Temples of Mount Hermon

Scattered around the region of Mount Hermon are numerous small Temples which were orientated toward the summit, were also was a Temple at which was found commemorating the tradition of the Watchers landing and taking their oath there, as in the Enochian writings.

"During the summer of 1934, Dr. Stewart Crawford and this writer [Reginald Haupt] led a small expedition, in which we studied the ancient Baal shrines surrounding Mount Hermon. We located many ruins and in each case the shrine was so oriented that when the priests and the devotees were at the altar, they faced the chief Baal sanctuary, or Quibla, located on the highest of the three peaks of Hermon.

Curiously it is very hard to get any information or recent photographs of the ruins on the summit, one taken in 1953 is the best i can come up with!

There is a sacred building made of hewn blocks of stone on the summit of Mount Hermon. Known as Qasr Antar, it was the highest temple of the ancient world, sitting at 2,814 feet (858 m) above sea level. It was documented by Sir Charles Warren in 1869. Warren described the temple as a rectangular building, sitting on an oval, stone plateau without roof. He removed a limestone stele from the northwest of the oval, broke it into two pieces and carried it down the mountain and back to the British Museum, where it currently resides. An inscription on the stele was translated by George Nickelsburg to read


"According to the command of the greatest a(nd) Holy God, those who take an oath (proceed) from here."


Nickelsburg connected the inscription with oath taken by the angels under Semjaza who took an oath together, bound by a curse in order to take wives in the Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 6:6). Hermon was said to have become known as "the mountain of oath" by Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau. The name of God was supposed to be a Hellenized version of Baʿal or Hadad and Nickelsburg connected it with the place name of Baal-Hermon (Lord of Hermon) and the deity given by Enoch as "The Great Holy One".[ Eusebius recognized the religious importance of Hermon in his work "Onomasticon", saying "Until today, the mount in front of Panias and Lebanon is known as Hermon and it is respected by nations as a sanctuary"

The area isn't greatly researched, as can be seen new sites are still being discovered;

George Taylor divided up the Temples of Lebanon into three groups, one the Bekaa valley north of the road from Beirut to Damascus. Second, there is the group in the area south of the same road, including the Wadi al-Taym and the western flank of Mount Hermon. Third, the group in the area west of a line drawn along the ridge of Mount Lebanon. There are relatively few temples along Lebanon's coastal plain. The Temples of Mount Hermon in Taylor's second group included Ain Harcha, Aaiha, Deir El Aachayer, Dekweh, Yanta, Hebbariye, Ain Libbaya, Nebi Safa, Aaqbe, Khirbet El-Knese, Mejdal Anjar, Mdoukha and Bakka.[8] Four new sites were identified during epigraphic surveys of 2003 and 2004 at Ain Ata, Ain Qaniya, Korsei el-Debb and Qasr Chbib whilst possible identification was made requiring further investigation at the sites of Qatana, Kafr Dura, Qalaat al-Almond, Haouch Hafoufa and Mazraat el-Faqaa

The only sites quite well known are those which have Roman Temples in quite good states of preservation, These were built upon earlier ancient sites and the Romans appear in many cases to have reused the stones from these which must have laid in ruins even then. A large scale project seems to have been undertaken to rededicate many of the ancient sites;

The temples were often connected with ancient occupational sites. Olivier Callot and Pierre-Louis Gatier argued that several of the temple sites might have been mistaken for monumental tombs as Roman mausoleums such as Saidnaya have been found in LebanonTaylor held the view that the religious architecture was the responsibility of "the hand of a single master builder

en.wikipedia.org...



Looking at the photographic evidence then for sites such as Niha below, it can be seen the Romans incorporated into their temple many worn and rough stones from previous constructions;












This hotch-potch appraoch is unusual for the Romans, and perhaps only explained in that the stones from earleir construction were seen as sacred. The same is seen at a smaller temple at Niha.







At Qsarnaba a similar temple cella can be seen, with lower megalithic courses only preserved;









At Farqra also the more ancient temple platform and course layers can again be seen;









Also at Farqra are several untypical 'altars', which underwent reconstruction of sorts in 1945, noteworthy here is the carved stepped motif, which in many cultures represents place of establishment, and the gateway between Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld...























I would consider that when these sites are better studied they will come to be seen as important with regards to the descent of those from the Heavens, given the locale and traditions, and also of course in connection with the great esteem the Romans held for Baalbek in the region.

really cool thread! s&f 4U!

unfortunately for us,any type of 'biblical' type of archeology takes way too long for the 'scholors' to decide what the truth 'should' be!
any one who has studied (or tried to) the dead sea scrolls can attest to that!
40 years + for non religious scholars to study these documents after they were found.
its funny how the bible 'bad mouths' Ba'al,but in reality there is much evidence to support that Ba'al worship was just as popular,if not more than the cults of yaweah.
Ba'al is just another name for 'lord'.
even the early jews used this 'name' for their deity - 'El Shaddaih'.
(lord of the mountain).
i always find it funny that archeologists can find some 'new' civilization,take a few years to study it,and proclaim they know all about it now.
but,with biblical archeology,everything has to be gone thru with a fine tooth comb,just in case what they found might go against what is taught as the 'truth'!
i dont think its that much of a stretch to think that these temples may have been part of some enochian religious group,that may have proceeded judaism.
it funny how the book of enoch was left out of the bible,and really,there isn't that much archeological study about it.
i guess we can thank james bruce for bringing back the 'lost' book of enoch from ethiopia,to europe.
or else we may not have ever known of its existance,in the original form!
peace

reply to post by reficul



That's true, the term Baal here seems to be in the sense of a High Lord [God] connected to the Mount using the general Semitic/Caananite term.


