[SOUND] [MUSIC] The sacred area of the Kothon with this incredible basin in the middle, this pool of sacred waters, actually are this in the temple of Baal. The temple of Baal was this rectangular building, which was standing on the eastern side of the garden. The temple arose aside the spring, the earliest spring, which is now filled up with the remains of the temple, as it was destroyed, and everything was thrown into the spring. But actually the spring was connected with the aquifer. And from one side with the sacred well, which is inside the temple, in the central courtyard. And from the other side with the pool, with the sacred pool, through a canal. This sacred well is very interesting, because it is devoid of any border, of any construction. Because it was used together with the obelisks during the cult activities. And from this well, an underground canal connected the temple itself with the sacred pool. Thus showing that the two major buildings were conceived together, and were part of the same sacred area, exactly at the middle of the terminals. As we are back now to the Temple, one of the major features of it was its entrance. The entrance was looking south. But it was near a corner, that it was with a big threshold, flanked by two pillars and you get into a vestibule. And from the vestibule in the central courtyard. The central courtyard also included with the obelisk, which was more or less, two and a half meters high. A platform, a stellar and near the platform, there was also a hole for pulling sacred liquids in the netherworld, that means underground. There were then canals and rails carrying back out, the waters, or these liquids. On the east there was another wing. This rectangular wing was again devoted to some monuments, hinting at these stars or god stars. One of their bases was preserved, still with the incision, the decoration showed the map of the plan of the building itself, which is a square, which is transformed into a rectangle. So that's very interesting, because this motif is repeated many times in building. Just in front of this monument, there was a peg fixed into the floor. And there was also the bronze tool, again connected with the star watching during navigation. The main facade of the temple at the beginning to the east, had two symmetric entrances, one of them was blocked after. And so this gave to the building a strange look from the side, with these two symmetrical entrances. In 470 BC, this building was added to the east within another entrance, a major entrance, like. And this became the entrance to the old sacred area. Because this building was protruding out from, you see the main circular terminus. [FOREIGN] >> [FOREIGN] >> As was reconstructed at the mid of the fifth century BC. The Temple of Baal became one of this major buildings, and one of the of the huge sacred area of the Kothon. So we focused on the excavation of this temple. It is among the few Phoenician and Punic temples completely excavated. And studying its shape and its function, it's very nice. Because it gives us a variety of information concerning the ideology, the religious ideologies of the Phoenicians and their roots. So let's go and see its plan. The original plan of this phase, that is called temple C1, is a building which actually arose around the original shrine, C14. Perhaps you remember it from previous lessons. And now there was the addition of a wing to the west. As the building was connected by a canal with the Kothon, that is the pool, which was built for transforming an original pond into a sacred pool. And on both sides of the central courtyard, where there were three arrayed, let's say, one obelisk and two stellars. They open two symmetrical cellars for cult activities. So this is more or less the plan of the building. And the other very important feature is the entrance. The entrance was on a near a corner on the long side. You see some comparison from the Near East, from Cyprus and from Palestine. And they are all descending from a prototype, which is called four-room building. That shape is very similar, with three parallel pieces and then transversal one on the other side. So this was part of the tradition of the Levant. And of course was in the minds of the Phoenicians, as they started to build a new sacred place at. And the monumental entrance is a very meaningful part of the building. It is characterized by the presence of two very small pillars, which sided the wings, the projecting sides of the entrance. These are suggestions that we are dealing with the a sacred place. Because in the tradition of the Near East, just as beside the entrance of the temples, there were these free-standing pillars. So this is the last re-elaboration of this model. And of course for having an idea on how it was built, this façade, we had to dig inside the second well in the center of the temple. We found the base of the semi column built on both sides of this projecting blocks. And of course a Capitol, actually it was very badly ruined but the shape of the Capitol is visible. And it is a Capitol which comes from Cyprus, with this central. So this, and of course a framework on the top. And thanks to the suggestions given by some stellars from the tuffet, we can suggest this kind of reconstruction for the entrance. Yes of course, it is not fully satisfying, but gives us the ideas of an entrance flanked by these two semi-columns ending with capitals with Capitol palmet. And with a central view to the main obelisk of the temple, as it is shown in the stellars. So this possibly was how the temple looked like at the time. This as I was saying, was