A colonnaded main street, shown here, ran the length of Hippos. The sidewalk just to the right of the columns is made of cut marble (opus sectile). On either side of the main street stood houses and public buildings, and this situation pertained right through the Byzantine period, when at least four churches stood in Hippos, one of them a magnificent cathedral. Hippos had its own city wall with round towers, two city gates and a nymphaeum, or public fountain building. An earthquake destroyed Hippos in 747 C.E. The city’s remains lie just as they did in the wake of those tremors.