 Well, I'd like to take the opportunity to welcome our internet audience I'm Aaron Brody. I'm the director of the Bade Museum One of the co-sponsors of this lecture series that you tuned into. I'm also professor of Bible and archaeology at my home institution Pacific School of Religion I'd like to welcome you all to our To our first installment of a series of talks on topics related to women and gender in the Phoenician homeland and Diaspora But before we get to our introductions I'd like to begin by acknowledging that Berkeley, California, which is where I'm Physically present is on the territory of the Hu Chin the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo Ohlone We respect the land and the people who have steward it through many generations and we honor their elders and ancestors We're living in a moment that warrants deep reflection on our past and present as A museum dedicated to advancing the knowledge of archaeology and history of the ancient Levant The Bade Museum welcomes scholarly discussions across boundaries of nationality religion and gender identity In many global contexts equal access to health care education Fair wages and human rights is contested on the basis of sex gender and other identity categories and gender identities In an effort to bring light to these timely issues to serve a broader Public audience online and to connect to local communities that it serves The museum is taking action to become a more inclusive welcoming and equitable institution that practices the philosophy of radical inclusion adopted by its parent institution Pacific School of Religion One of these steps is the continued creation of public programming Through this series this lecture series We hope to highlight new and established scholars who are engaging with risky and marginalized topics concerning women gender performance and sexuality in the past We invite you to participate in these programs so that together we can listen Learn and work towards creating a more inclusive museum community Thank you for joining us today And now it's my distinct pleasure to introduce Dr. Helen Dixon From one of our co-sponsoring institutions the Department of History at East Carolina University who will introduce today's speakers Helen the floor is yours Thank you so much. It's a supreme pleasure to be here today and to sort of facilitate this year-long discussion of women and gender in the Phoenician and Punec world A subject we all agree is understudied and in a way in its infancy So today with us we have some light in the dark With some Khalil is a Lebanese archaeologist and researcher with more than 20 years experience in archaeological research And in directing archaeological projects in Lebanon the Middle East and Europe He specialized in archaeological excavation survey the study of rural settlements and historical topography In 2009 he earned his PhD in archaeology from the University of Paris one pantheon sarbonne And began lecturing at the department of arts and archaeology at the lebanese university In 2012 he was promoted to associate professor and in 2021 he was elected chair of the archaeology department in CIDA for two years and that position ended recently congratulations Throughout his career. He has been engaged in multiple collaborative and interdisciplinary projects that involve lebanese and european researchers in the fields of underwater archaeology genetic studies geo archaeology chemical analysis of ceramics geophysics and three-dimensional scans of archaeological monuments and features These collaborations have resulted in numerous publications in high-impact factor journals as well as applied work in the field Wasama is fully dedicated to teaching research and endorsing archaeological and historical sites And making use of his skills and knowledge to promote arts and culture for academic governmental and non-governmental organizations And we're so grateful to have him here with us He's also brought a collaborator with him an up-and-coming scholar Karim Fedlala is a research assistant at the american university of Beirut working on the Levant-Karta project In collaboration with the spatial studies lab at rice university in houston, texas And I was looking at the website for Levant-Karta recently today And I recommend everybody check this out. It's a digital history project that traces the urban evolution of Beirut at diverse levant.org Really incredible work with primary sources and mapping fantastic He's also an archaeology student at the lebanese university And a member of the Kharayib Adlun archaeological project co-directed by Dr. Ida Ogiano and Dr. Wissam Khalil Thank you both for being with us today. We're so excited to hear your research We'll be speaking on the cult of Ashtart Astarte within the coastal grottos of Adlun and Kharayib in southern Lebanon Wissam, you're welcome to share your screen Alan, thank you so much. Aaron, thank you so much for the presentation I would be sharing my screen, but first I would like to apologize because A few days ago, I lost my voice And now it's coming back again. So it's going to be painful for you to hear me This way So Can you see my screen now? It's perfect. Yes, and your voice sounds great and strong. Okay. Thank you so much So first, I would like to thank everyone behind the organization of this This series of lectures I would also like to thank My colleagues and the at the lebanese university. I would like to thank as well My peers my colleagues my friends of the Kharayib Adlun archaeological projects more specifically Dr. Ida Ogiano I would like to thank the Kharayib municipality who was is always supporting us And a specific and Thank to the under first foundation who funded Our course of the research this that was very valuable for us and very important And I would like to thank the directory general of antiquities for their support always supporting us in our research the permits Without the DGA we couldn't have done this I So I would be talking about the cult as the title The cult of astarty within the coast of lebrotos of adlun and kharayib in southern lebanon. And I would like to say that This presentation is the result of the work of the Kharayib Adlun archaeological project So this is a primary Some of the primary results resulting from our Investigation so this this mission started in 2013 and it kept on growing from excavating the sanctuary to Discovering a new site excavating it to do the pedestrian survey the underwater the coastal survey so With outstanding results. So what I would be presenting here with kareem is the result of a teamwork the