The Roman temple of Bziza is a well-preserved first century AD building dedicated to
Azizos, a personification of the
morning star
Morning Star, morning star, or Morningstar may refer to:
Astronomy
* Morning star, most commonly used as a name for the planet Venus when it appears in the east before sunrise
** See also Venus in culture
* Morning star, a name for the star Siri ...
in the
Canaanite mythology
The Canaanite religion was the group of ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze Age through the first centuries AD. Canaanite religion was polytheistic and, in some cases, ...
. This
Roman temple lends the modern
Lebanese town of
Bziza
Bziza ( ar, بزيزا) is a village in Koura District of Lebanon. There is a well-preserved Roman temple of Bziza, Roman temple with three of its frontal portico columns still standing. In Byzantine Empire, Byzantine times a two-apse church known ...
its current name as Bziza is a corruption of ''Beth Azizo'' meaning the house or temple of Azizos. Azizos is identified as
Ares
Ares (; grc, Ἄρης, ''Árēs'' ) is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war b ...
by
Julian the Apostate
Julian ( la, Flavius Claudius Julianus; grc-gre, Ἰουλιανός ; 331 – 26 June 363) was Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplato ...
.
The
tetrastyle prostyle building has two doors that connect the
pronaos to a square
cella. To the back of the temple lie the remains of the
adyton where images of the deity once stood. The ancient temple functioned as an
aedes, the dwelling place of the
deity
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...
. The temple of Bziza was converted into a
church and underwent architectural modification during two phases of Christianization; in the Early
Byzantine period and later in the
Middle Ages. The church, colloquially known until modern times as the Lady of the Pillars, fell into disrepair. Despite the church's condition, Christian devotion was still maintained in the nineteenth century in one of the temple's
niches.
The temple of Bziza is featured on multiple stamps issued by the Lebanese state.
History
Historical background
In 64 BC, the Roman general
Pompey annexed
Phoenicia to the
Roman province of Syria after years of disorderly
power vacuum caused by the
Seleucid dynastic wars. In his treatise on Phoenician history,
Byblian writer
Philo maintained that the gods and goddesses venerated in Phoenicia were Hellenized Phoenician deities. The wave of cultural Hellenization created pan-Phoenician patriotism and a deeper attachment to pre-Hellenic religious traditions. Phoenician devotion to ancient gods continued under Roman rule as described in the
On the Syrian Goddess">nowiki/>On the Syrian Goddess">On_the_Syrian_Goddess.html" ;"title="nowiki/>On the Syrian Goddess">nowiki/>On the Syrian Goddesstreatise by second century AD rhetor Lucian of Samosata. Lucian visited sacred cities of Syria, Phoenicia and the Mount Lebanon, Libanus where numerous mountain sanctuaries were spreading all over the countryside. Temple building, urbanization and monumentalization of cities was financed by generous endowments of client kings and
wealthy citizens seeking to increase their power and sphere of
influence. The prosperity of Roman Phoenicia was in turn fueled by maritime export and the elevation of numerous Phoenician cities to the status of
Roman colony, giving the inhabitants
Roman citizenship.
Construction
The temple of Bziza was built during the
Julio-Claudian dynasty
, native_name_lang=Latin, coat of arms=Great_Cameo_of_France-removebg.png, image_size=260px, caption= The Great Cameo of France depicting emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius and Nero, type= Ancient Roman dynasty, country= Roman Empire, estates=* ...
in the first century AD, at a time when Roman hegemony over the region was still being consolidated. The Phoenicians perpetuated the ancient tradition of building high-altitude sanctuaries and sacred precincts.
Temples were situated on or overlooking mountain summits that were believed to be sacred dwellings of the gods and giants, guarded by archaic men and wild beasts. Under the influence of
suzerain
Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is calle ...
powers, Phoenician temples were Hellenized then Romanized while maintaining balance between foreign elements and Semitic architectural archetypes, among which are tower altars,
temenoi and cellas with elevated
adytons. The temple of Bziza adheres to this model, which characterized Romanized Phoenician temples.
Decline
A policy of repression and
persecution of paganism was initiated during the reign of
Constantine I
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterranea ...
when he ordered the
pillaging and destruction of
Roman temples. Constantine's son
Constantius II issued a series of decrees that enforced the formal persecution of pagans; he ordered the closing of all pagan temples and forbade pagan
sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...
s under pain of death. Under his reign ordinary Christians began to vandalise pagan temples, tombs and monuments.
