Qal'at Bustra or Qalat Bustra is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

in Lebanon, close to the border of the Sheba Farms region of the Israeli-occupied

Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...

, about 5 km ENE of

Ghajar Ghajar ( ar, غجر, he, ע'ג'ר or ) is an Alawite-Arab village on the Hasbani River, on the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied portion of Syria's Golan Heights. In , it had a population of . History Early history Control ove ...

. It is situated on a peak of height 786m with a panoramic westward view. Qal'at Bustr (that means "castle at Bustra") is believed to be an ancient Roman sanctuary and was excavated by Israeli archaeologists. Remains found at the site include a farmhouse and temple dating from the Hellenistic and Roman period.

History

Archaeological surveys were first made in 1970–1972, who named the place Harviya. In 1990 a second expedition, carried out under the auspices of

Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic i ...

's Department of Land of Israel Studies, learned from local Arabs that the place is called Qal'at Bustra. The investigations revealed stelae and evidence of cultic activity dating to the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...

or earlier which continued into the

Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

. A farmhouse and temple discovered at the site have been dated to the Hellenistic and Roman periods (third century BCE to third-fourth centuries CE). The farmstead is located at the center of a large farmyard, surrounded by well-built stone walls. It has many rooms that served different purposes. A villa-like structure contained a tower which is still visible. The surrounding farmland counts remains of many structures, including buildings, walls. Water cisterns with unusually large capacity for the region were found. At the highest point of the peak, there are the remains a

Roman temple Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete state. Today they remain "the most obvious symbol of Ro ...

covering about 100 square meters. Only the foundations, the foundation stones, and one course of stones are preserved. Discoveries in the

temenos A ''temenos'' (Greek: ; plural: , ''temenē''). is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, such as a sanctuary, holy gro ...

of the temple included eleven

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

s that were dated between the third century BCE and the third century CE. One was dated to the reign of

Herod Antipas Herod Antipas ( el, Ἡρῴδης Ἀντίπας, ''Hērǭdēs Antipas''; born before 20 BC – died after 39 AD), was a 1st-century ruler of Galilee and Perea, who bore the title of tetrarch ("ruler of a quarter") and is referred to as both "H ...

. Parts of a marble statue that include a male foot wearing a sandal was also recovered; it was probably a local deity worshipped at the temple. A collection of

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...

s were also found. Various animal bones were discovered and dated to the 5th century CE including

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

and a

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

. The farmhouse is similar to others in the mount Hermon's area.Roman Bustra, with map at pg.642
/ref>

References

External links

* {{Roman Archaeological sites in Beirut & Lebanon 3rd-century BC religious buildings and structures 4th-century disestablishments in the Roman Empire 1970 archaeological discoveries Archaeological sites on the Golan Heights Archaeological sites in Lebanon Ancient Roman temples Roman sites in Lebanon Herod Antipas

History

See also

References

External links