Lebanon, again

Beirut (in the distance) seen from Byblos

For the second time in less than a year, I had the privilege to visit Lebanon. Starting in Beirut, where we visited the splendid National Museum again, we embarked upon a very, very leisurely trip around. At the Nahr al-Kalb, we managed to reach the inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, which is covered by all kinds of vegetation, and will soon have disappeared.

Byblos, which I could not really appreciate during my earlier visit because I did not understand its stratigraphy, turned out to be a lot more accessible now that I knew what to expect. It was interesting to think where Wen Amun must have built his tent and where the king must have had his throne.

We proceeded to the Kadisha valley, which is the heartland of Maronite Christianity. Before entering it, we visited Amioun, Bziza, and Aïn Akrine, three sites with Roman temples. In Bsharre (the town of Kahlil Gibran), we climbed to a Phoenician tomb, and had lunch with a view of the snow-covered cedar trees.

Cedar tree

After this, we visited the Bekaa valley and Baalbek. Because we had started early and had slept in a hotel in the valley, we could arrive very early in the morning, and were almost the only people at the site, except for the guards. Returning to our hotel, we passed along Qsarnaba, Niha, and Nabi Ayla.

We also saw the Palestinian refugees who had been bombed away from Damascus – but this is not the place to write about those poor people, who most certainly did not deserve this.

Sidon

Next day, it was raining cats and dogs, but we were in Sidon, where we greatly enjoyed watching how the storm pushed the surf against the sea castle. Some of the waves must have been fifteen meters high and it was really spectacular. The same can be said of the lovely mosaics in the Beiteddin palace. The last place we visited in Beirut was the museum of the American University.

There was a bonus, though: our airplane was delayed and we were unable to catch the connecting flight in Istanbul. So, our trip lasted an additional day, and we saw a snow-covered Hagia Sophia and, in the archaeological museum, the royal sarcophagi from Sidon.

Beiteddin

I cannot wait to go back to the only place in the world where you can listen to “o come let us adore him” and at the same time hear a mu’ezzin’s call for prayer. My Facebook photos are here and here; and today I added photos of the temples of Aïn Akrine, the rock tombs of Amioun, the Phoenician tomb at Bsharre, the sanctuary at Bziza, and the temple at Qsarnaba. Some older stuff from Lebanon is here.

Meanwhile, in Syria

Shelled: Crac des Chevaliers

There’s a civil war in Syria. I always feel it is somehow inappropriate to talk about archaeology, classics, or heritage, when people are fighting to survive. Nevertheless, I think it is not unimportant to pay some attention to the damage to the cultural damage. Here is a report by the Global Heritage Network. It’s quite depressing. Below is a quote from page six. After that, there are forty-five other pages.

Sites known to have been affected by the shelling are:

• World Heritage Site – (parts of the) Archaeological Villages of Northern Syria, in particular al-Bara, Deir Sunbel, Aïn Larose.
• World Heritage Site – Bosra.
• World Heritage Site – Crac des Chevaliers.
• Tentative World Heritage Site – Apamea and the citadel of Qal’at al-Mudiq. Also the town surrounding the citadel, which is known to date from at least the 16th century. Damage has been confirmed at the 16th century Mosque al-Tawhid, and is suspected at the Islamic caravanserai which forms the museum.
• Tell Sheikh Hamad (Dur Katlimmu) – Assyrian temple collapsed after shell fire and the site was “transformed into a battlefield between deserters and army”.
• Mosque of Idlib Sermin (Fatimid era).
• Mosque of al-Tekkiyeh Ariha minaret destroyed.
• Al-Qusaayr – Great Mosque and Mar Elias monastery damaged.
• Mosque al-Herak in the Dara’a region.
• Oldest mosque in city of Sermin.
• Our Lady of Seydnaya Monastery – Earliest part of monastery dates to early Christian era (circa 547AD) – shell through back wall.
• Tomb of the Sheikh Dahur al-Muhammad in Rityan, in Aleppo province.