The temple of Bziza was converted into a church during the early Byzantine period between the fifth and sixth century
and underwent further structural modifications during the Middle Ages between the twelfth and the thirteenth century. It is colloquially known as the Church of Our Lady of the Pillars ().
Modern history
In 1838, French orientalist painters
Antoine-Alphonse Montfort and visited and painted the temple ruins. In 1860, French Semitic languages and civilizations expert
Ernest Renan
Joseph Ernest Renan (; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, expert of Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote influe ...
visited the temple; he explained that the
Toponymy of Bziza as a corruption of the
Phoenician ''Beth'' (or ''Beit'') Azizo and attributed the town's temple to Azizos. Flemish Jesuit orientalist
Henri Lammens, who taught at Beirut's
Saint Joseph University
Saint Joseph University of Beirut ( French: ''Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth'', abbreviated to and commonly known as "USJ") is a private Catholic research university located in Beirut, Lebanon, which was founded in 1875 by French Jesuit mis ...
at the time, also visited the site in 1894 and took a photograph of the temple ruins. Nineteenth-century paintings and early twentieth-century photographs show the removed chapel remains and the oak tree that took root inside of the temple.
In the early twentieth century, German architectural historian
Daniel Krencker Daniel Krencker (15 July 1874, Andolsheim – 10 November 1941, Berlin) was an Alsatian-German architectural historian. He is known for his studies of Roman architecture, in particular, his investigations of its temples (Asia Minor, Syria) and ther ...
conducted a survey of the site, later publishing his findings with the assistance of archaeologist in the book ''Römische Tempel in Syrien'' ("Roman Temples in Syria"). According to Krencker the chapel had been in ruins for a long time and a Christian devotion was still maintained in the nineteenth century in the "niche near the door".
In 1965, the site was further excavated by
Lebanese-Armenian archaeologist Harutune Kalayan, uncovering the podium and an architectural plan of half of the front pediment etched on one of the temple walls. In the 1990s, the Lebanese
Directorate General of Antiquities
The Directorate General of Antiquities (DGA; french: La Direction Générale des Antiquités et des Musées) is a Lebanese government directorate, technical unit of the Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to:
*Ministry of Tourism, C ...
cleared away parts of the chapel during restoration works to highlight the remains of the ancient temple; only the
apses and a rectangular masonry pillar from the Christian chapel remain.
The temple ruins of Bziza were featured on the 35 Lebanese piasters postage stamp in 1971, and on the 200 Lebanese piasters postage stamp in 1985. It appeared again on a 2002 Lebanese postage stamp.
[Lebanese postage stamps featuring the temple of Bziza]
. ''Colnect.com''. Colnect. September 18, 2019. Archived from th
original [1][2][3]
on September 18, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
Azizos
Azizos (, ''ʿzyz'') was the
Canaanite god of the
morning star
Morning Star, morning star, or Morningstar may refer to:
Astronomy
* Morning star, most commonly used as a name for the planet Venus when it appears in the east before sunrise
** See also Venus in culture
* Morning star, a name for the star Siri ...
; German biblical scholar
Paul de Lagarde showed that
Lucifer was one of the god's appellations. In a
Dacian inscription, Azizos is given the title
he good young god Phosphorus He is portrayed in the ancient Syrian city of
Palmyra as a horseman, accompanied by his
camel
A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...
eer
twin brother
Arsu (also called Monimos in later writings). Arsu is believed by Teixidor to be a personification of the
evening star. Both gods were regarded as the protectors of traders. In
Emperor Julian's work "
Hymn to King Helios", Azizos is depicted as the counterpart of the Greek god of war
Ares
Ares (; grc, Ἄρης, ''Árēs'' ) is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war b ...
, and Monimos was equated with
Hermes, the god of trade and travelers. According to the Julian, the Phoenician cult of Azizos and Monimos was associated with that of
Helios
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyper ...
in the ancient city of
Emesus; he also recounts that Azizos precedes Helios in sacred processions.
Evidence that Aziz, and more frequently Azizu, was used as a common and royal given name is abundant in Palmyrene and
Emesan inscriptions. Another Latinized form, Azizus, was found in
Roman military parchments and
papyri
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a d ...
. In the Semitic language, the root ''ʿzyz'' means "mighty" or "powerful". The female counterpart of ʿAziz is the goddess ʿ
Ozzā, who was worshiped by Semites and was one of the three chief goddesses of the
pre-Islamic Arabian religion.
