The hill behind the House of Mary the Egyptian holds the presumed cave of John the Baptist, a 5th-century monastery (built around the site) and the ruined Rhotorios Monastery, which has a mosaic floor with Greek inscriptions. In the 3rd to 4th century, the plaster-lined pools were used by pilgrims for bathing. In the early years of Christianity, John was a more celebrated figure than Jesus and this was the more important of the two pilgrimage sites.
