Aaiha (or Aiha) ( ar, عيحا) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

, and temporary

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

situated in the

Rashaya District Rashaya District ( ar, قضاء راشيا) is an administrative district in the Beqaa Governorate of the Republic of Lebanon. Most of Rachaya's population are Druze with a Sunni and Shia and Christian Christians () are people who follow ...

and south of the

Beqaa Governorate Beqaa ( ') is a governorate in Lebanon. Districts Since 2014, Beqaa Governorate contains three districts: * West Beqaa * Rashaya * Zahle A law was passed in 2003 to separate Baalbek District and Hermel District from Beqaa Governorate to form a ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. It is located in an intermontane basin near

Mount Hermon Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / ALA-LC: ''Jabal al-Shaykh'' ("Mountain of the Sheikh") or ''Jabal Haramun''; he, הַר חֶרְמוֹן, ''Har Hermon'') is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of th ...

and the Syrian border, approximately halfway between

Rashaya Rashaya, Rachaya, Rashaiya, Rashayya or Rachaiya ( ar, راشيا), also known as Rashaya al-Wadi or Rachaya el-Wadi (and variations), is a town of the Rashaya District in the west of the Jnoub Government of Lebanon. It is situated at around ab ...

and Kfar Qouq. The village sits c. above sea level and the small population is predominantly Druze. Wild

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

s '' Triticum boeoticum'' and ''T. urartu'' grow in this area, also used for farming

goats 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 th ...

. There is a nearby

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...

of a Muslim saint and a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

ruins thought to be a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. I ...

that is now totally destroyedMunir Said Mhanna (Photos by Kamal el Sahili), Rashaya el Wadi Tourist Brochure, p. 10, Lebanon Ministry of Tourism, Beirut, 2006

Aaiha plain, Aaiha lake and Aaiha intermittent lake

The village is situated on a ridge next to Aaiha plain, an intermittent lake that forms a near perfect circular shape, approximately in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...

and enclosed by mountains and the ridge on the west. The plain is completely level with no particularly visible outlet for water, which occasionally floods the basin to a depth of several feet to form a lake. The creation of the lake is assisted by

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were ori ...

s that well up through a large

chasm In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-graben wi ...

in the northwest and a smaller

fissure A fissure is a long, narrow crack opening along the surface of Earth. The term is derived from the Latin word , which means 'cleft' or 'crack'. Fissures emerge in Earth's crust, on ice sheets and glaciers, and on volcanoes. Ground fissure ...

in the southeast. It has also been noted that when the waters subside, they drain down these fissures. Investigative potholers have claimed a permanent stream flows underneath these fissures.

The Chaff of Phiala

The smaller southeastern fissure was investigated and found to be in diameter, to deep with no sign of water at the bottom. Robinson did not record any investigation of the larger one to the northwest of the plain, which was not flooded at the time, during the summer. The villagers suggest the underground stream leads to and is the original source and ''fountain'' of the

Hasbani The Hasbani River ( ar, الحاصباني / ALA-LC: ''al-Ḥāṣbānī''; he, חצבני ''Ḥatzbaní'') or Snir Stream ( he, נחל שניר / ''Nahal Sənir''), is the major tributary of the Jordan River. Local natives in the mid-19th cent ...

river, the most northern source of the Jordan River. This is notably similar to that described in the tale of ''"The Chaff of Phiala"'' in ''

The Jewish War ''The Jewish War'' or ''Judean War'' (in full ''Flavius Josephus' Books of the History of the Jewish War against the Romans'', el, Φλαυίου Ἰωσήπου ἱστορία Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ...

'' by

Flavius Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

. Josephus tells a geographically inaccurate tale of a

cavern A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

in an ancient place called Phiala or Phiale (modern Birkat Ram), discovered to be the initial source of the Jordan by Philip the Tetrarch of

Trachonitis The Lajat (/ALA-LC: ''al-Lajāʾ''), also spelled ''Lejat'', ''Lajah'', ''el-Leja'' or ''Laja'', is the largest lava field in southern Syria, spanning some 900 square kilometers. Located about southeast of Damascus, the Lajat borders the Hauran ...

