Aaiha (or Aiha) () is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, 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 ...

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

, and temporary

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

situated in the

Rashaya District Rashaya District () 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 minority. Many people of Rachaya have left for larger cities in Leb ...

and south of the

Beqaa Governorate Beqaa ( ') is a governorate in Lebanon and one of the eight districts of the country. It is located in the eastern part of Lebanon and borders with Syria. The capital of the district is the city of Zahlé. Districts Since 2014, Beqaa Governorate ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. It is located in an intermontane basin near

Mount Hermon Mount Hermon ( / ALA-LC: ('Mountain of the Sheikh', ), , ) is a mountain, mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the Lebanon–Syria border, border between Syria and Lebanon a ...

and the

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

border, approximately halfway between

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

and

Kfar Qouq Kfar Qouq (and variations of spelling) is a village in Lebanon, situated in the Rashaya District and south of the Beqaa Governorate. It is located in an intermontane basin near Mount Hermon near the Syrian border, approximately halfway between Jez ...

. The village sits c. above sea level and the small population is predominantly

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

. Wild

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

s ''

Triticum boeoticum Einkorn wheat (from German ''Einkorn'', literally "single grain") can refer to either a wild species of wheat (''Triticum'') or a domesticated form of wheat. The wild form is ''T. boeoticum'' (syn. ''T. m.'' subsp. ''boeoticum''), and the domes ...

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

goats The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the famil ...

. There is a nearby

tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () 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 '' immurement'', alth ...

of a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

ruins thought to be a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

citadel A citadel is the most 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. ...

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 A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

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 centre of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest Chord (geometry), chord of the circle. Both definitions a ...

and enclosed by

mountains A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...

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 o ...

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 w ...

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 A ...

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 Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

. The villagers suggest the underground stream leads to and is the original source and ''fountain'' of the Hasbani river, the most northern source of the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

. This is notably similar to that described in the tale of ''"The Chaff of Phiala"'' in ''

The Jewish War ''The Jewish War'' is a work of Jewish history written by Josephus, a first-century Roman-Jewish historian. It has been described by the biblical historian Steve Mason as "perhaps the most influential non-biblical text of Western history". ...

'' by

Flavius Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a History of the Jews in the Roman Empire, Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing ''The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Judaea ...

. Josephus tells a geographically inaccurate tale of a

cavern Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance underground (such as rock sh ...

in an ancient place called Phiala or Phiale (modern

Birkat Ram Lake Ram ( and Birkat el-Ram. ) is a crater lake ( maar) in the northeastern Golan Heights near the village of Mas'ade and Mount Hermon. History Josephus referred to it as Lake Phiala. The sources of the lake are rain water and an undergrou ...

), discovered to be the initial source of the Jordan by

Philip the Tetrarch Philip the Tetrarch (), sometimes called Herod Philip II by modern writers (see #Naming convention, "Naming convention") was the son of Herod the Great and his fifth wife, Cleopatra of Jerusalem. As a Tetrarchy (Judea), Tetrarch, he ruled over ...

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 Haura ...

. He threw

chaff Chaff (; ) is dry, scale-like plant material such as the protective seed casings of cereal grains, the scale-like parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff cannot be digested by humans, but it may be fed to livestock, ploughed into soil ...

into Phiala and found it was carried by the waters to ''Panium'' (modern

Banias Banias (; ; Judeo-Aramaic, Medieval Hebrew: , etc.; ), also spelled Banyas, is a site in the Golan Heights near a natural spring, once associated with the Greek god Pan. It had been inhabited for 2,000 years, until its Syrian population fle ...

), 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 or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

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. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

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

Roman temple

Edward Robinson and

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

visited in 1852 and noted a massive

Roman temple Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in culture of ancient Rome, Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Architecture of ancient Rome, Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete ...

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 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 era, ...

. 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 L ...

and spoke of it having been constructed of stones that were ''"tolerably large, well hewn, but not bevelled"''. Fragments of

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

, 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" (''The Apprentice''), a 2011 television episode *"Rubbish", a song by Carter the Unstoppable Sex M ...

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

also later visited and documented the area as part of an

archaeological survey In archaeology, survey or field survey is a type of field research by which archaeologists (often Landscape archaeology, landscape archaeologists) search for archaeological sites and collect information about the location, distribution and organi ...

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 serves a decorative purpose. There are various types of walls, including border barriers between countries, brick wal ...

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 classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

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 is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

with an entrance opening facing east and a sideways bearing of 78°30'. The base of the temples was described as

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

and was positioned on top of an socle. There were four courses of stones layered above a high,

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

stylobate In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate () 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 leveling course that fl ...

, measuring , , and . Houses and a

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

were built over the temple. Robinson also found a Corinthian

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

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

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

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 and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar 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. Dif ...

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

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