Hosn Suleiman (), a Syrian village, is found on the slope of the Al-Nabi Saleh mountain () at an altitude 950 m, at a distance of 20 km from

Duraykish Duraykish (, also transliterated ''Dreikiche'' or ''Dreykish'') is a city in western Syria, in the Tartus Governorate, at a distance of about east of Tartus. The name 'Dreikiche' derives from Latin and means "three caves". The town is famous for ...

and 56 km from

Tartous Tartus ( / ALA-LC: ''Ṭarṭūs''; known in the County of Tripoli as Tortosa and also transliterated from French Tartous) is a major port city on the Mediterranean coast of Syria. It is the second largest port city in Syria (after Latakia), an ...

History

Hosn Suleiman was known as Baetocaece which was famous for its slave market. The town had a temple of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

() and it is hinted from the naming that it bears semitic roots derived from Zeus's name. Also known as

Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...

(Bel) temple, ascribed to the god Baal. Still there is a village nearby called Betalous (). Baal was called also Baalous, and a Roman emperor existed as

Elagabalus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, 204 – 13 March 222), better known by his posthumous nicknames Elagabalus ( ) and Heliogabalus ( ), was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short r ...

. The current naming is derived from King

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

(). The location was in close relation with

Arwad Arwad (; ), the classical antiquity, classical Aradus, is a town in Syria on an eponymous List of islands of Syria, island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative center of the Arwad nahiyah, Subdistrict (''nahiyah''), of which it is ...

kingdom (Arados) in the times of

Phoenicians Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syrian coast. They developed a maritime civi ...

, and was a source of wood for the shipping industry. It was an important site during the Hellenic period, when

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

was part of the

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great ...

, and during the

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 ...

period. The 2nd century BC saw further building on the site on a monumental scale; the temple is built of some of the largest stone blocks in the region besides those at

Baalbek Baalbek (; ; ) 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 1998, the city had a population of 82,608. Most of the population consists of S ...

. The temple was socially significant to its nearby area, as it owned large parts of the surrounding countryside. Upon the Christianisation of the Roman empire, the temple became a pilgrimage site, and Syro-Phoenician cult practices continued on the site. Visitors can see the huge stones of the temple, with inscriptions in

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 ...

and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. Many of these inscriptions detail grants of privileges to the temple, first from Seleucus, then reiterated by

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, and affirmed by the now illegible inscription from Valerian and

Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire. He ...

. A letter from King Antiochus to his governor Euphemus provides insight into the role of the temple, saying:

I decided to grant him
eus Eus ( in both French and Catalan) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the Occitania region in Southern France. Located just northeast of Prades, it had a population of 380 in 2021. It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages d ...
for all times… the village of Baetocaece, which previously Demetrius, the son of Demetrius, son of Mnasaeus owned in Tourgona in the satrapy of Apamea… so that the revenues it yields may be used for the monthly sacrifices and other expenses that concern the support of the sanctuary by the priest, who was appointed by the god, as is customary; monthly festivals shall be held, immune from tax, on every 15th and 30th of the month, the sanctuary shall be granted ''asylia'', and no forces may be stationed in the village… If anyone acts against the above, he will be guilty of impiety.

Gallery

File:HosnSuleiman5.jpg, Hosn Suleiman File:Hosn Sulayman3.JPG, Panoramic view File:Hosn Sulayman2.JPG, Ruins File:Hosn Sulayman1.JPG, General view File:Ruinasdeltemplo.jpg, Part of a temple

References

Bibliography

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External links

Manar al-Athar photo archive
{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Tartus Governorate Roman sites in Syria