Christians and Christianity Vol. V. Monastery of Martyrius
The building's foundations belong to a Roman military structue of the late 4th-early 5th century CE. In the second half of the fifth century CE the monk Martyrius, a desciple of Euthymius, established a community monastery in the military structure. The complex includes a church, four prayer chapels, a large kitchen and a refectory as well as a pilgrim hospice with a chapel and stables. Several huge cisterns were also discovered with a sophisticated water collection system. The monastery was apparently abandoned during the Persian conqust or at the time of the Arab conquest in 638 CE. The cisterns made irrigated agriculture possible in the vicinity during the Umayyad period.