Location
The town of Bziza falls in the
Koura district within the administrative division of Lebanon's
North Governorate
North Governorate ( ar, الشمال, ') (Lebanese pr. ''eš šmél'') (French: Gouvernorat du Liban-Nord) is one of the governorates of Lebanon. Its capital is Tripoli. Ramzi Nohra has been its governor since May 2, 2014. The population of North ...
, north of Beirut. The towns sits at an altitude of , at the southern tip of the Koura (Amioun) plain. The temple is located to the south of the town center, and is a mere away from the large Roman temple complex of ''Qasr Naous'' in the town of
Ain Aakrine.
Architecture and description
The Bziza temple is a well-preserved
tetrastyle prostyle with
Ionic order
The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...
detailing. The
ashlar
Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
rectangular temple measures by . The
pronaos is oriented to the northwest; it is fronted by unfluted columns standing on bases carved in the
Attic style. The columns measure tall and in diameter. Three of the temple's
monolithic pronaos columns still stand, the fourth, found on the temple's northern corner was broken in two parts and was re-erected during restoration works. The columns are crowned with Ionic capitals supporting a
frieze that extends over three of the four columns. The space between the central columns is wider than that between the distal columns. The colonnade was added at a later stage of the temple's construction as indicated by the style of the ionic capitals that adheres to the model found in
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and
Anatolia as of the second century AD. The pronaos is well preserved, it is framed by short
antae ending with angular
pilasters that are repeated at the rear of the building. The temple was accessible from a stairway that was dismantled.
The pronaos is connected to the
cella by two entrances: a massive, richly decorated central door and a smaller side door located to the left of the main entrance. The
jambs of the main door are adorned with
fasciae
A fascia (; plural fasciae or fascias; adjective fascial; from Latin: "band") is a band or sheet of connective tissue, primarily collagen, beneath the skin that attaches to, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles and other internal organs. ...
. The decoration of the
lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...
and the
entablature
An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...
is finely realized with three fasciae adorned with a rich vegetal decoration. The
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
features
modillion
A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). All ...
s bearing images of two diagonally aligned small
Victories
The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal Duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitu ...
on either angle of the cornice. The large door's
dripstones are in the
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...
. The temple's smaller door has only two fasciae. The lintel is decorated with a frieze and a Corinthian dripstone.
The cella consists of two chambers, the first of which is roughly square followed by an adyton to the back of the building. On either side of the temple's cella walls are niches once used to house statues.
The two niches of the right cella wall remain. The first niche is surmounted by the form of a
scallop
Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families ...
; the other one is plain and rectangular. Small columns stood in front of the niches; these supported a simple
architrave
In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns.
The term can ...
and an
archivolt with three fasciae. Traces of the adyton's platform are visible at the back of the temple. The adyton is recognizable by the remains of two pilasters with Attic style bases in the southwestern wall. The bases of the pilasters are situated above the cella's ground level suggesting that they were part of the temple's
edicule, once housing a statue of the temple's deity.
Kalayan noted that the exterior of the southwest cella wall bears marks of an architectural sketch for the assembly of the temple's pronaos half-pediment. Another engraved sketch shows the plan of the temple's entablature. The now lost pediment measured by . Excavations undertaken by Kalayan revealed an elevated podium that was not noted in Krencker's survey. The uncompleted podium spans the southwestern side of the temple and is structurally independent from the temple's
foundation. This addition indicates an unfinished plan to transform the prostyle temple into a
peripteros.
In
Byzantine times a church was built within the temple walls.
The building's orientation was changed from the northwest to the east; the main door of the temple was walled, and a new doorway was opened in the southwest wall of the cella. The adyton's platform and back wall were dismantled and the northeast wall was replaced by a double apse.
The apses have a four-sided polygonal
chevet
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
and are horseshoe-shaped with an aperture of for the north apse and for the south apse. A whole section of the latter is preserved up to the apse
transom
Transom may refer to:
* Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar
* Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet
* Operation Tran ...
, located at from the current floor of the cella. A
molding separates the apse wall from the
semi-dome above. The quality of the
stereotomy of the apses is comparable to that of the ancient reused temple blocks; the apses date, according to Krencker and Zschietzschmann, to the early Byzantine period.
