Surviving examples of temples and sanctuaries from the Phoenician heartland are few. For a roofed temple, the most instructive remains have been uncovered not in Phoenicia itself but at Kition, an important Phoenician city on Cyprus. This temple, used from ca. 850 to 400 BC, consisted of a courtyard in front of the building proper, a central unroofed nave with a covered portico to each side, and, at the far end, the sacred center of the temple, a small, narrow, rectangular room placed perpendicular to the nave. Two upright ashlar blocks flanked its entrance.
The Phoenician heartland has revealed two major examples of another favored type of religious architecture, the extra-urban sanctuary complex, at Amrit and at Sidon. Neither dates from the early, great period; both were developed in the Persian period, from the sixth century BC on. Amrit, ancient Marathus, was a town dependent on Arwad not far to the north. The sanctuary, perhaps dedicated to Eshmun, a god of healing popular in the Persian and Hellenistic period, consisted of a large open court, 47m X 39m, cut out of the rock on the gentle slope of a hill (Figure 11.6). Three sides were lined with a portico, held up with square pillars; the fourth side
Figure 11.6 Central shrine, Sanctuary at Amrit
Opened to the river valley to the north of the hill. Water from the river was diverted into the court, filling it with water, creating a kind of sacred lake. In the center, on a base of natural rock, ca. 5m X 5m, a squared shrine was built. With an opening toward the north, this shrine surely contained an image, or symbol, of the divinity.
The Sanctuary of Eshmun to the north-east of Sidon has a more complicated plan and building history. As at Amrit, the focal building of the sanctuary lay on a platform built (and later rebuilt) into the south hillside of this river valley. The landscape is more accidented, however, with a steeper, higher slope and dramatic mountains in the distance. Also recalling Amrit, the role of water was important, with streams channeled into the area. In addition to Eshmun, the healing god, Astarte was worshipped here. Her chapel, placed at the foot of the platform, contained a stone throne flanked by sphinxes. The empty throne was a frequently used symbol of this goddess, an aniconic (non-figural) tradition seen in other types of religious monuments used by the Phoenicians, such as the asherah, a small votive column that symbolized trees in a sacred grove, and the betyl, literally “home of the god,” a small stone pillar up to 1.5m high that indicated the presence of a god.
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