The evidence for a Roman military garrison being based at Ein Gedi between the First and Second Jewish Revolts, rests on the existence of a document from the Babatha archive witnessed by a Roman centurion and the remains of a ‘military-style’ bath house. This commonly shared assumption is challenged in this paper. By reviewing the significance of P. Yadin 11 and adducing comparative evidence from elsewhere in the empire to identify other reihentyp bathing facilities with no direct connection to a military establishment, the authors suggest that there is no reason to conclude that Ein Gedi was the location of a Roman army garrison.