From Adlun continue
to Kharayeb, 26 km south of Sidon. It is located on a hill left
of the Sidon-Tyre road. The Directorate General of Antiquities excavations
in 1946 uncovered there one of the most important settlements of
South Lebanon. An almost square (11m x 12.6m) building, a temple
of the goddess Astrate-Isis, was excavated. Above the door, a relief
representing a sun disc surrounded by two uraei was found. Inside
the building, were three offering tables or altars. The most spectacular
find was the huge collection of clay figurines representing the
fertility goddess naked and holding a lotus flower. Figurines of
the Egyptian god Bes who accompanies the pregnant goddess, or dea
gravida, and of the god Thot represented as an ape, have also been
found. The temple was rebuilt in the Hellenistic period and became
a rectangular (11m x 17m) monument, inside which a second collection
of clay figurines was found. Among these are figurines of the goddess
Demeter, of musicians and of various animals, like the horse and
the bull. The site continued to be occupied in the Roman period
as attested by coins bearing the name of Tyre and dating to the
second century A.D. (1122 and 115 A.D.).
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South Lebanon:
