Afqa grotto

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Afqa grotto and remains of the temple
At the waterfall of the Adonis (around 1860)

The Afqa Grotto , also Apheca Grotto , is a cave and at the same time the source of the Adonis River in the Lebanon Mountains . The limestone cave is located about six kilometers from Byblos in a rock wall several hundred meters high. After the snow has melted, the young Adonis River plunges out of the cave over several natural rock steps, about 180 m deep.

According to legend, the Greco-Phoenician fertility god Adonis died at this point. This legend arose because the river turns red once a year. This can be traced back to the ferrous rock that is washed up from the ground in the rainy season.

There is evidence of a temple dedicated to Ištar very close to the cave entrance. It was destroyed under Emperor Constantine in the course of Christianization, but rebuilt in the 4th century under his nephew Flavius ​​Julian . You can still see some stone blocks.

literature

  • James George Frazer : The Golden Branch . The secret of the beliefs and customs of the peoples (= Rororo. 55483, Rowohlt's Encyclopedia ). Translated from the English by Helen von Bauer. 5th edition. Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-55483-6 , Chapter XXX: Adonis in Syria.
  • Jacques Mislin, The Sacred ”Places; Pilgrimage to Jerusalem , 1854, p.319f

Web links

Coordinates: 34 ° 3 ′ 57.3 "  N , 35 ° 53 ′ 26.5"  E