Apheca
Encyclopedia
Apheca, known today in Arabic
as Afqa or Afka, "source", is located in the mountains of Lebanon
, about 20 kilometres from the ancient city of Jebail, which still stands just east of the town of Qartaba
. It is the site of one of the finest waterfalls in the mountains of the Middle East
, which feeds into the Adonis River (known today as Abraham River
or Nahr Ibrahim in Arabic), and forms the intermittent Lake Yammouneh, with which it is also associated by legend.
In Greek mythology
Adonis
was born and died at the foot of the falls in Apheca. The ruins of the celebrated temple of Aphrodite Aphakitis
— the Aphrodite particular to this site— are located there. Sir Richard Francis Burton and Sir James Frazer further attribute the temple at Apheca to the honouring of Astarte
or Ishtar
(Ashtaroth).
A great and ancient temple is located here, where ritual prostitution
was practicised until the time of Constantine. Sir James Frazer attributes its construction to the legendary forebear of King Cinyras, who was said to have founded a sanctuary for Aphrodite (i.e. Astarte). Reconstructed on grander scale in Hellenistic times, then destroyed by the Emperor Constantine the Great in the fourth century, it was partially rebuilt by the later fourth-century emperor, Julian the Apostate
. The site was finally abandoned during the reign of Theodosius I
. Massive hewn blocks and a fine column of Syenite
granite still mark the site, on a terrace facing the source of the river. The remains of a Roman
aqueduct that carried the waters of the River Adonis to the ancient inhabitants of Jebail are also located here.
Edward Robinson and Eli Smith camped at the site in 1852, merely remarking on its "shapeless ruins" and the difficulty of transport of two massive columns of Syenite granite. . Sir James Frazer describes the village at Apheca in his 1922 book, The Golden Bough as
in the Ugaritic texts
of ca. 1200 BCE, described as "at the source[s] of the [two] rivers, in the midst of the fountains of the [two] deeps", with this famous source of the river Adonis and Yammûneh, an intermittent lake on the other side of the mountain, which Pope asserted was closely associated with it in legend.
. According to the myth, Cinyras
, the King of Cyprus seduced his daughter Myrrha
who was transformed into a tree that bears her name (see:Myrrh
). After several months, the tree split open and the child Adonis emerged. He was reared by Aphrodite, who became enamored of him, causing her lover Ares
to grow jealous. Ares sent a vicious boar to kill Adonis. At the pool at the foot of the falls of Apheca, Adonis bled to death from a deep wound in the groin. Aphrodite despaired at his death and out of pity for her the gods allowed Adonis to ascend from Hades
for a short period each year.
Each spring at Apheca, the melting snows flood the river, bringing a reddish mud into the stream from the steep mountain slopes. The red stain can be seen feeding into the river and far out to the Mediterranean Sea
. Legend held this to be the blood of Adonis, renewed each year, at the time of his death. Lucian of Samosata, a Syria
n by birth, describes how a local man of Byblos
debunked the legend:
Lucian also describes practices by the Byblians of worship which some told him centered not on Adonis, but Osiris
. He writes that he mastered the secret rites of Adonis at the temple at Apheca and that the locals there asserted that the legend about Adonis was true and occurred in their country. Lucian describes the rites, annually performed, that involved the beating of breasts and wailing, and the "perform[ing] [of] their secret ritual amid signs of mourning through the whole countryside. When they have finished their mourning and wailing, they sacrifice in the first place to Adonis, as to one who has departed this life: after this they allege that he is alive again, and exhibit his effigy to the sky."
Also in the fertile valley surrounding the river, millions of scarlet anemones bloom. Known as Adonis' flowers, according to legend, they spring from his blood, spilled as he lay dying beneath the trees at Apheca, and return each year in remembrance.
In his "Terminal Essay" in the 1885 translation of The Arabian Nights, Sir Richard Burton describes the temple at Apheca as a place of pilgrimage for the Metawali sect of Shia Islam
, where vows are addressed to the Sayyidat al-Kabirah or "the Great Lady". In the early 20th century, strips of white cloth were still being attached to the ancient fig that shadows the source, and Metawalis and Christians alike were bringing the sick to be cured at "the abode of Sa’īdat Afkā, i.e. a feminine spirit of the same name as the place. Her husband built this temple. He was killed by a wild beast, and she searched among the mountains until she found his mangled body. This is evidently a modified view of the ancient myth of Astarte and Adonis," Lewis Bayles Paton reported in 1919, with a photograph of the cloth-hung fig tree. W. F. Albright noted this survival of this "female saint" as the most remarkable among "very few direct reflections of paganism in the names and legends of modern weli
s."
with the Beqaa valley
was one of five bridges destroyed by Israel
i jets.
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
as Afqa or Afka, "source", is located in the mountains of Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, about 20 kilometres from the ancient city of Jebail, which still stands just east of the town of Qartaba
Qartaba
Qartaba is a village in Lebanon, located 54 kilometres from Beirut on the mountains above Byblos at an altitude of 1250 metres. A picturesque town with a large church square and well-built houses, Qartaba is surrounded by olive groves, mulberry orchards, and vineyards...