Faqra (Lebanon)

The Small Altar at Faqra

One of the most spectacular sites we visited during our trip through Lebanon was Faqra. It is situated along the road from the coast to a ski resort with the same name.

When we visited the place, it was covered with snow.  It was the Easter Weekend (according to the Maronite calendar) and many people had a day off, which meant that they were snowboarding, picnicking, barbecuing, and even dancing at the place where – in the Summer – you would have crossed the mountain pass. To judge from the scarfs, Christians were not the only one enjoying a holiday.

Faqra itself consists of two parts. To the north of the road are four altars, to the south are two temples, dedicated to Adonis and Atargatis, and a church.

Eight small but new pages on the Livius website can be found here. Other recent pages are about the Bekaa Valley and the Lebanon, about Niha, and about Machnaqa.

Nihata

The high priest Narkisos

Our visit to the temples of ancient Nihata (modern Niha) was one of the highlights of our visit to Lebanon. There are two sanctuaries, an oracle dedicated to the Syrian goddess Atargatis and a smaller shrine for Hadanares, who was comparable to the Baal-Zeus-Jupiter of Baalbek. There are two other temples, never finished, at nearby Hosn Niha.

The site must have been well-known, as it was situated along the main road from Antioch to the south: along the Orontes to Aleppo and Baalbek, and down to Tyre through the Bekaa valley. Many travelers must have seen the shrines of Nihata, and must have stayed there, as it is exactly one day from Baalbek.

My new webpages are here.

Lebanese Antiquities

The Great Temple of Niha

When we announced that we wanted to visit Lebanon, many people thought that we had gone mad. After all, when we in Holland read about the country of the ancient Phoenicians, it is usually because of some eruption of violence. And indeed, the last chapter of the Footprint Handbook for Lebanon is a depressing catalog of disasters.

Nevertheless, the country appears to have come to rest, and I think it is useful to write briefly about our too short holiday. We were not disappointed and have already decided to return. Lebanon has much to offer to tourists, and tourists – for example, the lovers of ancient history that read this little blog – may help the country overcome some of its traumas. I promise you: you will like it.

• A Nation Divided
• Travel
• Hotels and Restaurants
• Books
• What to see
• Other

And related:

• National Museum, Beirut
• Archaeological Museum of the American University, Beirut
• Google Earth markers of ancient monuments in Lebanon
• The abduction of Europe
• Gaius Velius Rufus
• Aïn Akrine
• Amioun
• Baalbek
• Beyrut
• Bsharre
• Bziza
• Faqra
• Lebanon and Bekaa
• Machnaqa
• Nahr al-Kalb
• Nihata
• Qsarnaba
• Tyre
• My Dutch notes

Lebanese Antiquities: What to see

The cella of the Temple of Bacchus, Baalbek

[Back to overview]

The main ancient monument in Lebanon is, of course, Baalbek. The temple of Bacchus is bigger and better preserved than the Parthenon in Athens; the temple of Baal-Zeus-Jupiter next to it must have been one of the largest shrines of the ancient world (after the Egyptian temples, of course).

National Museum

Beirut is a very modern city, which is currently being rebuilt, so don’t expect too much of the ancient ruins. This is the place to be if you like modern architecture. Still, it has two of the best museums in the Middle East: the National Museum and the Archaeological Museum of the American University.

We loved the Roman ruins of Faqra and Machnaqa, but were unable to visit Yanouh, Afqa, and Sfiré. The Roman temples at Niha were splendid – do not forget to go into the cellar of the great temple.

The Crusader Castle of Byblus

To the north, there is Byblus, which has been inhabited for thousands of years. You can see Neolithic and Chalcolithic buildings, temples from the Bronze Age, Phoenician royal tombs, a Persian terrace, Greek and Roman structures, a mosque, a perfectly preserved Crusader castle and ditto church, and so on. If you go up north from Beirut, do not forget to visit the reliefs at the Nahr al-Kalb, where about every army has left an inscription – from Ramesses II to the Lebanese army that forced out the Israeli troops in 2000.