Further modifications were made to the church in the Middle Ages. A rectangular masonry pillar was added to the adjoining wall of the two apses. There were three other similar pillars in the north, west and south corners of the cella that were removed during the 1990s restoration of the temple. The pillars supported
groin vaults covering the two
naves of the medieval chapel. Two 1838 paintings of the facade of the temple depict a gate arranged in the central intercolumnation of the pronaos. At the beginning of the twentieth century, only the left-hand side of the gate remained as demonstrated by a photograph taken during that period. Lebanese-Armenian archaeologist Levon Nordiguian suggests that the pronaos could have served as a church
narthex or may have been reserved exclusively for women worshipers through this separate access door.
As well as architectural alterations, several
Christian cross engravings were found in the temple. The
cross variants provide information on different stages of the site's Christianization. A
Latin cross and several bifid crosses similar to the
East Syriac
The East Syriac Rite or East Syrian Rite, also called the Edessan Rite, Assyrian Rite, Persian Rite, Chaldean Rite, Nestorian Rite, Babylonian Rite or Syro-Oriental Rite, is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturgy ...
variant were found in the temple. Some of the bifid crosses are enclosed in circles. Subterranean rock-carved tombs were found to the south of the temple.
Function
The origin of the modern word temple is the Latin
templum. The word templum, however, designates the sacred precinct within which the
aedes (shrine or temple) was built. The aedes' main function was to house the
cult image
In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents. In several traditions, including the ancient religions of Egypt, Greece and Rome ...
of the divinity, which was typically placed in the adyton of the Roman temples in
Lebanon. The adyton is the innermost chamber of the temple, located at the back of the cella. The temple of Bziza is an aedes that follows this arrangement; its elevated adyton was reached through a flight of steps. Roman worship was not conducted within the aedes itself as the building did not have a congregational function like the places of worship of modern
monotheistic
Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford ...
religions; the aedes was only accessible to
priests,
augur
An augur was a priest and official in the classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the gods by studying the flight of birds. Determinations were based upon whether they were flying i ...
s, and privileged individuals. Roman religious rituals and sacrifices were conducted on an altar, consecrated to the temple's deity, that was always located outside at the front of the aedes where worshipers gathered. This arrangement reflects the public nature of Roman religious offices, contrasting with the private character of modern religious services. In the temple yard, worshipers would face the aedes' doorway, within sight of the deity's image.
In his
treatise on architecture, the Roman architect
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio pronounced a rule for the alignment of temples:
The temple of Bziza is one of the few Roman temples in Lebanon to adhere to this rule as the temple is oriented to the northwest; in Bziza, the cult image was lit by the setting sun through the temple entrance.
See also
*
List of Ancient Roman temples
Notes
:Phoenican cities that became Roman colonies: Beirut (colonia Iulia Augusta Felix Berytus),
Baalbek
Baalbek (; ar, بَعْلَبَكّ, Baʿlabakk, Syriac-Aramaic: ܒܥܠܒܟ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In Greek and Roman ...
(colonia Iulia Augusta Felix Heliopolis),
Acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
(colonia Claudia Stabilis Germanica Ptolemais Felix),
Tyre (colonia Septimia Tyrus),
Sidon (colonia Aurelia Pia metropolis Sidoniorum),
Arqa (colonia Caesarea ad Libanum).
: Renan explained in his report:
n Lebanon, the initial B (Bteda, Bteddin, Bhadidat, etc.) is generally an abbreviation of Beth. Likewise, in the Gemara, "" for "".">Gemara">n Lebanon, the initial B (Bteda, Bteddin, Bhadidat, etc.) is generally an abbreviation of Beth. Likewise, in the Gemara, "" for "".In a later chapter he affirmed his previous interpretation: [The initial B is without a doubt a corruption of Beth which was preserved in [the town names of] Bziza = Beth-Aziz, Beschtoudar = Beth-Astarte, Aschtar, Berbaschtar = Deir Beth-Aschtar.] (Renan 1864). This toponymy and temple attribution was upheld by later historians and Onomastics, Onomastolgy experts.
: Bziza is pronounced Bzizo in the mountain villages of
North Governorate, North Lebanon due to the survival of the
Canaanite shift of the vowel (ā) to (ō).
:
Viz. coordinates.
References
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{{featured article
1st-century Roman temples
Archaeological sites in Lebanon
Roman sites in Lebanon
Conversion of non-Christian religious buildings and structures into churches
Temples in Lebanon
Phoenician temples