results of our research in And kharayib and adlun under the kharayib adlun archaeological project So about the title itself And to be more correct This is more about the feminine cult within the coastal grottoes of adlun and kharayib in southern lebanon As for the use of the cult of astarte in the title This is in reference to the interpretation of the wasta grotto by muter in the late 1940s as being dedicated to the cult of astarte So here at this stage of of our research We will raise more questions Rather than giving answers So I will be first talking about the geographical context later the archaeological context on the feminine cult on the coast between side and entire and then a deep dive into the Archaeology or the monuments in adlun Later in kharayib and here kareem will take the floor and will present the uh the wasta chambers before concluding So for those who are acquainted with uh with the lebanese geography This is Very simple for those who are not I'm the area of this research is located within this the highlighted in red So we have the city of tyre in the south And the city of bayrut in the north and Mortared with south syden. So we're in between syden And uh and tyre in southern lebanon on this uh google image We uh We point toward adlun and kharayib Uh zoom on kharayib and adlun And you can see in the north syden entire as well Also a more uh zoomed. So here The area targeted in the research in adlun and kharayib. So basically kharayib and adlun are two localities uh big localities stretching over kilometers between syden The only two localities between syden and tyre of course But here we have These localities overlook the mediterranean. So we're talking about the shore the plains and the hills So we have a diversity of paysage and a diversity of monuments and occupation and along stratigraphy a chronology. I'm sorry So this other satellite image from 2001 shows the area targeted by the pedestrian survey in 2017 and 2018 and some of which continued later on and uh, so the highlighted in red is the uh pedestrian Surveying The survey targeted areas in the interland in kharayib and excavation in the interland as well So this large area this coastal area and this hilly area provided numerous features and monuments Ranging from the prestory to uh to the modern era I will start with adlun. So here we have a satellite image showing the port of The modern port of adlun and the older port of adlun the the ancient port of adlun We don't have this city of adlun. So we have the modern city of adlun, but we don't have the antique city of adlun And we don't exactly it was until we did the survey and we assume That it is exactly behind I mean, it's obvious It is exactly behind the port because this is the place where we have the concentration of reused ashlars stones some cisterns and a lot of ceramics and uh, I don't know if you can see it clearly on the escarpment of uh On the escarpment of adlun we have a succession of Dots different typology of dots. We're talking here about tombs grottoes and natural cavities So these photos shows a specimen Of what we can see in adlun mainly the big and well-known Uh, grotto called magharet umlebses meaning the grotto of the breast Also known as abrizum ofen Then we have more than 60 rock cut tombs shafts and chambers mainly dating from the romans and leitromans and early christian era and also we have a lot of Aquarius as well From north to south in adlun The important uh monuments we have this particular study from ramesses the second And we have near it the grotto And the succession of tombs And another grotto To to the to the south the magharta al alehi and another grotto magharta dalaj And this why pointing toward this specific Curious monument the stele so the stele itself will indicate as The presence of the stele would indicate that this monument was Detonated or predestinated to be seen. So we are in a context of a place that Where we have an activity and the tombs reflect the the The typology of the tombs the richness of the tomb We're talking about more than 60 tombs discovered so far. We're talking about The necropolis of a rich city as well. So this is broadly We also have installations coastal installation related to fishing related to Aquarius along the coast as well And if we go to the south to the litany river we have an incredible discovery Through the work of the Which is the Coastal it's a town located on the mouth of the litany and this town The chronology of the town dates ranges from the iron age two to iron age Three and to the Hellenistic period So here we have we have a photo of the section of the small town And a close up to that section where we can see The remains of a wall those ushlers with massage We go to the north we have the tal abouzei, which is a maritime town a town on the shore Unfortunately we're going to explore it because it's a private property, but the ceramics around it Indicates that it wasn't used during the iron age three because we have the Persian on for us and here to the To the to the north we have another water stream with a Roman era bridge Here we have the bronze a site of Teljem jeem and the sanctuary the island age and Hellenistic period sanctuary of Norm and Madhav site as well so Moving toward the madhav site So we have a reconstruction of of of the sanctuary dating from the Hellenistic period and so the madhav site It's a sanctuary. It's a rural sanctuary located on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean. It's an isolated site It's not part of an urban tissue It's not a temple within a city within a village. It's a rural temple And to its north we have another major site Which they don't do not corroborate from the same period the the site to the north is Teljem jeem It's a tell agricultural tell covering all the bronze age periods and the period attested the iron age Mainly iron age two three and Hellenistic periods. I'm not very well attested on the site so we don't know exactly If the site was directly linked to a settlement or it was simply a rural a rural Temple so the site the sanctuary was discovered first by Maurice Shehab in 1946 excavated by Maurice Shehab later the excavation resumed with Lebanese archaeologist Abraham Kaoukabani in 1969 Ended by the Lebanese civil war and then the archaeology mission of Harai resumed the work in 2013 I have to point here that The work of Iida Ojano on the figurines of the site started in 2009 Here I would I'm showing the roman Bridge located on the Abul Aswan water stream Why pointing and showing a roman bridge while we'll be talking about a Hellenistic use A grotto