Remains Tyre’s Crusader church, with pillars from the Temple of Melqart

I really loved Tyre, which offers two big excavations. At Al-Bass, there’s a hippodrome and a large necropolis, while at Al-Mina, you will see the remains of the city itself. Here are also the remains of a Crusader church, which is more or less on the place of the ancient temple of Melqart.

This was only a selection. If you want to see all sights mentioned by Guillaume Gernez and Ingrid Périssé-Valéro, you will need about two weeks.

[Back to overview]

Rome, Museo delle Mura

View from the tower

The museum of the Roman city walls may not be the most famous of Rome, but it is worth a visit. Situated in the ancient Porta Appia, now known as the Porta di San Sebastiano, it offers a lot of information about the history of the defenses of the eternal city.

You enter the museum through the western tower. The two main rooms are situated over the gate itself, and when you look through the windows, you can see what the soldiers must have seen when they operated the catapults. In these two rooms, texts and photos explain the history from the age of Romulus until 1870: Roma Quadrata, the Servian Wall, the Aurelian Wall, and the medieval expansions surrounding the Borgo and connecting it to Trastevere.

The rooms in the eastern tower offer a couple of models, while a small room upstairs above the entry contains stone decorations from medieval towers. From here, you can ascend to the crenellations and the roof of one of the towers. The terrace offers you a splendid view of the Aurelian wall, the Parco degli Scipioni and the Roman countryside, dominated by the Alban Mount.

Perhaps you will remember that some ten years ago, part of the southeastern sector of the Aurelian Wall collapsed after some heavy rains. You will see photos of the situation in the 1990s, after the collapse, and after the repairs. An inscription commemorating earlier repairs by pope Innocent X and his coat of arms are now on display.

In general, a nice museum, although perhaps more for people fascinated by army matters than for a more general audience. A visit can easily be combined with a trip to the Via Appia, which starts at this very gate.

Death of a Museum

Today, the authorities of the Dutch province of Gelderland decided to terminate their support of Orientalis near Nijmegen, a beautiful, century-old museum park, dedicated to the cradle of monotheism. To renovate the park and make it ready for another century, 14 million euro were necessary and had been agreed upon: 2 million from private donations, 6 million from provincial funds, and 6 million from state funds. The Dutch government, which is trying to save on museum expenditure, had already decided to stop paying, while the province cannot pay an additional 6 million.

The end of one the most lovely “living history” parks in the world does not come as a surprise; still, it is a shock. Of course, a state monument is just a monument and 6 million is a lot of money. They could throw away only a few billions to bail-out our banks. Below, you can find an article I wrote in happier days.

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Synagogue, reconstructed

Sometimes, the history of a museum is as interesting as its collection. The Dutch Museum Orientalis near Nijmegen was founded almost a century ago -in 1911 to be precise- and was meant to offer a taste of the Holy Land to Christians who were unable to travel to the Levant.

It was unique. Of course, there were other living history parks, like the Pompejanum (1848), the Saalburg (1897), the Kerylos villa (1902), but these were inspired by Greece and Rome. The Holy Land Foundation, as the Dutch museum park was originally called, concentrated on Palestine. In an age in which Catholic art was inspired by the Neogothic architecture and the Beuron Art School, it was revolutionary to show Christ as a human being living in Palestine.

My parents took me to the Holy Land Foundation in the early 1970′s. You could see a Jewish village with a synagogue (photo above), reconstructions of the Sanhedrin and the Palace of Pilate, Golgotha and the empty tomb. In the late afternoon, we attended a passion play. Although I was six or seven, I thought it was too pious, too devote.

Roman street

It must have been one of the last passion plays to be performed over there, because at that moment, the original museum park was already changing. It had been intended to bring people closer to Christ, and give them more love in their heart. There is nothing wrong with that. But the old kind of devotion was no longer popular. Instead, the museum started to stress the Jewish-Roman environment in which Jesus lived. For example, a nice street in Roman style was added (second photo), with expositions in the houses. From a visit in the 1990′s I remember beautiful models of Deir el-Medina, the Athenian Acropolis and Jerusalem.