. He threw chaff into Phiala and found it was carried by the waters to ''Panium'' (modern

Banias Banias or Banyas ( ar, بانياس الحولة; he, בניאס, label=Modern Hebrew; Judeo-Aramaic, Medieval Hebrew: פמייס, etc.; grc, Πανεάς) is a site in the Golan Heights near a natural spring, once associated with the Greek g ...

), previously thought to be the origin of the Jordan river. Josephus writes: Edward Robinson commented that this story would appear still current in respect to this chasm and underground stream leading to the Hasbani. Some

neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

s have been recovered in this area, in the hills north of Rashaya.

Roman temple

Edward Robinson and Eli Smith visited in 1852 and noted a massive

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 ...

had once been located near the village that has been grouped by George Taylor amongst the

Temples of Mount Hermon The Temples of Mount Hermon are around thirty Roman shrines and Roman temples that are dispersed around the slopes of Mount Hermon in Lebanon, Israel and Syria. A few temples are built on former buildings of the Phoenician & Hellenistic er ...

. Robinson suggested the temple was bigger than

Nebi Safa Nebi Safa, Nabi Safa, Neby Sufa, An Nabi Safa, An Nabi Safa' or En Nabi Safa also known as Mazraet Selsata or Thelthatha is a village in the Kfar Mishki municipality situated west of Rashaya in the Rashaya District of the Beqaa Governorate in Leb ...

and spoke of it having been constructed of stones that were ''"tolerably large, well hewn, but not bevelled"''. Fragments of architrave, mouldings and blocks from the temple had been re-used by the villagers making their homes and farmsteads and had been left lying all over the fields, covered in

rubbish Rubbish may refer to: *Waste *Garbage * ''Rubbish'' (magazine), a fashion magazine * ''Rubbish'' (radio series), a British radio series *"Rubbish", a song by Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine *An adjective which is colloquially used in British En ...

Sir Charles Warren General Sir Charles Warren, (7 February 1840 – 21 January 1927) was an officer in the British Royal Engineers. He was one of the earliest European archaeologists of the Biblical Holy Land, and particularly of the Temple Mount. Much of his mi ...

also later visited and documented the area as part of an archaeological survey in 1869. He noted a long

wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the sup ...

leading off into the east away from the village and temple. He also noted some vaults and rock-cut features and took a copy of an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

inscription from one of the blocks. The temple was completed in 92 AD but only the western part remained when visited, located on the top of a hill overlooking the plain. The temple was constructed of blue

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

with an entrance opening facing east and a sideways bearing of 78°30'. The base of the temples was described as Attic and was positioned on top of an socle. There were four courses of stones layered above a high, corniced

stylobate In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate ( el, στυλοβάτης) is the top step of the crepidoma, the stepped platform upon which colonnades of temple columns are placed (it is the floor of the temple). The platform was built on a level ...

, measuring , , and . Houses and a stable were built over the temple. Robinson also found a

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

and judged the style of many of the blocks to be Corinthian in appearance. A stone with a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

inscription was found built into the western wall. The structure measures wide by at least long with an entrance to vaults underneath. A column found nearby measured in diameter.

Wildlife

The white-eyed pochard was noted at the Aaiha lake (then called the

lake) by Nevins in 1955, but not in 1956 as the lake had reverted to being a plain that year. The duck is thought to have been driven off by frequent shooting. Nevins also noted the

Eurasian teal The Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca''), common teal, or Eurasian green-winged teal is a common and widespread duck that breeds in temperate Eurosiberia and migrates south in winter. The Eurasian teal is often called simply the teal due to being th ...

as a resident in the

winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultur ...

, when the lake was present and the waters hadn't drained down the chasm to the

References

Bibliography

* (p
496

External links

Localiban
3D Google Earth map of Aaiha on www.gmap3d.comAaiha on www.geographic.org
{{Archaeological sites in Lebanon Populated places in Rashaya District Druze communities in Lebanon Wetlands of Lebanon Lakes of Lebanon Ancient Roman temples Landforms of Lebanon Plains of Asia Archaeological sites in Lebanon