used in the Hellenistic mainly in the Hellenistic period Because this monument indicates that this area this coastal area was in use and officialized by the roman empire Knowing that this roman road most probably took place or officialized an earlier Pathway and this earlier pathway I mean we can assume that it exists and Most probably existed because we have a succession of sites and monuments and the grottoes themselves and Indicating that this area was in use as a communication passage So in two words also about the feminine cult in this in this specific area between the southern coast of of lebanon site in entire so we know Text from the second half of the second millennium From ugarit or from egypt once mentioning atira Second time from egypt mentioning astarte. So we know that the cult existed during the second Millennium, but it is until the eighth century BC that the We have inscription testing the worship of of astarte. It becomes more frequent and Moving through time during the fifth century. It becomes more and more frequent and here we have the inscription Especially inside it and we have the inscription of king tabneed that he qualified himself as the priest of astarte and we have of course the inscriptions and the monuments in the temple of ash moon and we have the Previously we have the ash moon azar sarcophagus inscription mentioning astarte as one so Uh and here talking about the specific area whether this area was under The domination of siden or was under the domination of tyre In fact, it depends but assuming that we are north of the litany We most probably are under the sphere of the political sphere of siden And at some period it is tired. I'm not going to go into this debate here Uh, but just to point about the use the the cult of uh the feminine dt astarte in here and also we have uh the cult of Uh of tyneed and we have an inscription from syripta dating to the seventh century Mentioning dedication to tyneed and ash start linking both Divinities and why mentioning this because we don't know exactly the nature of the cult In in the grotto whether we are talking here exactly About a cult dedicated to tyneed or to astarte But that would be revealed hopefully and in the future so, uh About this So And I mentioned this indicates that this Uh This monument was predestined to be seen and to impress So to be seen and to impress and here it was The study itself is located on a narrow strip It's located on the escarpment overlooking the city of adul and probably where People would pass so the monument itself was designated to be seen Um pointing here we have An important passage international passage international international pathway between north and in taos. Unfortunately, this stele was Destroyed and it took us a while to find its place during the survey and this is what is left of it. Unfortunately today The necropolis of adul as I mentioned also indicates that we are in a rich context the city of adul was a rich city at least during the The Roman and during the Byzantine period and but just to know that through the the survey We have ceramics related to the iron age as well so Here we go to and we talk about the important stuff related to the cult. We're talking about the grotto So we have this important grotto mahar at le pizzez Uh an impressive big grotto. Unfortunately today, it's closed So this grotto was first explored by geologist And the grotto Revealed during the excavation of the early 20th century and the study of the material that took place later on lower paleolithic associated To the asherian and yabrudian cultures and we have the middle paleolithic As well as associated to the mysterious and to the valois culture. So The grotto itself was in use and Unfortunately the excavation of This historic excavation Destroyed the historical levels So we'll know if while excavating they found ceramics or objects or Alters related to some kind of cult and here like in the future. We have to go to the archive of Of of zuma fan Who excavated hoping to see some Something leading to the cult but why saying that it's not because of the day Assuming the grotto was was used For a feminine cult because we have and I will show later on We have the graffitis of the a triangular pubic female A pubic and here it cannot be seen Except as related to a feminine cult and while surveying we found additional ones because the ones located on the exterior facade of the grottoes were seen and Attested by mutair, but like we we tried through some light and we found Additional ones hence it was used for For the feminine cult and also we have an opening on top of the On top of the grotto that opens in here and Collecting some stories from local people So when it rains women would go and bath in the grotto with that water Seeking fertility or well-being or health. We don't know exactly and we don't know I mean since the memory of that cult since the memory of that Practice is still alive in Adlon and we assume that maybe Maybe until the 20th century. We don't know if the excavation during the early 20th century I mean stopped that practice. I mean this is to be investigated furthermore and uh speaking about the uh The magarit emlebses. So we have another one. I mean in fact, we're not talking about just like one there is several grottoes in laminin labeled with the press with the emlebses and one of which is a grotto located in The central On one of the hills and as you can see in these photos, unfortunately, I couldn't find my photos I found these from an article published in 2019 So as you can see that maybe this was probably an epigeon with You know with with localities and then later on was used as of course as What i'm saying here, maybe it wasn't a natural grotto. It was a tomb and later on The function changed and it become an important christian shrine dedicated specifically to magarit Seydid lebsid al ajaybe ibe meaning the grotto of uh our lady Of the breast the miraculous lady of the breast so This is another example. I'm gonna stop here and moving South and adlon we have another grotto with an interesting name called the grotto of al ali the high grotto And here we have Uh Of facades the grotto itself is still very rough from the inside We have work facades ceramics around and we have niches several niches that we cannot see here in the photos But we have also cavities Cut into the rock to to fix uh wooden beams For some use and seeing the place how tiny it is and how not comfortable We cannot assume that it was used as a storage or anything else So we assume that it's related to the uh to some cult and probably a feminine