Hosn Niha is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

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 ...

composed of some temples and buildings in the outskirts of the village of Niha, that hold significant archaeological value.

History

Hosh Niha was created between the first and third century AD, during the first centuries of the

Roman empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

's existence.

Anthropologists An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

(like Yasmine) have predicted that the temples found at this site were previously used by a cult during the

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...

period, though only limited work has been done on the site. The Roman settlement was eventually completely abandoned after the

Arab conquest The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests (), also known as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the founder of Islam. He established the first Islamic state in Medina, Arabia that expanded rapidly un ...

of the region. Much of the area and its buildings were destroyed during the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

. The site stretches across land near the

Bekaa Valley The Beqaa Valley (, ; Bekaa, Biqâ, Becaa) is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon and its most important farming region. Industry, especially the country's agricultural industry, also flourishes in Beqaa. The region broadly corresponds to th ...

for a total of 550 meters at an altitude of 1350 meters. The site is noteworthy for the numerous tombs scattered around the area. Anthropologists have discovered that there were different types of tombs, which they assumed were assigned to people based on their ranking within the culture. Due to the recent growing interest in the site, more studies have been conducted. During the

2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon On 1 October 2024, Israel invaded Southern Lebanon, marking the sixth Israeli–Lebanese conflict, Israeli invasion of Lebanon since 1978. The invasion took place after nearly 12 months of Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present), conflict ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

gave enhanced protection to 34 cultural sites in Lebanon including the temple at Hosn Niha to safeguard it from

damage Damage is any change in a thing, often a physical object, that degrades it away from its initial state. It can broadly be defined as "changes introduced into a system that adversely affect its current or future performance".Farrar, C.R., Sohn, H., ...

Discovery

The earliest written mentions of the site come from European travelers in the nineteenth century. Recently, Jean Yasmine conducted detailed studies of the sanctuary and its architecture. Yasmine's work focused on mapping the sanctuary's layout. He was able to identify residences found within the village. He used different methods of research, such as surveying at landscape and built-up archaeology levels. His findings included the discovery of different tombs placed across the site and the important building nicknamed " La Grande Residence." This building contained many valuable pottery artifacts that helped archaeologists develop further research and hypotheses about the culture's values and beliefs.

Geography

The Hosn Niha site was discovered near the

Beqaa Valley The Beqaa Valley (, ; Bekaa, Biqâ, Becaa) is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon and its most important farming region. Industry, especially the country's agricultural industry, also flourishes in Beqaa. The region broadly corresponds to th ...

and lies at the base of a steep slope. It is surrounded by large agricultural fields that are still being used today. Archaeologists discovered a sanctuary with two temples inside, with one being larger than the other. This sanctuary also contains a church and several cult rooms. A smaller sanctuary and two big quarries were also found further down nearing the village of Niha. An ancient trade route was discovered along the valley, running from the east towards Niha. Another archaeological site was found nearby.

Location

Because of the site's location and steep slope, the village is sheltered while still receiving a large amount of sunlight. A river that flows through the village had once provided the inhabitants with a sufficient water source. Anthropologists also discovered a spring not too far from the sanctuary. The site has some drawbacks. Since it is located at such a high altitude, the winters can be very harsh. Winters reach extremely low temperatures and produce large snowfalls. The snow may have had a particularly large impact on the village's survival. Newson & Young claim that the heavy snow could block trade routes coming from and going to the sanctuary complex.

Findings

The village of Niha is home to four Roman temples that were constructed between the 1st and 3rd century AD (when the area was called Pagus Augustus). The lower two temples are located on the edge of the village, and the other two temples are about 2 km above the village in what is known as "Hosn Niha". Located at an elevation of 1,400 m (4,600 ft) with difficult road access, these two temples of Hosn Niha have not been restored. Architectural evidence at the site indicates that it was transformed into a small fort during the

medieval period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

(hence the name of Hosn, that means fort in Arab language). *''Upper Great Temple''. Built on a podium facing toward the east, the "Upper Great Temple" of Hosn Niha is composed of a portico with four columns, leading to a cella, and then to an elevated adytum. Today, the temple site is reasonably well preserved – most of its walls are intact, but its columns are no longer standing. The altar in front of the temple was destroyed by a Byzantine Basilica that was built over it. The

Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

has three naves and a semi-circular

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

to its east end. The lower portions of the Basilica walls remain visible today. *''Lower Small Temple''. The second "Lower Small Temple" opens to the south and was accessed through a stairway that is almost completely destroyed today. The stairway leads to a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

with two columns, and then to a small

cella In Classical architecture, a or naos () is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings: of a hermit's or monk's cell, and (since the 17th century) of a biological cell ...

with a small niche at its end, which used to hold the statue of the god or goddess. Many ancient findings are reported in the area, from pottery to tombs & sanctuaries.

Pottery

Disturbances created by outside forces brought sherds of pottery to the surface. These pieces of pottery were an incredible find because they gave archaeologists better insight about the people who once inhabited the area. After studying the fragments, Yasmine was able to determine that they were created in the first century AD and held extreme value to the culture, until the site was abandoned in the seventh century AD. These pottery sherds helped archaeologists -according to Yasmine- strengthen their assumptions about their existence during the Greco-Roman era.

Tombs

Before becoming an active archaeological site, the tombs had been targeted by looters for items of value that were buried with their owners. In addition to a nearby cemetery, excavators found a variety of tombs, including communal tombs, individual cast tombs, and stone

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek σάρξ ' meaning "flesh", and φ� ...

Rock-cut tombs A rock-cut tomb is a burial chamber that is cut into an existing, naturally occurring rock formation, so a type of rock-cut architecture. They are usually cut into a cliff or sloping rock face, but may go downward in fairly flat ground. It was a ...

were the more common type found at the site. Many of these tombs had entryways built into them. These entryways were usually created for people to place their offerings to the dead.

Cist In archeology, a cist (; also kist ; ultimately from ; cognate to ) or cist grave is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper shaft tomb. Examples occur ac ...

tombs usually include multiple tombs arranged closely together. This layout led excavators to believe that these people were buried near each other because they were within the same family.

Sanctuaries

The double sanctuary was also an important structure on the site. This sanctuary consisted of several

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm), also known as a hall of residence, a residence hall (often abbreviated to halls), or a hostel, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential qu ...

rooms and rooms that were specifically meant for sacrifices and rituals. Many of the altars found within these rooms have symbols of bulls' heads and garlands, which supports the hypothesis that this culture practiced sacrificial rituals. Larger rooms with larger altars are speculated Newson, Young, Paul, Ruth (2011). "Archaeological assessment of the site at Hosn Niha Preliminary report 2011-2012": 257–280 – via Anth 3SS instructor to be a "male god's" room. The smaller attached room was usually assigned to the god's companion or partner, according to Newson.