. It is the site of one of the finest waterfalls in the mountains of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, which feeds into the Adonis River (known today as Abraham River
Abraham River
The Abraham River also known as Adonis River, is a small river in the Mount Lebanon Governorate in Lebanon. It passes through the town of Nahr Ibrahim before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. The city that takes its name from the river . Today, it is one of the tourist attractions in Lebanon...
or Nahr Ibrahim in Arabic), and forms the intermittent Lake Yammouneh, with which it is also associated by legend.
In Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
Adonis
Adonis
Adonis , in Greek mythology, the god of beauty and desire, is a figure with Northwest Semitic antecedents, where he is a central figure in various mystery religions. The Greek , Adōnis is a variation of the Semitic word Adonai, "lord", which is also one of the names used to refer to God in the Old...
was born and died at the foot of the falls in Apheca. The ruins of the celebrated temple of Aphrodite Aphakitis
Aphrodite
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.Her Roman equivalent is the goddess .Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia....
— the Aphrodite particular to this site— are located there. Sir Richard Francis Burton and Sir James Frazer further attribute the temple at Apheca to the honouring of Astarte
Astarte
Astarte is the Greek name of a goddess known throughout the Eastern Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to Classical times...
or Ishtar
Ishtar
Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. She is the counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte.-Characteristics:...
(Ashtaroth).
Physical description
The waterfall at Apheca is the source for the River Adonis and is located on a 600 feet (182.9 m) bluff that forms an immense natural amphitheatre. The river emerges from a large limestone cave in the cliff wall which stores and channels water from the melted snow of the mountains before releasing it into springs and streams below. At Apheca, several watery threads flow from the cave to form numerous cataracts, a scene of great beauty.A great and ancient temple is located here, where ritual prostitution
Religious prostitution
Sacred prostitution, temple prostitution, or religious prostitution is a practice of worship that includes hieros gamos or sacred marriage performed as a fertility rite and part of sacred sexual ritual.-Ancient Near East:...
was practicised until the time of Constantine. Sir James Frazer attributes its construction to the legendary forebear of King Cinyras, who was said to have founded a sanctuary for Aphrodite (i.e. Astarte). Reconstructed on grander scale in Hellenistic times, then destroyed by the Emperor Constantine the Great in the fourth century, it was partially rebuilt by the later fourth-century emperor, Julian the Apostate
Julian the Apostate
Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....
. The site was finally abandoned during the reign of Theodosius I
Theodosius I
Theodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
. Massive hewn blocks and a fine column of Syenite
Syenite
Syenite is a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock of the same general composition as granite but with the quartz either absent or present in relatively small amounts Syenite is a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock of the same general composition as granite but with the quartz either absent or...
granite still mark the site, on a terrace facing the source of the river. The remains of a Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
aqueduct that carried the waters of the River Adonis to the ancient inhabitants of Jebail are also located here.
Edward Robinson and Eli Smith camped at the site in 1852, merely remarking on its "shapeless ruins" and the difficulty of transport of two massive columns of Syenite granite. . Sir James Frazer describes the village at Apheca in his 1922 book, The Golden Bough as
"...the miserable village which still bears the name of Afka at the head of the wild, romantic, wooded gorge of the Adonis. The hamlet stands among groves of noble walnut-trees on the brink of the lyn. A little way off the river rushes from a cavern at the foot of a mighty amphitheatre of towering cliffs to plunge in a series of cascades into the awful depths of the glen. The deeper it descends, the ranker and denser grows the vegetation, which, sprouting from the crannies and fissures of the rocks, spreads a green veil over the roaring or murmuring stream in the tremendous chasm below. There is something delicious, almost intoxicating, in the freshness of these tumbling waters, in the sweetness and purity of the mountain air, in the vivid green of the vegetation.
Possible early sanctuary of El
Marvin H. Pope (Yale University) identified the home of ElEl (god)
is a Northwest Semitic word meaning "deity", cognate to Akkadian and then to Hebrew : Eli and Arabic )....
in the Ugaritic texts
Ugarit
Ugarit was an ancient port city in the eastern Mediterranean at the Ras Shamra headland near Latakia, Syria. It is located near Minet el-Beida in northern Syria. It is some seven miles north of Laodicea ad Mare and approximately fifty miles east of Cyprus...
of ca. 1200 BCE, described as "at the source[s] of the [two] rivers, in the midst of the fountains of the [two] deeps", with this famous source of the river Adonis and Yammûneh, an intermittent lake on the other side of the mountain, which Pope asserted was closely associated with it in legend.
Mythology
In classical Greek mythology, Apheca is associated with the cult of Aphrodite and AdonisAdonis
Adonis , in Greek mythology, the god of beauty and desire, is a figure with Northwest Semitic antecedents, where he is a central figure in various mystery religions. The Greek , Adōnis is a variation of the Semitic word Adonai, "lord", which is also one of the names used to refer to God in the Old...