cult Moving south way as well. We have another grotto called the grotto of the of the stairs magarita daraj and here we have We have the stairs that goes from the grotto and continues toward the the mediterranean and it's now covered by the coastal plate And seeing the grotto with a human scale The as well the grotto cannot be used for anything. It cannot be used as a storage. It cannot be used as a shelter And why are they still leading to a grotto and carving these stairs like another 100 meters to work To work for what reason so we assume also the importance of this tiny cavity cannot be seen as storage or shelter can be seen as a continuity of a cult in in this adlun escarpment So we move south towards kharaim and Here we're talking about the sacred rock god chambers In al-wasta. So al-wasta is an area or a neighborhood In within kharaim. So these chambers were first Were first mentioned by travelers such as jule de berthou in 1843 so he describes shortly The grottoes then an astronaut would provide a very important documentation of of the chambers later on the valley and we have the The important article written by the jesuit muter and bolio And later on of course we have the publications it was Mainly by koreen bonnet publishing about the the inscriptions. So The site itself is known But it It was lost So All those until They managed to see and look locate the the site And it see according to muter during the second world war that that the the chambers were damaged Why because we had fights on the titani and the zahrani between the the forces of vishy and the forces of the allies and So he mentions that the uh So he managed to take photos And I came in the grottoes in 19 Before 1939 It was damaged and then nobody mentions nobody visits The chambers and it took us a while to figure out where they were It took us three years to find the place of uh of those chambers. Why because After 1948 and the nakba. So a palestinian camp. I don't know when exactly Was built so the palestinian refugee camp was built on top of the rock and around it And the grottoes were were used since as the storage But they were lost and then even while going toward the uh The palestinian camp we it took us a little bit to identify where so it was like covered with with With soil and litter and and spoil And The Chamber Wasn't the chamber that is the most interesting one with all the public trying bills and with all the Agree and finition inscriptions So the chambers we open unfortunately wasn't much Because also the travelers and they talk about the hedonistic jiu And we went to some of those One of the ipo jium that we managed to see and in fact, it's a Mention something about I put jium with a with a circular With an arched entrance That you couldn't see assuming that also we have around those chambers succession of of tombs that would be interesting To to uncover So the chamber we we we opened we we have we tried to explore it and we have seen Sediments and soil and garbage But we noticed that uh, we have We don't have inscriptions, but we have on all but if Trust me on this if you go inside you see an infinity of crosses all over the the facades at testing of course some christian cult That that is past the use of Of the other chamber the nearby chamber by the way the second chamber was is like few meters to the south of this one so Here i would leave the floor to to kareem who would be describing the The the chamber of al-wasta the the most important chamber in al-wasta before later on taking the The floor and concluding kareem the floor is yours Thank you isham Good morning, everyone or good evening In this part of the lecture, uh, we're gonna give a brief description about al-wasta grotto Some of its inscriptions symbolism and briefly discussed the nature of the cult Uh, the significant location of the wasa grotto of the main coastal roads stretching between siden and tire Its proximity to the coast and to the villages of kareem and abloon Combined with the loaded inscriptions and cultic symbolism it offers Makes this coastal sanctuary a noteworthy point to understand the religious rites practiced in the hinterland Between siden and tire During the hellenistic period Uh So as mentioned previously, uh, we can clearly distinguish two chambers in this curious rock formation Uh, the northern chamber containing carved crosses as mentioned by wisan And the second chamber known as magharet al-firij, uh, or the grotto of astarte This rectangular chamber is accessed by a three-step Stircase, it's nine meters wide six meters deep three meters in height with a rock up bench that borders its eastern wall Um, uh, the chamber has suffered some unfortunate disturbances as bolioa mohtab Noted a deep excavation Along the bench, uh, thus prohibiting the access to the eastern wall Uh, additionally also concrete was added to the floor during the second world war Um, thus, uh, raising the ground Uh, the eastern wall as we can see Contains three niches The central one probably accommodated a divine image Oracle statue, uh, protected by metal grill As evidenced by the two round holes dug at the bottom Of the niche with bronze or iron rods Remains that supported the metal grill Uh, below an offering table between two columns Awaits donations or offerings from visitors Um in the left niche from the inside stands out the sort of an art study Under which the principle greek inscription that we're gonna discuss shortly is engraved Uh in a rectangular frame Uh, the southern wall, uh, is as well narrowed by the rock cut bench And features two, uh, niches one rectangular and one semicircular As we can see both, uh Walls carrying inscriptions graffiti and of course, uh The pubic triangle symbols With regards to the northern wall it separates the two chambers of the grotto This wall was maybe built by christians to hide the pagan symbols Present in the second chamber The most, uh, comprehensive inscription in the wasta grotto Which provides us with the significant information Is the one located on the eastern wall Under the left niche, uh, the votive inscription which is made up of Four lines the longest being 32 centimeters Inside a triangle, uh, a rectangular frame Is incised in greek characters and the language The inscription is dedicated to aphrodite and a king whose name is partly erased Uh, renon mentions that the central part was scraped away proving hard to read Uh, but he was able to identify that a king, uh, is addressed based on the title basilea Um, and after reading the visible letter p thus proposing that ptolemy is the mentioned king Um, we can note that many