Al-Fawwar Spring, Valley of the Christians

Al-Fawwar is a karst spring in the village of Zweitina, in Wadi al-Nasara, the Valley of the Christians, on the slope that looks across to Saint George’s Monastery. It takes its name from the way it gushes: at irregular intervals the water surges out of the ground, then draws back. Sometimes this happens three times in a day, sometimes not for months. The spring has been described since Roman times and is identified with the Sabbatikon river that the historian Josephus wrote about.

How the spring works

The spring is an underground hollow in limestone. Water comes out on the north side of the hollow and sinks back into the ground on the south side. After a while it bursts out again, in large volume, from the point where it went in; in Arabic this surge is called fawran, which gives the spring its name. Nobody can predict when it will happen. People in the area say they know it is coming by a tremor underfoot. The overflow runs into the valley of Nahr al-Atshan, the ‘thirsty river’.

The Sabbatic name and Josephus

The spring’s old name is al-Sabti. It is linked to the time of the Roman emperor Titus and comes from a local belief that the spring flowed only once every seven days. Josephus, in The Jewish War, describes the Sabbatikon river that Titus saw between Arqa and Raphanea, and that river is believed to be today’s al-Fawwar. The spring lay on the trade road linking Tripoli with Orthosia and Arqa.

The healing story

An old local story says the spring used to gush for three days and then stop, and the oddity drew travellers. A shrine was built nearby where people prayed for healing, and those with skin and digestive complaints came for its water. People in the area still fill containers here with drinking water.

When to go

Winter and early spring. The flow is strongest then, and so are the surges. In summer the spring can go months without overflowing, and all you see is the setting.

Do not miss

The two mouths of the hollow. The north mouth, where the water comes out, and the south mouth, where it sinks back in, are close together; when the spring surges, the water comes back through the south mouth.