included into a long-lasting tradition. Not only from the past but also in the future. Here you see for example, a comparison in the city of Tunisia, which is called Kerkuan, which was a foundation by Carthage. In which you see exactly the same entrance to a sacred building, which was this shining for example. Here you see the entrance of the temple of Tyre, as depicted on a serial relief in the south west palace of Nineveh. But what is interesting is always the presence of these pillars, which we know also from written sources. So it's very important. One of these written sources is the Bible, which claims that king Solomon also erected two of these pillars at the sides of the entrance, of his temple in Jerusalem. So, very distinguishing features. Again you see them in a model clay shrine found in Cyprus, in Palaepaphos. And in the same site, also the original storm structure. So strong furnishing were found, ending with this lotus flower. So it's very nice that there is evidence, proving that this is typical of a temple. Even though in the state of preservation is very bad. Now we move to another very interesting feature of the temple, which is strictly connected with meaning in and in general in definition ideology. We found exactly fixed into the ground, some pegs like this which were bronze riveted by lead. Lead is a metal which suggests a connection with underwater forces. For example this Baal reigning over the netherworld. And you see the location, which was in an array just aside another obelisk or stair which is unfortunately lost. But we also found this very strange bronze item, or tool. Which actually is the pointer of an instrument, which was used for navigation, for example an astrolabe. We have no comparison at all on this subject. Because this kind of items are known only from the hellenistic period. So this is the first time that we found something like this. But we know that the Phoenicians used to navigate across the Mediterranean. So this maybe, is a very important discovery. And this is a comparison, of course of many many years later. And here we have another problem. Another piece of evidence, that is that all the area was re-planned and built altogether. There is this huge pool, which is a perfect rectangle. And there is the temple, which also has the shape of a rectangle, but the two buildings are not exactly parallel. And this was puzzling to me. Because it's so strange that something which has a structural connection, then is not aligned anymore. For this very ten degrees, so it's one of the possible answers to this question came from the archeo-astronomists, the ones who have study ancient sky. Because they noticed that the temple was aligned where the constellation of Orion rises and the solstice of winter. So this is very interesting, because this makes a connection between of course, Orion and Baal. They were the same at that time, the same god. And this may explain why the two buildings are not exactly matching together. So we tried to grasp some more information from other items. One is this beautiful extraordinary, and very small bronze bowl. This semi-spherical bowl, shallow bowl, is completely decorated by incisions. All around its rim, all around its border, there are 365 strikes. Each one marks a day, and the stars that you see depicted over the bowl, actually are not put in without a rule and they are even identifiable. Because many of them have a different, let's say range of brightness, depicted by the number of rays that they bear. So it's really amazing, it's like a sky map of antiquity. And in the center of this sky map, we have a personage which actually is exactly Baal, the iconography of Bal, the god of the sacred area. And you see all around him, many other important constellations. One is the baboon and we found a terracotta baboon in the sacred area. So what seems is that, the imagery depicted over the bowl finds comparisons in the finds in great circular area of the Kothon. Because we never have to forget that this sacred area, are the circular plan. And again a comparison, which helps us to understand that when they, I mean the people of antiquity, they needed to depict the sky, they preferred to use this circular representation. Because of course, this is the easiest way to show the whole sky together. And you see again in the Egyptian version of Dendera, which is somewhat later, there is a very famous example, now in the Louvre. The same god Osiris, as it was represented by the Egyptians. Then we move to much later periods. Just for giving you the idea that there are also other examples of this tradition, which is then always connected with the very sanctuary of which has this shape, a circle. And again, until a few years ago, this artist used an algorithm just to represent the solar system. And what came out is a spherical representation. So the sphere or the circle, is the easiest way for man to represent the sky. And that's why when we found the circular shape at the ground, we get the idea that something has to deal with this celestial Entities. At the center of the sacred area, there was a pool. And the pool not only was of course, a water reservoir, It was also a mirror for watching the sky. And this was a use that we know from sources, and which is a basic use. Because the only way to measure stars is to have a flat, perfectly horizontal surface. And only water can give on the earth such a huge, a wide mirror to measure the stars. So, this was the secret of the Phoenicians in. They have a very big, let's say tool or telescope, to measure stars and to navigate through the Mediterranean. [SOUND]