have reviewed this text. We can mention bollio and mutir recognition of ptolemy four philopeter reasoning that dedication represents as a last gesture of loyalty from a Phoenician to the ptolemy king He also hinted that arsinoe three, uh, the wife of ptolemy the fourth could be aphrodite represented in the dedication Uh, with regards to the ptolemy queen's, uh, self-association representation of being connected to the divine world and associations with goddesses As in the case of arsinoe and aphrodite We can, uh We can as well mention friedrick zucker's study, which points towards ptolemy one Soter As the mentioned king in the dedication, uh, which places, uh, the dating of the inscription to the beginning of the third century bc um Now given that the inscription dates to the ptolemy era in Phoenicia It's uh plausible to assume that it was carved in the third century bc And the use of the cave during the Hellenistic period can be verified Uh, zucker highlights the intriguing nature, uh, of this work, which comes from a Phoenician writer The milkas or a milkas Um, yet was intended for Greek readers Uh, an undeniable Observation in which koreen bonnet explored further um The milkas uh or milkas that the voter is a Phoenician name transcribed to greek carrying the theophoric element malik Uh, additionally zucker suggests analogies for the epithet Epikos demonstrating the adjectives eastern connotations For the second inscription This graffiti was found on the southern wall inside a frame, uh, along with a triangle Uh, the inscription was reproduced by Renault, but unfortunately was missing after the war But stampings were taken for it What makes this inscription particularly interesting is the fact that it's in the Phoenician language But written using Greek characters and alphabets Hoffman proposed a partial reading of this inscription Mainly for the first four lines Stating that the text is transcribed from Phoenician Uh, he read the habit the need son of abed sapone supposing two theophoric names For the dedicator and his father Separated by the greek word weos, uh, which means son Then we read the the term nisaot, which uh, also is transcribed from Phoenician and saad meaning Offered or I offered Um This interpretation of the inscription was as well, uh, addressed by morris schneiser As he recognizes that this dedication is inscribed by abed the need son of abed sapone Who presents an offering to the divinity palm Which in a theological context present us with an unknown divinity and makes the wasta grotto as the only mention of a deity named palm Uh, as for bolio, uh, a mater palm is interpreted as an occurrence, uh, or occasion Um, that is to say as a sign of a completed visit Uh, this inscription is ensized Inside a triangle and offers a hybrid aspect Um, and it's of two proper downs. Uh, the top in greek reads that erenne, which means peace Uh, while the bottom in Phoenician reads, uh, baal aka's or baal aka Uh, the last character is doubtful. Uh, a theophoric name that bears the name of baal Uh Also on the eastern wall, uh, and under the central niche, which probably contained the cult image Uh, we find a graffiti Drone in a rectangular frame and accompanied By the triangle inside the frame Renault rightly noted that it's hard to read and distinguish the Original characters from the features that we need and may be added later to disfigure the inscription Uh, after proposing the reading liraput, uh, Renault quickly rejected it Uh, questioning if the inscription is sematic in the first place and also questions, uh, if the characters are egyptian hieroglyphs traced with a very bad tool We know that astarte is frequently, uh, referred to by the alphabet liraput, which means lady But this reading remains extremely speculative Also, it's worth to note that other inscriptions in the wasta gropto appear to hold egyptian And probably even sapphic names We can mention the name pisaios a late form of Inscribed above a triangle symbol The linguistic origin of the name is egyptian Also another example of an incised name In a triangle here next to the country and the door The line of characters is Very likely engraved which according to renault could be Napathian As muter judges to be closer to sapphic The grotto represents Also a world of symbolism relating to a feminine fertility called they dedicated to a goddess worship But before addressing the images that accompany the text and the pubic triangle We should quickly reference Renault who considers the wasta grotto as a prostitution cave And the remainder of a primitive state where men like animals sought caves for mating Also adding that the triangle sign at the entrance of the caves serve to justify the destination Of course this interpretation Is primitive in its nature The recurring pubic iconography represented by the triangle which is carved all over the walls of the wasta grotto In addition to other symbols that accompany it like the palm trees the palm fronds And the dove is an attested symbolic language relating and referring to different fertility cults As documented in the bronze age and iron age Near east In which they frequently employ these iconographic features Um the extensive use of the pubic triangle is to reiterate fertility beyond its sexual nature And this is made possible by the presence of palm trees palm fronds And votive inscriptions near the triangles and sometimes even inside it Which serve as an affirmation of the goddess's fertility fertility related qualities Um hence the link between the triangle and the different symbols present in the grotto are Not erotic connotations and should be interpreted as being linked to fertility Rather than prostitution When discussing the nature of the cult and escape sanctuary It's essential to note that caves dedicated to a goddess worship or a feminine cult Is not only limited to the levante Cave sanctuaries have been identified All over the Mediterranean Although these sacred places in the levante maybe have received less attention when compared with caves in the punic mediterranean Caves are liminal spaces And often linked To the divine world They are perceived as a threshold between the The familiar and the unknown between the mortal world and the divine Regarding the wasa grotto and in light of Of the evidence presented to us we can support The hypotheses the hypotheses of a feminine cult based on the greek inscription mentioning aphrodite Which in the finnish in context is associated with astarte There is ample evidence of the two deities ancient integration Thus, um It makes perfect sense that this would be the