From  Bruce Condé "See Lebanon", Beirut 1955.


Vestal Virgins' Temple at Niha

Of all the Bekaa temples outside of Baalbek those of the Greco-Roman
period found in and near Niha are perhaps the most interesting.

Two of them are accessible in Niha village itself, reachable by car
after a short ride into the hills northwest of the main
Shtaura-Baalbek highway.

The turn-off to Niha is 16 kilometers beyond Shtaura and about 2
kilometers beyond the military camp of Ablah. Instead of following the
diagonal cut off the main highway to the east toward Rayak, from
Ablah, continue along the northeast road at the foot of the hills. The
Niha turnoff, 2 kilometers up the road, is a paved branch road at
right angles which turns left (northwest) for a kilometer-and-a-half.

This trip may be made by Beirut residents in conjunction with a visit
to Noah's Tomb as a halfday journey. To also see the "Hosn Niha"
temple and Furzol's al-Habis cliff temples and carvings, to be
described in subsequent articles, an entire day's trip would be
necessary.

Art Works in Walls

Niha village is a pleasant spot amid rounded hills, with a tree-lined
stream running through it. Its inhabitants had long been known for
their excavating of art works, cavings, inscriptions, altars and other
antiquities which they built into the walls of their houses and
church.

This attracted the attention of German archological expeditions in the
Bekaa prior to World War I and certain preliminary excavations were
carried out then which disclosed the existence of a
beautifully-decorated temple to the Syro-PhÏnician god Hadaranis on
the hillside south of the stream. The Germans also rescued from the
wall of the church a fine statue of the Heliopolitan Jupiter of
Baalbek, which was sent to the Imperial Museum of Constantinople.

Since independence, Lebanon's Department of Antiquities has devoted
increasing attention to the Niha temples and is in the process of
restoring the main temple of Hadaranis and a smaller sanctuary at the
foot of the opposite hillside, to the north, of which, unfortunately,
very little now remains in situ.

Bas Relief Carvings

Approach to the main Hadaranis temples from the stream bank is up an
imposing series of monumental stairs. To the left of the first flight
is a well-preserved relief carving of a personage of the time of the
temple, wearing typical garb of the period. The accompanying
commemorative cartonche to the left of the relief is in Greek, rather
than Latin, letters.

There are numerous other relief carvings now restored to the temple
from their former resting places in the town or in the earth. Among
the best are those to be seen on the bottom of the lintel over the
vmain portal of the temple, although these are difficult to photograph
due to their position.

Within, efforts are being made to restore the sanctuary, most of whose
fine Corinthian columns have been set up in place again. The steps and
paving are almost intact, as are some of the balustrades and the
richly-decorated entranceway to a lower chamber. Within the wall south
of the main portal, is a well-preserved staircase, by means of which
(as at Baalbek's smaller temple) ascent may be made to the top.

Preserved By Landslide

Across the stream to the north, the smaller temple has been cleared,
but not enough of its scattered debris assembled to rebuild much of
the cella. It seems that the hillside (which runs along the long axis
of the building instead of at right angles as in the case of the
larger temple) may have slipped in ancient times and buried the
smaller temple at an early date, for the front steps are in an almost
perfect state of preservation looking as fresh and white and clean as
those of any modern building of white limestone in modern Beirut.

The bases of the columns, particularity that of the southeast corner,
are also in a good state of preservation, but the shafts are broken
off at a height of 5 or 6 feet.

One intact doorway remains, with a delicately-carved lintel, also near
the southeast corner, but of the sanctuary area only the mutilated
steps and paving remain, with the columns entirely absent.

Vestal Virgins and Astarte

Vestal virgins once served in Niha's Temple of Hadaranis, according to
ancient records, and it is probable that the cult of Adonis and
Astarte (of whom a bust has been found) was also practiced here, while
5 kilometers away, in the mountain fastness to the west, reached today
only by the same Roman road of the days of its construction, is
another fascinating temple of Greco-Roman days.

Niha was truly a land of temples in the days of the gods, and very
little of the countryside has changed in appearance between the
village temples and their hidden opposite number to the west since
that time.