Archaeologists certainly don't know all about these sites and haven't evan began to consider which culture the sites the Romans later built upon and rededicated were originaly constructed by, it would be good to know the proper number and locations of these to have more insight regarding a greater pattern or context to them.

You probably won't find any recent images of ruins on Mount Hermon due to the fortifications and installations the Israelis have on its summit. However there might be some (limited shots) or more probably drawings in Israeli archaeological publications as the Israel military system of using reserves means that people with archaeological or antiquarian experience get assigned to such positions

reply to post by Kantzveldt


ya,roman 'rededication' of sacred places happened all over the known world at the time.
from northern europe over to the middle east.
but if you look in between the 'roman lines' of a lot of these sights,you can still pick away tidbits of the older culture.
the romans,with their newly made 'jesus cult' state religion used a lot of the local beliefs to mix into their new faith,so the locals would feel comfy with this new belief. it was much like their own!
too bad we are led by a science that follows blind faith,and not fact!
remember,the world is only 6000 years old!!!!!

reply to post by Kantzveldt


Everytime you post for a thread, I learn something - everytime.

Wonderful, articulate, detailed - you remind me of one of my old lecturers!

S&F

reply to post by Kantzveldt


I always enjoy your threads, s&f

The A-typical altars shown towards the end of your thread look very Olmec/Aztec.

So say the Watchers did, in fact, consummate an oath of eternal damnation on the summit of Mt. Hermon-- hypothetically of course-- this would mean that anything that was built during that time period would have been destroyed in the Biblical flood. Thus, anything remaining today would most likely have been built subsequent to that destruction.
It would be interesting to research the subsurface of that area looking for any curious evidence of water inundation.

Thanks for the thread. Interesting and some thing which I had not even seen before. Enoch should be in the buybull as he was quoted by jesus and others of that time. I guess he did`nt fit in with the jesus cult crew. I did not know that this is were the watchers had descended to and had even built temples there. Once again thank you.

reply to post by Kantzveldt


I love your thread! It's been several years since I've read anything new about this subject.

I wish I could remember where, but a few years back I read a few reports about some mysterious sightings on Mt. Hermon. People had claimed to have seen what they assumed to be "watchers" popping up at a few of the temples. The reports were pretty much split as to about half thought they were evil, the other half good. I'd kind of like to know what kind of stories the archeologists have heard from the locals.

Wonderful pictures! If you learn something new please keep us updated.

reply to post by Kantzveldt


I lived in a town in Louisiana called Mt. Hermon. Imagine the look I got when trying to explain to Baptists, and Pentacostals there what their town was named after! They had no clue and thought I was making all of it up!

I find the subject fascinating.

reply to post by Hanslune



Thats a good point, and the general conflict over 70 years in the region has meant little research here in modern times.

The general site on the summit involves a circular enclosure with rectangular ruins within, and a 5 metre high cone...i discovered that much, need to find out what language the watcher inscription was in though as they fail to mention.





reply to post by reficul



Yes the Romans reasons for rebuilding upon pre-existing sites were often nefarious, the Temple Mount and the destruction of the Herodian Temple being their greatest outrage.

I'm tending to give them the benefit of the doubt at Mount Hermon in considering they had a genuine interest in the cults associated with the mountain and re-dedicated in what they thought most appropriate for the Semitic region, rather than imposing Roman Deities.



reply to post by Sublimecraft




Yes i'm just like those Watchers always trying to teach... ..thanks!




reply to post by stupid girl




The altars are a conundrum, the motifs could indicate they're Medean/Babylonian fire altars, but i see no signs of fire, then again they could relate to Semitic bull sacrifice.


Some of the stones on them with the raised area remind me of some of the oldest and largest megaliths of the Temple mount, in terms of style not size.



reply to post by illuminnaughty




Yes that would be my consideration, that the origin of those sites is thousands of years before the Romans, and were either constructed by the Watchers themselves or aspects of cultic worship toward them, depending on ones beliefs, i'd certainly be very surprised if they weren't connected.





reply to post by littled16



I haven't come across those stories, sound intriguing. I wouldn't mind going to the area myself and doing a photographic study of the general context of these sites with regrds to earlier megalitihic structures. The rocks around some of the sites also often have very curious 'weathering' features.
















reply to post by Sissel




Yes it was the reputed source of all the worlds iniquities, but then again the transfiguration took place upon the summit which implied a return to Heavenly grace...

www.panoramio.com...




"Hermon Hotel, highest UN Base on the peak of Mt. Hermon, 2814m"

Looks like the image of the Beast is sitting atop Ba'als mountain?

reply to post by Xcouncil=wisdom




It's kind of interesting the land place of the watchers is such an important observation post...

Originally posted by Kantzveldt
reply to post by Xcouncil=wisdom

 

It's kind of interesting the land place of the watchers is such an important observation post...

yes, especially since it is physically located at 33 degrees of both latitude and longitude......

reply to post by stupid girl


That's true? Where did you find this info?

reply to post by Wide-Eyes


I was made aware of it a few years ago. If you Google it, some sites will say 33/35, but from what I understand, its actually 33/33 when measured with actual survey equipment or whatever.

reply to post by stupid girl



That's true, i'd consider it the best case for the Masonic interest in 33 degrees in geometry, ie Earth measure.

nice thread

reply to post by Kantzveldt


Great thread man!!! do you know how old these things are

The evidence just continues to build for the historicity of The Watchers, no? Yes.

GREAT thread.