Astronomy and religion in the Roman temples of Qsar Naous (Ain Akrine, Lebanon)

Andrea Rodríguez-Antón

doi:10.24215/26840162e010

Authors

Andrea Rodríguez-Antón Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio, España

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24215/26840162e010

Keywords:

Roman temples, Phoenicians, archaeoastronomy, roman near east, archaeology of Lebanon

Abstract

About 30 kilometres north of Byblos, the two Roman temples of Qsar Naous (Ain Akrine, Lebanon) are situated on a hilltop 700 meters above the sea level along the ridge of Mount Lebanon, overlooking the Al-Koura Valley to the east and the sea to the west. Probably developed over a previous cultic site, the temples of Qsar Naous share architectonical features with several sanctuaries from the same period in modern Lebanon. Furthermore, astral symbology is present in the lintels of the propylaea (entrance gate) of both temples of Qsar Naous, decorated with reliefs of sun disks, are present in further Roman temples in Lebanon like the one at Chhim and could suggest a solar advocation.

Although the high location and a good visibility should have been key factors for the creation of this sacred landscape, an archaeoastronomical analysis suggests interesting results that could relate the sacred complex to astronomical phenomena connected to relevant religious or productive events in the region in Antiquity. This work shows a study on the orientations of the two Roman temples of Qsar Naous and their relation to the surrounding landscape. The data were taken on site in the spring of 2018 and they present interesting connections between the design and location of these temples with conspicuous topographic features and relevant moments of the solar cycle, the religious calendar and the productive activities.

In particular, these temples follow the general pattern of orientations found in Greek and Roman monuments towards the east and face important astronomical events, such as the sunrise in the summer solstice and, tentatively, the first visibility of Pleiades. References to Pleiades appear in Greek sources as well as in other Middle East references and the summer solstice represented a general moment of renewal across the Mediterranean. Interestingly, these results agree with orientations previously found in ancient monuments in the Mediterranean and other Roman temples in the Lebanese Bekaa valley, such as the temple of Bacchus and Jupiter Heliopolitanus in Baalbek and the great temple in Niha, south of Ain Akrine.

In addition, previous surveys in Mount Lebanon reveal various forms of cultic continuity from the Hellenistic to the Roman periods and that Roman monuments may have been built on previous layers. In this sense, the results of this study could provide hints about the nature, but also about the origin, of the cults performed in Qsar Naous, the differences among the divinities worshipped in each temple (if any) or the processes of transformation of the previous rites and beliefs. In conclusion, this is a local approach to better understand the complex religious context of Roman Near East.

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