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The beads were not part of rings, rather, tiny terracotta faces and small pasta vitrea objects that may have been used to decorate a cultic building.

The figurines article

A total of approximately 13,700 figurines stored in the storerooms of the Direction Génerale des Antiquités were examined, with 1,500 selected for detailed analysis. The material was assessed from multiple perspectives, including manufacturing techniques, stylistic analyses, and the coexistence of different stylistic traditions during the Persian and Hellenistic periods. The study also aimed to reconstruct the cults practiced in the hinterland of Tyre during the transition from the Persian to the Hellenistic period.

Findings: Figurines from the Persian phase were predominantly locally handcrafted and influenced by regional iconographic traditions. They include depictions of women supporting their breasts, drum players, horsemen, horses, and chariots. The repertoire also encompasses the "dea Gravida" type, representing a woman in a long dress with a hand on her abdomen, as well as a seated god with a beard and either an atef crown or a tall hat. From a stylistic and iconographic standpoint, certain productions exhibit Egyptianizing elements. For instance, a seated male figure wearing a local atef crown represents a god with distinct local characteristics, expressed particularly through the presence of a beard and mustache. These elements indicate the assimilation of themes with ancient Egyptian origins within the local repertoire, which were reinterpreted and integrated into the local iconographic traditions. On the other hand, certain types of korai are associated with the Eastern Greek world, suggesting the possibility of imported molds.

As Phoenicia came under Ptolemaic rule, the connections with the Egyptian and Greek worlds strengthened. The coastal city elites embraced Greek language and lifestyle as markers of their social status. In contrast to the coastal cities influenced by Greek language and lifestyle, the rural hinterland, including Kharayeb, maintained its attachment to indigenous language and religious traditions.

The local population continued to uphold their own cultural practices. The ancient cult sites at Kharayeb were reconstructed using architectural elements similar to those found at the contemporary sanctuary of Umm el-'Amed.

The cult place at Kharayeb experienced significant activity between the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Approximately 8,000 objects were collected in a deposit near the temple, known as the favissa during this period. To meet the demand for figurines, local coroplasts (makers of figurines) enhanced their production techniques by introducing more efficient methods, such as the use of double molds.

The acquisition of Greek molds introduced the figurative world of ancient Greece even in the rural hinterland of Tyre. While images of gods such as Heracles, Dionysus, Artemis, Aphrodite, Demeter, Eros, and Hermes were relatively few, there was a greater abundance of figurines depicting draped women with different hairstyles, men wearing himation or short mantles, and predominantly children engaged in play, dancing, or playing musical instruments. These vibrant images, although originating from a distant geographic and cultural context, effectively portrayed the rural and pastoral setting in which the figurine buyers resided.

The molds used in Kharayeb were imported from significant centers of figurine production in the Hellenistic world, particularly from Alexandria. Some of the Egyptianizing iconography, such as the depiction of Horus Harpocrates, originated from Alexandria.

Artifacts and Finds

The beads were not part of rings, rather, tiny terracotta faces and small pasta vitrea objects that may have been used to decorate a cultic building.

Terracotta figurine holding a duck from the Kharayeb sanctuary, from the collection of the National Museum of Beirut

Excavations at the Phoenician Sanctuary of Kharayeb have yielded a wealth of artifacts, includig thousands of terracotta figurines that provide insight into the religious practices of the local Phoenician population. The Late Iron Age/Persian era figurines were made by local artisans who, drawing inspiration from the local tradition, produced images of a well-documented type found in Phoenicia (Sarepta, Tyre, Tell Keisan, Achziv, Dor), and Cyprus. The repertoire of figurines includes pregnant women, women with their hands placed on their breasts, seated male figurines wearing a atef crown or with a flat hairstyle, horse riders, tambourine players, and the god Bes. From this period onward, some types were influenced by Eastern Greek production, such as the women dressed in chitons, which were also documented in Beirut and Sidon.