The Temple, model from Orientalis

Nowadays, the museum park is meant as a meeting place, where people can learn about the three main monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. You can see some multimedia presentations about, for instance, religious dress, food, and habits, and about more serious themes like religious hatred and religion as source for peace. The oriental landscape serves, as the museum says, as background for a “meeting of minds”.

Reenactors

Some time ago, I was in Nijmegen and made a walk though the park. It must have been my fourth or fifth visit. I was amazed by the high quality of the earliest reconstructions. The men who designed it, had travelled widely through the Middle East, and their Jewish village is an exact copy of a Palestine town.

Of course, we can now see that their orientalist philosophy was wrong: they believed that modern Palestine could help us understand the life of Christ, which implied that they thought that nothing had really changed over there – a rather unkind vision on the creativity and originality of the people living in Palestine. Still, their idea to put that Jew of Nazareth back in his original context, instead of reducing him to a European, artistic icon, is worth consideration, and I am glad that the old buildings are now on the Monument List.

2300 Ancient Sites on Google Earth

Kampyr Tepe (Uzbekistan)

On several occasions I have blogged on the possibilities of Google Earth and its online spin-off, Google Maps. My last blog on this topic was a bit over half a year ago, when I had some 1700 items available. In the meantime, I have added more than 550 ancient sites to my list, from all quarters of the ancient world. The grand total now is 2366.

The online version is here and the masterfile can be downloaded here. If you use the latter, do not forget the directory NEW/OFF-TOPIC, which contains many others, still unqualified markers.

The Byzantine Empire

The eagle of the Byzantine Empire

Some pages ought to have been added to the Livius website long, long time ago, but were never written, usually because I didn’t have sufficient time. I am glad that Mrs. Karin de Leeuw wrote a nice page on the Byzantine Empire, the successor state of the Roman Empire.

I also added a little page on the river Elbe. Not terribly important, to be honest. Read the page on Byzantium first, because it’s more interesting.

Maastricht, Derlon Museum Cellar

Derlon Museum Cellar

The beautiful Derlon Hotel in Maastricht is very much part of the city’s history. It is situated on the lovely square Onze Lieve Vrouwe-plein, in the very center of the old town, and it is almost a century and a half old. That does not mean that the hotel itself is old-fashioned. Several years ago, it was completely rebuilt. During the construction works, archaeologists found several Roman remains, which have been left visible in the Derlon Museum Cellar.

It is all very neatly explained. There are several levels, the oldest of which dates back to the first half of the first century. There was a small paved road over here. Other levels date to post-70 and to the middle of the second century. From about 200, there is a layer of gravel, which covered a field between a sanctuary, a gate, and something that was probably a shop. The gate has been rebuilt in Museum Park Archeon.

Reconstruction of the temple gate, Archeon

To be honest, we are not really certain that there was a sanctuary. However, the remains of a Jupiter column have been found, and although these monuments may have stood anywhere, they suggest that the gods were venerated in the neighborhood. Besides, next to Derlon Hotel is the basilica of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, a very, very old church, which may well have replaced an older, pagan sanctuary. One day, excavations may take place over there. (BTW: the pilgrim is to say a beautiful but curious prayer, in which he almost blackmails the Virgin.)

If you want to visit the Museum Cellar, just go to the hotel and ask. The people are really kind, and will usually allow you to go there. Perhaps they will ask you to return a bit later. However, officially, it is only open on Sunday. Hotel guests can always visit the place.

Gur-e Dokhtar

Gur-e Dokhtat

I have never met Mr Charlot from France, but he occasionally sends me photos from Iran, where he visits places that I never visit: Kurangun, Guyum, Qadamgah, Sarab-i Bahram, and Sarab-e Qandil. Last month, he sent me several photos of Gur-e Dokhtar, where an Achaemenid tomb can be seen. The small monument is remarkably similar to the more famous mausoleum of Cyrus the Great in Pasargadae, but is interesting in itself.

You can read Mr Charlot’s article here.