case in wasta Within a cave adorned with symbols related to fertility However in the dedication, what part does a ptolemy play in relation to astarte? um Now as evidence throughout finicia The practice of uniting the king with the With the goddess for astarte is well attested in the epigraphic record And it's through this human divine connection That the goddess bestows her protection blessings Upon the king even his powers and abilities Thus the connection between aphrodite and ptolemy in the dedication Would be the sort of continuation of finician heritage, but with Hellenistic features Another element about the wasta cape inscription merits mention Along with the greek dedication travelers placed inscriptions with finician Uh Greek egyptian and probably sapphic names Which means that this sanctuary was visited even by people outside of finicia We know that geographic Landscapes in addition to maritime and inland Roots have often played a significant role in the position of sanctuaries or temples And the location of the wasta grotto along the main road between siden and tire Uh, which is an area of passage in addition to its proximity to the coast To the leetani river and the possible port site until kasmir at the mouth of the leetani river Which was identified by the kharaib archaeological project Dating to the persian and Hellenistic period Combined with the nature of the fertility cult practice symbolized by the cubic triangle That offered unifying ideas and shared beliefs Thus attracting diverse people and giving the grotto its international character Back to you isan Thank you kere So we still have a few minutes So the link between adul grotto and the wasta grotto So first I would like you to if you can see clearly this Right picture where we can see a cubic triangle car this is on the this exterior facade and we also have On the interior we cannot see them very clearly As others and this would remind us also what we've seen in the wasta chamber as well And here it's a close-up photo of this triangle, a cubic triangle in Atloun, Maghreb and Rebzez And we have this sign that we don't know if But there's a similarity where or like It might be A graffiti or a carving of a boat It's not exactly the same as the one we can see on the big bachelors of In kitchen and in cypress But we have The line and we have parallel lines So just want to say that Investigating this this grotto would give us would provide us more Proves on a feminine cult within this one and maybe other inscriptions as well hoping So this is to link this This grotto to what we've seen in What we've seen in wasta so although the grotto of atloun As reported does not offer any inscriptions There is there are evident parallel or similarity that are coming between these two sacred spaces So first of all If we gonna consider that each grotto is a sanctuary both sanctuaries Or if we get at as well the ally and the Daraj These sanctuaries are situated along the same coastal road that's inside the entire and are both accessible from the road Even if we don't know exactly where the road Used to pass During the iron age To or age one to Persian period Hellenistic period, but we know we can easily trace it During the roman period and the Ottoman period, but it's not gonna differ Whether it's gonna be on the coast or whether it's gonna be on the first steps of the escarpment Meaning that these grottos are easily accessible to travelers and people passing by Both caves contain carved triangle on their walls as the wasta grotto offers more information With the presence of inscription the same symbolism interpretation can be interchanged between wasta and adlum that offers less information and data Making it possible to hypothesize that the adlum grotto is also linked to a feminine cult If we assume that the wasta grotto Was dedicated to astarte Also, we can consider that The adlum grotto can be also linked to astarte as well To add and related also to this to the symbol if the symbol is Is accurate and not just that knowing that the grottos are located all over the mediterranean and close by to the adlum port and to the Kasmiyye port as well The possible seafaring aspect of adlum grotto as attested by the boat sign Next to the pubic triangle incised at the entrance Which may as well give the grotto an international character with people visiting the sanctuary from overseas and outside of finicia So, uh I think it's more judicious to talk about a feminine cult within the coastal grottos of the area stretching from Adlum to Khraib or from Sidon to To uh To the Nidani even if you might assume that Where more In their interpretation of the nature of the cult Attributing it to astarte. Maybe it's true. Maybe it's not maybe it's tiny It may be both maybe there's a third party here and not to any other form of the deity So I think this assumption is plausible so as I mentioned because Astartigate importance in the territories of Sidon since the Iron Age too Also the sites found in the west agroto are linked to the cult of astarte so Here And this is a classic furthering the investigation within uh the coastal uh strip between adlum and khraib And specifically exploring those grotto and chambers Is a must we need to record all the Graffiti's we need to record all the triangles. We need to look for Inscriptions, we need to use some technology. We need to 3d These these monuments in order to push the research And also we need to trench we need to to collect all the ceramics and we need to We need to do some test trenches to set the chronology. So What here I'm calling for a future investigation in this area And I will end up my presentation here. So if you have any questions, please Thank you so much. This is incredible. Thank you for bringing this important series of sites to our attention and Thank you for persevering in what has been challenging research from the very beginning three years to relocate these so-called known sites grotto sites so we have eight questions in our Chat here. I want to encourage anyone watching live on youtube to type your questions into the live stream Chat and those will get sent to us to address the speakers But we'll start with a couple of sort of technical questions to clarify some of this evidence for those that's new to Um, first, could you compare the odd loon steely of ramesses the second to similar ones known from nahril kalb? Why do you think odd loon was selected as a site of public inscription by this for an empire? So, yes, we can compare because we we're here in the same context and if we take the geography of both nahril kalb and uh odd