Location: Tartus Governorate Map
Hosn Suleiman is an ancient archaeological site situated in Tartus Governorate of Syria. The closest cities to this site are Dreikish situated 20 km away and large city of Tartous at a distance of 56 km.
The first constructions probably took place parallel to the
settlement of the area, in BC. They started in the countryside after
the Persian conquest of 539. The temple was originally dedicated to
a local version of Baal, who was identified with Zeus in Hellenistic
times. The stream flowing through the temple courtyard was
associated with the goddess Astarte. The region belonged to the
sphere of influence of the island of Arvád, and the timber extracted
here played a major role in the shipbuilding of the Phoenician
state.
The remains visible today date back to BC. They come
from the time of Roman rule in Syria starting with 64: the first
constructions began in the 1st century, but the lion's share of the
work was done during the reign of Septimius Severus, at the very end
of the 2nd century. The emperors supported the cult here, the
inscription of Valerianus and Gallienus dated 255 on the wall of the
complex confirms the privileges of the local population. The
sanctuary functioned until the 4th century, until then it was exempt
from taxes and had control over the taxes of the surrounding
population.
Next to the temple of Jupiter Baotoceceanus, you
can also see another ruin with an undefined function (church or
nymphaeum), which was later built into a Christian basilica. Because
of the latter, it is customary to refer to this group of buildings
with the name dajr, i.e. monastery. The authoritative description of
the building was prepared by the Germans Daniel Krencker and Willy
Zschietzschmann in the 1930s. Starting in 1990-91, the Syrian
Directorate of Archeology carried out smaller excavations at the
ruins.
Husn Sulaymán's temple consists of a 134x85 meter courtyard and a
sanctuary in the middle of it, following the general Syro-Phoenician
model (other examples are found in Ugarit, Baalbek, Palmyra,
Damascus and many other places). The walls of the courtyard, which
are mostly still standing but have already fallen down in several
places, were built of Cyclopean stones, some of which are up to
10x2.5 meters in size. In the middle of each wall is a gate, of
which the northern one is the largest: a 15-meter-wide, triple
entrance, which was joined by a portico consisting of eight to eight
columns both inside and outside. The outer portico was decorated
with a niche and two side entrances, and the above-mentioned
emperor's inscription was also placed here. The northern wall is
also decorated with a small lion relief at both ends.
The
east and west gates are much smaller and less ornate, otherwise they
are almost mirror images of each other. The common ground of the two
eyebrow stones is decorated with carvings depicting an eagle and two
people, and on the outside there is a niche on each side of the
gates. These two gates are decorated with carvings of lion's heads
on the side facing the courtyard, and human faces on the outside. On
the outer wall of the eastern gate, an inscription in Greek from 171
commemorates the offering of the locals. The simple southern gate
has not survived, its place is now occupied by a modern house.
The cell opening to the north is itself in a very dilapidated
state, full of its own debris, but it can be determined that it
belonged to the pseudoperipteros type. There were six columns in
front of its main facade, and 39 steps lead up to them from the
courtyard, which are divided by a smaller terrace: at that time, one
of the sacrificial altars stood here. (A much larger one was placed
to the east of the cell.) The remains of a staircase were also found
inside the cell, which most likely led up to the roof terrace used
for ceremonies.
The complex called dajr is now separated from
the pagan church by a road. Its ruins are still used for
agricultural production, besides some wall sections, there is only
one spectacular part: a small church facade with two Ionic-style
columns, decorated with an eagle relief.