Zone

A satyr on a panther

I have never been to Zone, in the northwest of Greece, but I recently received an article and some photos from Mr Michel Gybels from Belgium. The town was settled in the seventh century BC by people from Samothrace, served as port of trade for the Thracian hinterland, and floutished in the early Hellenistic period. I loved the figurine of the satyr on the panther shown to the right: it’s perfect and beautiful.

The new webpage is here.

Mainz Pedestals For Sale?

One of the twelve reliefs

Of course, the Mainz Pedestals are not for sale. They are safe in the Steinhalle in the Landesmuseum in Mainz, and although the room itself is currently under reconstruction, there is no reason to despair about the museum’s finances. Nevertheless, here is the text of an e-mail I received this weekend:

Hello

Am Mr Roy and am inquiry into your company about Mainz Pedestals? And i will like you to get back to me with the types,sizes and prices of them so  i can proceed with the one am ordering.And i will like to know if you do Accepts major credit card as the mode of payments,And try and include your contact details  when getting back to me , so i can give you a call as soon as possible,

your Prompts response and assistance will be much appreciated,

Thanks, Roy

I confess that I was tempted to reply to Mr Roy that I would love to buy the famous sculptures.

Haus Bürgel

Statue of a lion (second or third century)

Although it is now on the East bank of the Rhine, Burungum was a Roman settlement on the river’s western bank. The great stream changed its course in 1374. At that moment, the fourth-century fort had already been converted into a Medieval castle. The people remembered that the builders had used an older building, because they called it “the stronghold in Burgela”.

The Roman walls are still there, although they have been rebuilt time and again. Still, you can see the foundations, and on some place, the old stones rise pretty high. Within the walls is an old mansion, joined by the only surviving Medieval tower. The other buildings are more recent: a large farm with sheds and a large stable, built in 1900.

There used to be a Roman village in the second and third century, but the meandering Rhine must have destroyed it all. Only a part of the cemetery has been excavated. The fort, however, is pretty well-known, and the finds can be seen in several rooms.

The museum Haus Bürgel is bit small, and it is open on Sunday afternoons only, but it is interesting. It is obvious that some money been spent and some thought has been given to the project. Admittedly, the finds are not very special, but I think museums like these – Rindern is another example – are extremely important. People from the neighborhood know that the past is really theirs. Why this matters, I will tell in my next piece.

Belginum

Cup from Belginum; the inscription says "Give it to me, I am thirsty" and "You will love to drink this, and you will find love"

Belginum was a small settlement along the road through the hills between Trier in the southwest to Bingen and Mainz on the Rhine, in the east. The road still exists on exactly the same place: the ancient houses, which were remarkably long, were found on both sides of what is nowadays called the Hunsrückhöhenstrasse or B50. Although it was really just a small town, no less than four temples have been identified (one for Epona). It also had a water pump that was remarkably advanced.

Belginum is also mentioned on the Peutinger Map, which is odd, because there was nothing over there that might be of interest to the traveller. Unless, of course, it still has to be excavated, and I would not be surprised if one day, a bathhouse were discovered.

The cemetery dates back to the age of the Celtic migrations: the oldest funeral mound is from about 400 BCE. The cremation tombs are more recent, and so are the rectangular “grave gardens”, which date back to 200 BCE to 150 CE: from the La Tène Period to the High Empire. Some funeral towers date back to this same period; one of these survives. In the fourth century, there were inhumations.

So, a Celtic settlement that became romanized. But we know more about it. At the beginning of the first century, the northern slope was briefly occupied by a Roman fort. Because Belginum is not of great strategic importance, it is usually assumed that the soldiers were construction workers, who built the road.

It is an interesting site. Most of our information about Antiquity comes from the cities and the large sanctuaries, because they are easier to identify than small hamlets like Belginum. Yet, most inhabitants of the Roman Empire must have lived on the countryside. I am therefore happy that there is a beautiful museum on the site.

The large room in which everything is shown, is remarkably open, with large windows, so that you can always see the green plain. There are nice drawings of what it must have looked like, and you can see many objects, with good explanations. In a second room, there was a small exhibition about woman’s dress.

