Use of Water in Phoenician Sanctuariesanes 38 (2001) 139-159139

USE OF WATER IN PHOENICIAN SANCTUARIESANES 38 (2001) 139-159139 USE OF WATER IN PHOENICIAN SANCTUARIES Elvira M. C. GROENEWOUD Archaeological Research and Consultancy P. O. Box 41018 9701 CA Groningen THE NETHERLANDS Fax: +31 50 368 7199 E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Since many Phoenician sanctuaries are supplied with one or more natural and/or artificial systems for the provision of water, use of water seems to have played an essential role in their cults and rituals. Several sanctuaries were located near springs or other natural sources of water. And although some water installations may have served to refresh visitors, water did have a special ritual function and water installations in these sanctuaries served special ritual purposes. While not all water installations can definitely be linked with ritual practice, some may be considered as typical fixtures associated with religious worship of certain Phoeni- cian deities. * The aim of this paper is to provide an impression of the importance and use of water within Phoenician religious life and its cults. As literary evidence is lacking on this matter, other sources of information, notably archaeological, have been studied. Accordingly, attention is focused on the location of certain Phoenician sanctuaries near different sources of fresh water. The remains of different types of water installations in and around their sacred complexes have also been investigated. Water is essential in daily life. For humankind water is manifestly sym- bolic. Running water or ‘living water' is believed universally to embody * The author would like to express her sincere thanks to both the Netherlands Organiza- tion for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Stichting Fonds Doctor Catharine van Tussenbroek. Their generous contributions have enabled the author both to study sanctuaries in Lebanon and Syria and to give a presentation -of which this article is the result -at the V Congresso Internazionale di Studi Fenici e Punici held at Marsala (Sicily) from 2 to 8 October 2000. 140 E. M. C. GROENEWOUD strong magic: the sanctity of a perennial spring or stream is recognised by all non-complex societies.1 Such water seems to live, for it has both motion and a voice; it gives life when, all around, fields are parched with heat. This is never so evident as in the Syro-Palestinian coastal area where people cher- ish the never-failing spring or river during the long dry season, which is a normal part of every year. Nevertheless, a sacred place becomes sacred only when people have be- come aware of its special function; in the case of water this often concerns the creation of the world. The existence of space that is not profane is gen- erally not regarded as a human choice , but is determined by a manifesta- tion of the presence — or action — of a deity.2 In the religion of Phoenician cities in the Syro-Palestinian coastal area and their colonies in the Central Mediterranean area, this revelation of the presence or action of a deity often manifested itself in or around springs and streams.3 The sanctuaries built nearby indicate that some springs became monumentalised and venerated. The various types of water installations within the different kinds of Phoenician sanctuaries, both in the Levant and in the Mediterranean, indicate that water was used a great deal. While some water installations such as cisterns and canals may have had a more practical than holy character, many water installations served special ritual purposes. We find that there are among others basins, baths, channels, cisterns, drainage pipes, and pools. Most such installations are usually outside buildings, but occasionally they are incorporated directly into a building, often for ritual purposes. Although their actual function may not always be clear, it is mainly their monumental and non-portable appearance that highlights the importance of water usage within Phoenician sanctuaries. Springs or other Natural Sources of Water Monumental Phoenician spring sanctuaries can be found both inside urban centres and in the country. A spring sanctuary in an urban environ- ment is the Early Bronze Age I Baalat sanctuary at Byblos. As its remains are attributed to the 4th–early 3rd millennium BC, it is so far the earliest example of an ‘actual’ Canaanite spring sanctuary. The Breitraum cella and the spring are both positioned within an enclosure or temenos. This same spring might have been the source of the later sacred pool or “Lac sacré∞∞” 1 Ninck 1921. 2 Edlund 1987, pp. 30-34; Eliade 1961, p. 11; Lipinski 1995, p. 422. 