Kafr Zabad ( ar, كفر زبد) is a village in

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 the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

. It is also the site of two ancient Roman antae temples.

History

The village is very old; probably was founded during early Roman centuries. It is located at nearly 986 meters of altitude. It is famous because of its Roman temples. George F. Taylor classed the temples in a group of

Temples of the Beqaa Valley The Temples of the Beqaa Valley are a number of shrines and Roman temples that are dispersed around the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. The most important and famous are those in Roman Heliopolis. A few temples are built on former buildings of the Phoeni ...

. They are situated above the village on a hill. The temples had almost been completely destroyed when Taylor visited the site. He noted only foundations and some parts of the

cella A cella (from Latin for small chamber) or naos (from the Greek ναός, "temple") is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple in classical antiquity. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings, of a hermit's or ...

walls and

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

of the upper temple had survived. Remains of

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 a ...

s, carved stones and door frames littered the hill. The lower temple had only one section of upright door frame, again with blocks of pediment, architrave and

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 ...

lying scattered about the landscape of the

Anti-Lebanon The Anti-Lebanon Mountains ( ar, جبال لبنان الشرقية, Jibāl Lubnān ash-Sharqiyyah, Eastern Mountains of Lebanon; Lebanese Arabic: , , "Eastern Mountains") are a southwest–northeast-trending mountain range that forms most of ...

. There is a relief carved into a rock approximately east of the temple with the figure of a Roman

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes ...

(probably Venus). The figure is barely recognisable and had been mostly destroyed with only the lower half remaining distinguishable: indeed to the northeast of the lower temple there it is a rock-cut relief of Venus, called "Bint El Malik" or the king's daughter by the local people. There it is also a Roman sanctuary probably dedicated to the god Mercury; the area also has ancient quarries and shaft tombs from the Roman period. In 1838,

Eli Smith Eli Smith (born September 13, 1801, in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (Whitney) Smith, and died January 11, 1857, in Beirut, Lebanon) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from And ...

noted ''Kefr Zebad'' as a Druse and

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

village in the

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 ...

area.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p
145
/ref>

Geography

The town is situated 58 km (36 mi) to the east of the Lebanese capital

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. It is possible to drive a car from the village to Beirut in 75 minutes, depending on traffic and speed.

Climate

Kafr Zabad is located in the East of Lebanon. Located in the Beqaa Valley it is normal to have a dry weather. It rarely rains in Kafr Zabad in the summer rather very warm. Winters, however, are rather cold, and are also characterized by heavy snows. The Litani river (which is one of the most polluted rivers in the middle east) flows just around the outskirts of the town.

References

Bibliography

External links