In short, a museum as it must be, well worth a visit when you travel from Trier to Mainz. What I didn’t like, though, is that all that photography was forbidden. There is just no argument for this type of measure. As long as you do not use flash light in front of ancient frescos, you cannot damage anything, and there is no copyright on objects that were made so long ago. At the same time, photos shown by tourists are the best ambassador of a museum, while students need photos to study objects a second time. There ought to be a law against museums obstructing study.

Museums of Trier

Small sculpture of two lovers, Landesmuseum

For people interested in Antiquity, Trier has several ruins and two museums to offer. The ruins of the Imperial Baths and the Amphitheater are situated in the east, the Barbara Baths and the Roman bridge in the southwest, the Porta Nigra in the north and the reconstructed Basilica of Constantine in the east.

It is very close to the Landesmuseum, which has recently been renovated. I am pretty sure that some models have been removed, and am less sure that there used to be more mosaics. Still, the collection is interesting.

It covers almost the complete history of Trier, from the traces of the first humans to the eighteenth century. The main part, however, is dedicated to Roman history, especially to many monumental tombs from Neumagen. Made of sandstone, they are less splendid than the marble statues of Italy and Greece, but still, many of them are very impressive.

Other rooms display objects from Prehistory, from the Bronze Age, from the Iron Age, or objects related to Roman religion. There are several splendid mosaics, you will find objects illustrating the ancient economy, a small exhibition about coinage, a beautiful model of the ancient city, and a collection of Christian epitaphs. The remaining rooms are dedicated to Medieval history.

Part of the fresco from the Diözesanmuseum

I had visited the place several times before, and was always very impressed, but this time, I sensed that something was missing; I do not know what (except for the models). Nevertheless, it is a nice place with a remarkably good restaurant. If you buy an “Antikencard”, you pay less and will have access to other monuments too.

The Diözesanmuseum is the museum of the Archbishop of Trier. Its claim to fame is a splendid fresco (more), which is sufficient to pay a visit.

Finally, there’s the strange bathhouse at the Viehmarkt. You will an impressive ruin in a large box of concrete, steel, and glass. To be honest, I liked the modern architecture better.

Kavar Bridge

Kavar Bridge

The Sasanian bridge south of modern Kavar is not exactly Iran’s most important archaeological monument, but I had passed along it several times without properly visiting it, so last month, I decided to stop over here and take photos. I immediately discovered that this was a serious error: the road, which connects Shiraz to Firuzabad, is quite dangerous, and I do not recommend a visit. Look at the brief notice here instead.

New items on Livius.org

The stele of Marcus Valerius Severus in Volubilis. Photo Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum

I have been abroad for some time and it was difficult to add things to the Livius website, but there are some additions that you may or may not find interesting. Bouke Slofstra wrote about the ‘Libyan’ Inscriptions in Numidia and Mauretania: an interesting subject I did not know about. Bouke also wrote a piece on the stele of Marcus Valerius Severus in Volubilis (in what is now Morocco).

I also made available a double review of the recent book on Alexander the Great by Heckel and Tritle. In the first part, I judge it as a historian, and conclude that it is “a state-of-the-art series of articles”; in the second half, I look at the book from a more general point of view, and I conclude that the art itself is seriously in decline. The book is better than average, but for a discipline that is no longer what it should be.

Other stuff: some photos from Israel, illustrating 1 Maccabees 9, the career of Pilate (the stadium of Caesarea and the famous inscription), king Agrippa II, the legions IIII Scythica and VI Ferrata, and – from Iran – the river Araxes.

Iranian Panoramas

During our visit to Iran, my sister Maria Kouijzer, who is a professional photographer, made these two nice panorama photos.The first one shows Persepolis from the southeast…

Persepolis

… and the second one the great square of Isfahan, taken from the terrace of the Ali Qapu Palace. From left to right you can see the entrance to the bazaar, the Lotfollah Mosque, and the Shah Mosque.

Isfahan