3 Lipinski 1995, p. 423. USE OF WATER IN PHOENICIAN SANCTUARIES 141 between the Early Bronze Age II Baalat temple -replacing the Early Bronze Age I Baalat sanctuary- and the Early Bronze Age Reshef temple, right in the centre of urban Byblos (Fig. 1). At first the spring was used for sacred purposes only, but after the Early Bronze Age I Baalat temple was replaced and a sacred pool was created nearby, the spring was engineered as a public water supply.4 Spring sanctuaries in the country are found, for instance, at Amrit, Bostan esh-Sheikh and Afqa. Unlike Byblos, these springs were located outside their related sanctuaries. At Amrit we find two sacred areas both close to a spring. A small sanctuary consisting primarily of two naos placed on a socle was located near the Ain el-Hayat or ‘Spring of the Snakes.’ Its water fed the little marsh in which the two socles were placed. To the north, the Ma'abed at Amrit seemed to have no less than two sources in its vicinity. The water of the Naba el-Tell, located on the north flank of the mound bordering the Ma'abed, streams out in the Nahr Amrit. The Ma'abed, how- ever, was fed by another spring the exact location of which is so far un- known. Dunand and Saliby suspect that this second source must be located somewhere on the west flank of the neighbouring tell, as the water seems to enter the Ma'abed basin at its eastern side, underneath the rock.5 Ayn Ydlal, the spring supplying the sanctuary of Eshmun at Bostan esh- Sheikh, seems to be one, of two examples, where the water has to travel quite a distance through both a subterranean channel and surface water courses before flowing into several installations within the premises of the sanctuary. The other example is the spring at Afqa. The sacred source of the Nahr Ibrahim surges out of an unseen underground fissure within the enor- mous grotto. The sanctuary of Astarte is built on a platform on the left bank of the river. The water was transported by means of cannels and one or more tunnels through the foundations of the sanctuary before flowing into the basin. So far this spring is the only sacred spring from which a stream takes its rise. To date Phoenician spring sanctuaries have only been found in the Syro- Palestinian coastal area. The fact that they have been identified is because they have been monumentalised. So far no examples have been found of monumental Phoenician spring sanctuaries in the central and West Medi- terranean area. Nor do these areas, like the Syro-Palestinian coastal lands, provide evidence of non-monumental spring sanctuaries, perhaps because this type of sanctuary, unlike their contemporary Greek and Roman coun- terparts, has not been thoroughly studied. Moreover, non-monumental 4 Saghieh 1983; Wright 1985. 5 Dunand and Saliby 1985, p. 12. 142 E. M. C. GROENEWOUD spring sanctuaries are not easy to recognise, often represented merely by a sporadic discovery of votive deposits near springs, from unclear context.6 Apart from the early “urban” spring sanctuary at Byblos, all of the “rural” spring sanctuaries are situated near one or more streams. Besides linking the inland with the sea, the streams, sometimes in conjunction with its hilly surroundings, seem to demarcate a sort of boundary. According to Edlund boundary might reflect the need for divine protection.7 Water Installations Water installations found at Phoenician sanctuaries can be divided into seven main categories: 1. Sacred pool/large irregularshaped basin; 2. Rectangular basin or pis- cine; 3. Rectangular tub; 4. Cistern; 5. Canals; 6. Pit; 7. Miscellaneous. Sacred pool/large irregularshaped basin This category was possibly reserved for urban sanctuaries only. The sacred pool at Byblos (Fig. 1) and the large, irregularly shaped basin at Kamid el-Loz (Fig. 2) seem, at first glance, to be similar water installations, having in common their large, irregular size and their artificial construction. Both are located outside the actual premises of their respective sanctuaries: the sacred pool at Byblos is surrounded by two sanctuaries (the Early Bronze Age II Baalat temple and the Early Bronze Age temple of Reshef), and the large basin at Kamid el-Loz is located in front of the entrance of the Late Bronze Age West Temple. Looked at more closely, the sacred pool at Byblos did actually contain water, maybe all year round, and was probably fed by the same spring of the earlier Early Bronze Age I Baalat temple. The area of the sacred pool originally consisted of alluvial soil, hence, it was easy to carve an artificial lake here. No traces of plaster have been found, but both the underlying rock and the surrounding battered wall might have contributed to its “wa- terproofing”. The pool may have served one or more of the several sanctuaries around it.8 On the other hand, the large basin at Kamid el-Loz is dug out into soil and lined with both large untreated stones and large boulders. Although the entire basin could not be excavated owing to the civil war, the excavators 6 Edlund 1987, pp.

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