The Sanctuary at Baitokaike (Hössn Soleiman): Chronology, Function, and Relevance

Abstract

The sanctuary at Baitokaike is not a specifically Phoenician cult site, but rather a local one whose tradition reaches from the Iron Age into late antiquity. Of decisive importance in the building of the entire complex were the storage, use and distribution of water. In the early Hellenistic period, the sanctuary was enlarged and endowed with monumental stone architecture by the Seleucids, before being granted to the priesthood of Baitokaike in the 1st century B.C., when the Seleucid Empire was in decline. In its religious, mercantile and therapeutic function, the sanctuary tended to the various needs of the inhabitants and visitors, and functioned as the organic centre of the communities in the region.The local cult continued without interruption independently of the process of Hellenization, which is manifested in the architectural forms and the Greek votive inscriptions. By the 2nd century A.D. the complex already served the Roman imperial cult, which probably provided the impetus for the construction of a new temple in the large precinct.