting the winter and spring seasons as female portraits uncovered in the
compound of the Byzantine governor (Fig. 181a–b).

The Ralli 2 Museum opened nearby in 2007; it is devoted to classic art and
commemoration of the Golden Age of great personages among the Jewry of Spain.
Prominent in the courtyard, which was designed under the inspiration of the
Alhambra in Granada, Spain, is a fountain composed of twelve lions from whose
mouths flow water, like the fountain in that palace in Spain. Here the twelve lions
represent the twelve tribes of Israel.

Address: Rothschild Blvd. (next to the Water Tower), P.O.B. 4855, Caesarea 38900
Tel: 04–626 1013; Fax: 04–626 1017; email: caesarea@rallimuseums.com
Visiting days and hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday: 10:30–15:00
Sundays and Wednesdays: Closed. In January–February, the Museum is open only on Friday and Saturday: 10:30–15:00
Entrance to the Ralli Museum is free

Springs and Shaft tunnels of the Upper Level Aqueduct in
Upper Nah. al Tanninim and in Nah. al Snunit (see map p. 144 above,

Fig. 161a)

The Upper Level Aqueduct, after its elongation beyond the Shuni springs to the
northeast, begins in the Aviel and Sindyanna springs that flow on the southern edges
of the Carmel Ridge, in upper Nah. al Tanninim. Added to the main aqueduct was
a shaft tunnel that drains high ground water from Nah. al Snunit. The two tunnels
were cut into a water-bearing geological layer – aquifer. Both had diagonal shafts
with steps about 45 m distant from each other. The shaft tunnel of upper Nah. al
Tanninim began at cEn Tsabarim and also drained the Alona and cAmi springs.
The estimated length from cEn Tsabarim downward is some 23 km (its lower end
was not exposed). Three sections of it were exposed next to cEn Tsabarim, cEn
cAmi, and next to the modern dam in Upper Nah. al Tanninim – a diversion dam
that directs flood water into a man-made concrete channel. Today one may visit
the following points along this course:

cEn Tsabarim (coord. 15210.22001; 105 m a.s.l.): The shaft tunnel of Upper Nah. al
Tanninim begins here: The spring is one kilometer north of cAmikam village. A
good, wide dirt road leads there. At its beginning, the road crosses two sections of
iron beams laid crosswise, on line with a cattle fence, as a barrier to cattle crossing.
The road climbs moderately uphill. Continuing, one reaches a group of beehives
on the left of the road, and higher up, further on, a second, larger group of hives.
Opposite the latter group, to the right of the roadside, is an iron gate from which
a narrow, winding path between raspberry bushes winds to the spring. The visible
reservoir looks like a round well 4.8 m in diameter and 5 m deep (2.5 m masonry,
the rest – rock cut) (Fig. 182). Flowing water is at its bottom. Two tunnel openings