In the Hellenistic period, heavy influx of worshippers prompted local coroplasts to adopt the more efficient and cost-effective double molds technique. The new molding technique was introduced from prominent Hellenistic coroplastic production centers like Alexandria in Egypt. Original molds were acquired and modified to reflect local styles and context, and figurines were locally produced in Tyre as evidenced by clay ion-beam analysis, and the presence of incised Phoenician letters on the figurines before firing. The acquisition of molds with Greek iconography introduced Hellenistic deities such as Aphrodite, Artemis, Demeter, Dionysus, Eros, Heracles, and Hermes into the hinterland of Tyre. The images of deities are scarce compared to the total cataloged pieces, with the majority being female and male subjects, and, most notably, children engaged in playful activities. The imagery portrays the rural and pastoral environment in which the users of these figurines lived. There were numerous figurines of schoolchildren and theater masks indicating that the sanctuary may have also frequented by worshipers from coastal cities. The influence of Alexandria is also apparent through a number of breastfeeding Isis, Horus, and Harpocrates figurines.

The site also provided a number of inscriptions: on votive figurines, and on a fragment of a limestone statue found by Chéhab at the bottom of the favissa. The fragment consists of a statue base with two feet depicted in profile. A Phoenician inscription was carved between the legs. Chéhab translated the inscription in his first excavation report as "Because he heard the word of his servants". In 1955, he revised his interpretation, presenting a slightly different translation: "...of them, because he heard their words (prayers), may he bless them". The inscription was dated to the 4th century BC, based on comparisons with the inscription of the Batnoam sarcophagus (KAI 11) and graffiti from Abydos (KAI 49).

Miniature cultic pottery vessels were found in various places in the sanctuary, and were utilized in rituals throughout the sanctuary's periods of use. Small plates and bowls were found by the Italian mission under the temple's paving, in the Late Iron Age/Persian period phase layers. Pottery from the Hellenistic phase include small and miniature unguentaria, miniature plates, and small jugs.

[/] Dating

The site shows sings of regular frequentation during the Paleolithic. Archaeological evidence of occupation and religious use of the area of the sanctuary point to the Iron Age II, with the searliest pottery from the cultic area dating to the c. 9th–8th century BCE.

Until when ....

Dedication and function

It was not possible for scholars to identify the deity worshiped at the Phoenician sanctuary of Kharayeb as no specific god names are mentioned in the site inscriptions.

Maruice Chéhab proposed that the sanctuary was a center for agrarian and initiatory cults, based on a the figurines representing Demeter and Kore. On the other hand, Kaoukabani suggested that the sanctuary was initially dedicated to Astarte associated or identified with the goddess Isis. According to his interpretation, the building was a mammisi. He further proposed that the cult likely acquired characteristics related to Demeter and included mysteric elements. The study of the terracotta figurines however, contributed to the understanding of the religious cult. A revised understanding was put forth by Italian historian Maria Grazia Lancellotti who characterizes the sanctuary as a smaller religious site that, like the temple of Eshmun in Bustan el-Sheikh at the ouskirts of Sidon, centered around the veneration of deities of healing and salvation, with an emphasis on rituals associated with childbearing and childhood. This interpretation would explain the discovery of numerous child figurines on-site.

According to Oggiano, the religious practices observed at the Kharayeb sanctuary were part of the same cultic system that included the sanctuaries of Umm al-Amad, the temple of Sarepta, and possibly Tyre. These shared practices include the performance of comparable rituals, the dedication of stone and terracotta statues, and the use of a similar syntax of dedicatory inscriptions across the entire region of the Tyre hinterland. In addition to the dedication of figurines, the rituals practiced at the Kharayeb sanctuary included pouring oils from unguentaria, and offering libations poured from miniature and medium-sized jugs.

The great number of clay figurines discovered at the sanctuary is evidence of the intensive religious activity in the Phoenician sanctuary between the fourth and first centuries BC. The temple's small interior was periodically cleared of votive offerings to make space for new statuettes. As a result, around 8,000 terracotta figurines were collected and stored in a specially dug favissa. The Kharayeb figurines portrayed various aspects of local Phoenician society over many centuries, consistently emphasizing the significance of motherhood and childhood for the people frequenting the sanctuary. During the Persian period, a great number of figurines represented pregnant women, and in the Hellenistic period, numerous depictions of children engaged in playful activities with animals or music instruments were found. The small size of the cultic objects further indicates the potential involvement of children in the rituals.