loon And if we add to those other type of study the one near the becau in kabilis and the other ones In the wide ebrisa as well. All those were put in a place near strategic passages, so nahril kalb was a strategic passage odd loon is a strategic passage as well and also Personally, I don't don't want to go into Territories or marking territories, but it's a proof of power And this monument was predestinated to be seen So this should be put into the the global context of iron age marking power territories And impressing as well and sending messages Thank you uh second technical question for clarifying on the grotto of the stairs Is it clear that the stairs have been fully preserved up to the entrance or is it possible That the original depth of the grotto or the cave has been, you know, damaged cut collapsed Are we sure that's how it was sort of originally when the stairs were carved? So the stairs based up At the grotto, but inside the we haven't seen yet traces of carving Maybe I I mean as you see in the photos. There is some sediment that needs to be That needs to be cleared before revealing the the intersection and and maybe other Carvings or cavities. I don't know if Karim you have something to add here as you've been part of the the survey of the of the Darajin crypto Regarding the stairs as you said they stop at the entrance of the grotto But this needs further investigation as the sediment needs to be cleaned and needs to We need to document it more, but Definitely the stairs stop at the entrance of the grotto. Wow. Thank you Okay, so now we're most mostly very interested in these the cultic activity that you've described at these grotto So the next few questions will maybe the rest of our time will spend on that Uh The third question I have for you here is can you say more about the reuse of ancient grottos and tombs like the grotto of the breast? For ritual practice, and is it exclusively for feminine cults or fertility? Or can you talk about some of the other cave grottos that have been reused over time? so If we're talking about Specifically here the two grottos the one The two labeled as the breast grottos the one in Beirut and the one in Adloun Both are related to feminine cult in even modern ones. So even for example the one in uh in Beirut Is frequently visited by women seeking milk health A pregnancy and the story I mean the only story connected which is like very impressive But taking those two examples for example Beirut, I'm sure that the Beirut grotto was a tomb and then It became a sacred grotto So we don't know if that cult survived for millenia or maybe because every population up to the 19th early 20th century Kept some types of cult of the grotto as we have the cults of the tree of the sacred tree giving the example of the sacred tree the fig tree Podium of of of temple from the roman period population there is the population there is like most probably since the 1314th century Uh basically communities shia communities, but within that podium we have the statue of the uh of of the of the lady of the virgin lady with uh and the fig tree with all you know like the uh tissues and You know like personal objects feminine so We have We have that in cyprus. We have it in Lebanon. We have it. Um, maybe in Sicily as well So we have the sacred tree and we have the sacred grotto. So we cannot say that these grotto continuously kept on Maybe every new population or like every new generation. Maybe sometimes there was some gap, maybe a continuation. I don't know but uh Some some in some periods uh They reinvent the cult because you know bringing the cult from It's newer version. So I'm not going to talk about continuity because we can see this traveling But there's always this archetype the grotto and the sacred tree related to feminine cult Yeah, thank you. This speaks to a question. We got from a youtube audience member Tyane Taylor who asked uh, I wonder when these cults disappeared and why you're sort of speaking to that perennial reactivation of the ideas in these cults, but could you Speak a little more to the second part of this question Are there any possible factors and the disappearance of these cults? And could you recommend further reading on the topic of the fertility cult in in the Lebanese context? um The disappearance of the cult I would say Clearly and loudly since the 50s onward it was catastrophic. So we lost a lot of traditions not talking only about specifically The cult and the grottoes on the tree, but I remember that back in the 90s Visiting some of those monuments. I've seen more objects related to offerings between brackets Then what I'm seeing today. So modernism is killing those, you know, like also religion is killing those as well because people are Are more informed or more either more informed about the specificities of their religion or more distant to religion on other practices So Unfortunately, the last 20 years were devastating in this regard. So I'm afraid that these traditions will Will vanish Yeah, about reading uh on this topic of the coastal If somebody can recommend something for me to read as well because Well, I was thinking of um, it's not exactly what I'm sure this person wants to read about like finnish and Hellenistic roman fertility cult But I'm thinking of also the work of norfara haddad at the Lebanese university. Yeah, maybe her stuff You want to say something about? Yeah, I don't know if it goes very deep into like the first millennium But yeah, it is Yeah, she she writes uh, almost ethnographic work on these interreligious cave shrines How people learn from each other across religious lines what to do in order to enact rituals for their personal problems Only some of which are fertility related, I suppose, but Maybe that's what you mean by it's not exactly perfect for the recommendation. Yeah I wrote a paper on the The same good tree and the temple of the Gulf of Adonis and Astarte in the Valley of Notre Dame, but unfortunately not yet published Okay, we all go and follow with some on academia.edu. We will learn more shortly excellent Our next question from youtube, um, is there a maritime cultural significance to the grotto's can you say more about that connection? Yeah, Erin's seconding the motion Uh, can you say more about that really intriguing connection between the potential ship graffiti the simplified form that you notice there And other maritime significance yeah So I hope because we're a little bit septic about this symbol it can be uh, both it's the only one It looks like a boat, but that's exactly like a boat and sometimes, you know, like it might be