Umm al-Amad, Lebanon

Umm al-Amad
ام العمد
	Ruins in 1839, published in The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia
	Shown within Lebanon
Location	Near Naqoura, Tyre District, South Lebanon
Coordinates	33°07′41″N 35°09′13″E / 33.128°N 35.1535°E
History
Founded	287–222 BCE

Umm Al Amad (Arabic: ام العمد), or Umm el 'Amed or al Auamid or el-Awamid, is an Hellenistic period archaeological site near the town of Naqoura in Lebanon. It was discovered by Europeans in the 1770s,^[1] and was excavated in 1861.^[2] It is one of the most excavated archaeological sites in the Phoenician heartland.^[3]

Description

The Umm Al Amad site measures more than six hectares.^[2] Numerous artefacts from the site are held at the National Museum of Beirut and the Louvre. The site contains two temples, the Temple of Milk‘ashtart and the Eastern Temple with Throne Chapel,^[4] which are estimated to have been built between 287 and 222 BCE.^[2]

23 Phoenician Adoration steles have been found at the site depicting upright people in an "adoration gesture", all dating from 100 to 400 BCE.^[5]

History

Ruins in the 1780s, by Louis-François Cassas.

Umm Al Amad was apparently built in the Persian or Hellenistic period, although some scholars have argued for earlier. No buildings from the Roman era were discovered, but there is evidence for Byzantine reoccupation.^[6]^[1] The original name of the site is uncertain, but may have been Hammon (Joshua 19:28) or Alexandrouskene.^[1]

Umm Al Amad was first depicted in modern times in the 1780s by Louis-François Cassas.^[1] Melchior de Vogüé explored the site in 1853.^[7] The site was first excavated in 1861 by Ernest Renan in his Mission de Phénicie. He stopped when he found the remains were no older than the Hellenistic age.^[8]

In 1881, the British PEF Survey of Palestine described the site as "extensive ruins" and noted "traces of aqueducts origin water to birkets".^[9]

Eustache de Lorey excavated the site in 1921, but published only photographs of his work.^[10] Maurice Dunand led excavations at the site between 1943 and 1945.^[11]

Ali Badawi, the long-time chief archaeologist for Southern Lebanon of the Directorate-General of Antiquities at the Ministry of Culture, said:

There are the remains of the city known as Oum Al-Amed, dating back to the 2nd century B.C., if not earlier. The city was a religious center for a Phoenician cult, especially that of the Phoenician god Baal Hamon, whose memory lives on in a nearby valley known as Wadi Hamol (the Valley of Hamol). The site still contains the remnants of two important temples, as well as other buildings, dating back to the 2nd and 3rd century B.C., and represents the last of Phoenician culture under the rule of the Greeks. Several steles bearing Phoenician inscriptions were discovered on the site, and an important sundial stone.^[12]

Gallery

Throne of Astarte in the Louvre
Reconstruction of the Throne of Astarte
Funerary stele with a Phoenician inscription in the National Museum of Beirut: "To Baalshamar, son of 'Abdosir... chief of the porters"^[13]
A statue with a Phoenician inscription in the National Museum of Beirut
A close-up of the inscription
Baalshamem inscription
Various artefacts discovered by Ernest Renan
The Louvre; the ionic capital on the left is from Umm al-Amad
Reconstruction of a sphinx found in Umm al-Amad
Sphinx head from a Throne of Astarte
Phoenician sun dial
Funerary stele of "Baalyaton" from the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Mellink, Machteld J. (September 1965). "Oumm el-'Amed, une ville de l'époque hellénistique aux échelles de Tyr by Maurice Dunand, Raymond Duru". Journal of Biblical Literature (review). 84 (3): 326–328. doi:10.2307/3265046. JSTOR 3265046.
^ ^a ^b ^c The Phoenician's Route, LAU-Louis Cardahi Foundation
^ Vella, 2000, pp. 34–35: "The monumental report dedicated to Oumm el-‘Amed is by far one of the most detailed accounts of an excavation in the Phoenician heartland. The site is well known in the general literature, with entries in all the recently published research aids on Phoenician history, and the reconstructions of the temples have served as benchmarks for the study of other sites."
^ Vella, 2000, p. 32
^ Michelau, 2014, pp. 77–95.
^ Vella, 2000, p.32
^ Vella, 2000, p. 31
^ Vella, 2000, p. 31: "Ernest Renan was there in 1861 but abandoned the excavations he undertook when he noted that the site was of Hellenistic date."
^ PEF Survey of Palestine, Volume 1, Galilee, Kh. Umm el Amud, pp. 181–184
^ Vella, 2000, p.31
^ Eric M. Meyers; American Schools of Oriental Research (1997). "Maurice Dunand". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-511216-0.
^ Badawi, Ali Khalil (2018). Tyre (4th ed.). Beirut: Al-Athar Magazine. pp. 138–140.
^ Maximillien De Lafayette (2011). Phoenicia, Ur, and Carthage: Artifacts, Inscriptions, Slabs, Sites. Lulu.com. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-257-83653-6.