. According to the myth, Cinyras
Cinyras
In Greek mythology, Cinyras was a king of Cyprus. Accounts vary significantly as to his genealogy and provide a variety of stories concerning him; in many sources, however, he is associated with the cult of Aphrodite on Cyprus, and Adonis, a consort of Aphrodite, is mentioned as his son.In the...
, the King of Cyprus seduced his daughter Myrrha
Myrrha
Myrrha , also known as Smyrna , is the mother of Adonis in Greek mythology. She was transformed into a myrrh tree after having had intercourse with her father and gave birth to Adonis as a tree...
who was transformed into a tree that bears her name (see:Myrrh
Myrrh
Myrrh is the aromatic oleoresin of a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora, which grow in dry, stony soil. An oleoresin is a natural blend of an essential oil and a resin. Myrrh resin is a natural gum....
). After several months, the tree split open and the child Adonis emerged. He was reared by Aphrodite, who became enamored of him, causing her lover Ares
Ares
Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and...
to grow jealous. Ares sent a vicious boar to kill Adonis. At the pool at the foot of the falls of Apheca, Adonis bled to death from a deep wound in the groin. Aphrodite despaired at his death and out of pity for her the gods allowed Adonis to ascend from Hades
Hades
Hades , Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs , meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek god of the underworld. The genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative came to designate the abode of the dead.In Greek mythology, Hades...
for a short period each year.
Each spring at Apheca, the melting snows flood the river, bringing a reddish mud into the stream from the steep mountain slopes. The red stain can be seen feeding into the river and far out to the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. Legend held this to be the blood of Adonis, renewed each year, at the time of his death. Lucian of Samosata, a Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n by birth, describes how a local man of Byblos
Byblos
Byblos is the Greek name of the Phoenician city Gebal . It is a Mediterranean city in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of present-day Lebanon under the current Arabic name of Jubayl and was also referred to as Gibelet during the Crusades...
debunked the legend:
"'This river, my friend and guest, passes through the Libanus: now this Libanus abounds in red earth. The violent winds which blow regularly on those days bring down into the river a quantity of earth resembling vermilion. It is this earth that turns the river to red. And thus the change in the river's colour is due, not to blood as they affirm, but to the nature of the soil.' This was the story of the man of ByblosByblosByblos is the Greek name of the Phoenician city Gebal . It is a Mediterranean city in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of present-day Lebanon under the current Arabic name of Jubayl and was also referred to as Gibelet during the Crusades...
. But even assuming that he spoke the truth, yet there certainly seems to me something supernatural in the regular coincidence of the wind and the colouring of the river."
Lucian also describes practices by the Byblians of worship which some told him centered not on Adonis, but Osiris
Osiris
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
. He writes that he mastered the secret rites of Adonis at the temple at Apheca and that the locals there asserted that the legend about Adonis was true and occurred in their country. Lucian describes the rites, annually performed, that involved the beating of breasts and wailing, and the "perform[ing] [of] their secret ritual amid signs of mourning through the whole countryside. When they have finished their mourning and wailing, they sacrifice in the first place to Adonis, as to one who has departed this life: after this they allege that he is alive again, and exhibit his effigy to the sky."
Also in the fertile valley surrounding the river, millions of scarlet anemones bloom. Known as Adonis' flowers, according to legend, they spring from his blood, spilled as he lay dying beneath the trees at Apheca, and return each year in remembrance.
In his "Terminal Essay" in the 1885 translation of The Arabian Nights, Sir Richard Burton describes the temple at Apheca as a place of pilgrimage for the Metawali sect of Shia Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, where vows are addressed to the Sayyidat al-Kabirah or "the Great Lady". In the early 20th century, strips of white cloth were still being attached to the ancient fig that shadows the source, and Metawalis and Christians alike were bringing the sick to be cured at "the abode of Sa’īdat Afkā, i.e. a feminine spirit of the same name as the place. Her husband built this temple. He was killed by a wild beast, and she searched among the mountains until she found his mangled body. This is evidently a modified view of the ancient myth of Astarte and Adonis," Lewis Bayles Paton reported in 1919, with a photograph of the cloth-hung fig tree. W. F. Albright noted this survival of this "female saint" as the most remarkable among "very few direct reflections of paganism in the names and legends of modern weli
Wali
Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...
s."
2006 Lebanon War
During the 2006 Lebanon War, the Afqa bridge that connects Mount LebanonMount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon , as a geographic designation, is a Lebanese mountain range, averaging above 2,200 meters in height and receiving a substantial amount of precipitation, including snow, which averages around four meters deep. It extends across the whole country along about , parallel to the...
with the Beqaa valley
Beqaa Valley
The Beqaa Valley is a fertile valley in east Lebanon. For the Romans, the Beqaa Valley was a major agricultural source, and today it remains Lebanon’s most important farming region...
was one of five bridges destroyed by Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i jets.