a modern thing I don't know. So in general as kareem highlighted in The punyx sphere we have Uh, proofs of that link between the grotto's and the marine activity talking about sissini Grotta Regina talking about other different, uh grotto's I can't find the name of specific grotto in tunisia so, uh We have something for me. We're more documented on the western Mediterranean than on the east on the eastern Mediterranean I cannot say more I mean I know, I wish we could say more. Yeah Yeah, I think uh Also talking about uh showing those, uh, carved boats From kition on the body In a votive context It's perfect And I see erin wants to jump in on this question, please Just to follow a question that's related which is Are any of these grotto's visible from the sea? So if you're on a ship, can you see the the openings clearly from the sea? bingo, yes The big grotto the umlub says can be seen easily the other two might not be seen but god knows what type of activity happened there or even the The wasta chamber whether like there was some fire we don't know but like, you know if if you're a good mariner you can easily spot because we're talking about escarpment and the uh How come that everybody all those travelers managed to see? the the wasta chambers because That was invited to me by kareem the description of this whitish layer Of of limestone the big white stone. So everybody we go to the big whites. We're walking around Walking along the coastal road. We see The uh whitish We go there and this is where people would find we couldn't find it because it was no longer that whitish because it was all the buildings it was So yes, they can be seen if The mariner is but like at least the big one is easily distinguished from far Great question. Thanks for that. That's helpful um Okay, next we want to talk a little about the crosses in the first chamber of the wasta grottos Have you done any comparative iconography yet? Do you know why the forked ends at the end of the cross bars? Any parallels? What do you make of that? Well, uh, I think maybe the closest parallel can be Parallel not in terms of the shape because I haven't been To the documentation there it's From tire we have some graffitis on one of the chapels on the spina of the hyperdrome But we need more exact to examine so the question here whether like through the typology of crosses we can We can say something if specifically these crosses can say that we are crosses Typical from the early christian era. Are we talking about the 11th 12th century 14th century stuff? I don't know and that was something of our agenda and the research uh I mean the research there halted a little bit because of of the covered as a start And now we will resume this so I have no answer here if somebody among the crowd Is more familiar with this? With this type of cross that look a little bit modern by the way Not so archaic. I don't know Yeah, maybe this is a good time to skip to a question about dating the pubic triangle symbols I'm sure it's a nightmare How how long do you have a sense that the grottoes were in use for can you be confident about? At least a minimum date range. How are how are you dating all of these inscriptions and use periods? So I will uh, I will answer and then uh Karim would would follow so first according to the The greek and finishing it goes under the we're are we're in the context of the hedonistic period here so I don't think we have something that can be earlier And also speaking about the context of the feminine cult I haven't mentioned that the sanctuary in karayin Excavated by shehab kankabani and the by in aujano as well Kankabani and karayin They it's they think that this is most probably a temple dedicated to astarte And through the study of the figurine either aujano demonstrated that the feminine cult was practiced there So we don't know exactly it's a feminine. There's a feminine presence. There's feminine cult but that is attested Mainly in the hedonistic period so we still have a dating problem So through the hedonistic period yes earlier in the grottoes, we don't know and unfortunately a fight cleaning of Of the surroundings and revealing the archaeological remains And what with this lack of the ceramics can can give? A clear idea about the use and the disuse of these places Those crosses are pretty sure it's related in a way or another to Or they could be a reaction to What we can see the other one Karim do you have something to add? Yeah, exactly as The chamber we still didn't access it We located the chamber. So we haven't seen the triangles up close but what What we gathered from the information presented to us, especially that There's no attestation has to ceramic finds or dating in any way possible and it's Nearly impossible to date the carved features in the rock yet The the interesting observation would be to see if the inscriptions and the triangles would superimpose But maybe trying to date triangles But of course cleaning of the area Would maybe reveal an earlier use Since in terms of the cubic triangle, this is well attested in the bronze age and iron age The naked guzzles and the incised cubic triangle But of course, this is still This needs study Yeah, absolutely Well, if I had funding, I would give it to you. Please keep working on this. I hope I hope that you have the the time the access the funding and the Will to keep working on this really difficult material that is so fascinating as evidenced by all of these questions I'm sorry for those we didn't get to Thank you so much for coming and attending. I'll turn it over to Aaron Brody again to close us out Great. Well, I'd also like to echo My thanks and the museum's thanks to Both of our scholars today. What a a wonderful presentation and Helen. Thank you for framing it so nicely And I'd just like to let our audience know of course that this series does continue and we're looking forward to our January presentation By dr. Becky martin of boston university So the specifics are she'll be speaking on january 25th also a thursday also at Not it'll be live at 9 30 a.m west coast time so california time And her paper will be Entitled gender representation on antherpoid coffins If you're interested in Some more specifics about the lecture series that goes all the way into may Please just google it and find the bade museums website. You can get future information there But I'd just like to conclude by thanking Both of our scholars from today And also our audience for Coming to this event and learning. So thank you very much and look forward to seeing you all in january Thank you, Aaron. Thank you everybody