General sources

Clermont-Ganneau, C. S., "La stele phenicienne d'umm el-'Aouamid", Recueil d'archéologie orientale, volume V, 1902, pp. 1–8
Conder, C. R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 1. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. pp. 181–184.
Dunand, M.; Duru, Raymond (1962). Oumm el-ʾAmed: une ville de l'époque hellénistique aux échelles de Tyr. Librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient.
Guérin, V. (1880). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 3: Galilee, pt. 2. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale. p. 173.
Michelau, H., 2014: "Hellenistische Stelen mit Kultakteuren aus Umm el-'Amed", ZDPV 130: 77–95, Taf. 3–11
Palmer, E. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E. H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. p. 50 ("the ruin with the columns").
Vella, Nicholas, "Defining Phoenician Religious Space: Oumm el-'Amed Reconsidered", Ancient Near Eastern Studies, volume 37, 2000, pp. 27–55, doi:10.2143/ANES.37.0.1081.

External links

Survey of Western Palestine, Map 3: IAA, Wikimedia commons

[Mellink-1] Mellink, Machteld J. (September 1965). "Oumm el-'Amed, une ville de l'époque hellénistique aux échelles de Tyr by Maurice Dunand, Raymond Duru". Journal of Biblical Literature (review). 84 (3): 326–328. doi:10.2307/3265046. JSTOR 3265046.

[LAU-2] The Phoenician's Route, LAU-Louis Cardahi Foundation

[3] Vella, 2000, pp. 34–35: "The monumental report dedicated to Oumm el-‘Amed is by far one of the most detailed accounts of an excavation in the Phoenician heartland. The site is well known in the general literature, with entries in all the recently published research aids on Phoenician history, and the reconstructions of the temples have served as benchmarks for the study of other sites."

[4] Vella, 2000, p. 32

[5] Michelau, 2014, pp. 77–95.

[6] Vella, 2000, p.32

[7] Vella, 2000, p. 31

[8] Vella, 2000, p. 31: "Ernest Renan was there in 1861 but abandoned the excavations he undertook when he noted that the site was of Hellenistic date."

[9] PEF Survey of Palestine, Volume 1, Galilee, Kh. Umm el Amud, pp. 181–184

[10] Vella, 2000, p.31

[MeyersResearch1997-11] Eric M. Meyers; American Schools of Oriental Research (1997). "Maurice Dunand". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-511216-0.

[12] Badawi, Ali Khalil (2018). Tyre (4th ed.). Beirut: Al-Athar Magazine. pp. 138–140.

[Lafayette2011-13] Maximillien De Lafayette (2011). Phoenicia, Ur, and Carthage: Artifacts, Inscriptions, Slabs, Sites. Lulu.com. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-257-83653-6.

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v t e Roman archaeological sites in Lebanon
Roman Berytus (actual Beirut)	Berytus ¹ Roman Forum of Berytus Berytus Roman Baths Cisterns of Berytus Baths Berytus Cardo Decumanus Berytus Colonnaded street Byzantine mosaics Roman hippodrome of Berytus Roman Law school of Berytus
Roman Phoenicia (actual Lebanon)	Heliopolis Temple of Bacchus Temple of Jupiter (Baalbek) Temples of Mount Hermon Temples of the Beqaa Valley Aaqbe temple Afqa Ain Aata temple Ain Harcha roman temple Amioun Monastery Arca Caesarea Augusti Pagus Bakka temple Batroumine Bziza temple Canalizations of Zenobia Dakoue temple Mansourieh Roman aqueduct Hebbariye temple Iaat column Kafr Zabad temples Khirbet El-Knese roman temples Labweh Roman temple Libbaya roman temple Monastery of Qozhaya Monastery of Saint Maron Nahle roman temple Nebi Safa temple Niha Hosn Niha Qalaat Faqra Qal'at Bustra temple Castra Chbib Castra El Banat Saraain El Faouqa Schleem roman temple Colonia Aurelia Pia "Sidon" Temnin el-Foka nymphaeum Tripolis in Phoenicia Tyrus ¹ Tyre Necropolis Roman temple to Venus in Yammoune
Related	Roman Lebanon Phoenice (Roman province) Palaestina Secunda Phoenice Libanensis Stone of the Pregnant Woman Ulpianus Marcus Valerius Probus Eudokia of Heliopolis Saint Barbara of Heliopolis Coele-Syria List of Christian cathedrals in Lebanon Christianity in Lebanon Catholic Church in Lebanon Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral 2nd century in Lebanon 3rd century in Lebanon 4th century in Lebanon 5th century in Lebanon 6th century in Lebanon 551 Beirut earthquake
¹ UNESCO World Heritage Sites ² Proposed Category:Roman sites in Lebanon

v t e Tyre District, South Governorate
Capital: Tyre
Towns and villages	Aabbassiyeh Aalma ech Chaab Ain Baal Aitit Barish Bayyad Bazourieh Bedias Boustane Borj Ech Chemali Borj Rahal Chamaa Chaitiyeh Chehabiyeh Chehour Chihine Debaal Deir Aames Deir Kifa Deir Qanoun En Nahr Halloussiyeh Hanaouay Jennata Jibbain Jwaya Kneisseh Maarakeh Maaroub Mansouri Majadel Majdel Zoun Mahrouna Marwahin Naqoura Qana Qlaileh Ras al-Ain Rechknanay Selaa Siddikine Srifa Tayr Debba Tayr Falsay Tayr Harfa Toura Yarine Zalloutieh Zibqin
Palestinian refugee camps	El-Buss Burj el-Shemali Rashidieh
Other	Umm al-Amad Ladder of the Tyrians

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	Germany
Geographic	Pleiades