View source for Afqa

{{short description|Village in Mount Lebanon}}
{{for|the spring at [[Palmyra]]|Efqa Spring}}
{{Infobox settlement
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|official_name          = Afqa
|other_name             = Apheca, Afeca, Afka
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|subdivision_name1      = [[Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate|Keserwan-Jbeil]]
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|subdivision_name2      = [[Byblos District]]
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}}{{Infobox ancient site
|name = Afqa
|native_name =
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|image = Afqa Remains of Temple and Cave.jpg
|alt = 
|caption = The Afqa [[Grotto]]
|map_type = Lebanon
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|location = {{convert|71|km|mi}} northeast of [[Beirut]]
|region = [[Byblos District]]
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}}
'''Afqa''' ({{langx|ar|افقا}}; also spelled ''Afka'') is a [[village]] and [[municipality]] located in the [[Byblos District]] of the [[Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate]], {{convert|71|km|mi}} northeast of [[Beirut]] in [[Lebanon]].<ref name="Jr2012">{{cite book|author=Paul Doyle, Jr|title=Bradt Travel Guide Lebanon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzsRk0hvb_MC&pg=PA148|access-date=16 November 2012|date=1 March 2012|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides|isbn=978-1-84162-370-2|pages=148–}}</ref><ref name="Winter2010">{{cite book|author=Stefan Winter|title=The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule, 1516-1788|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KGeuAeFFJCEC&pg=PA68|access-date=16 November 2012|date=11 March 2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-76584-8|pages=68–}}</ref> It has an average elevation of 1,200 meters above sea level and a total land area of 934 [[hectare]]s.<ref name="localiban">{{cite web|title=Afqa|url=http://www.localiban.org/article4374.html|website=Localiban|access-date=2016-02-11|date=2008-01-16|archive-date=2016-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308174454/http://www.localiban.org/article4374.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Its inhabitants are predominantly [[Shia Islam in Lebanon|Shia Muslim]]s.<ref name="NCBI">{{cite journal|last1=Cammett|first1=Melani|last2=Issar|first2=Sukriti|title=Bricks and Mortar Clientalism: Sectarianism and the Logics of Welfare Allocation in Lebanon|doi=10.1017/s0043887110000080|date=July 2010|pmid=24860198|pmc=4029429|volume=62|issue=3|journal=World Politics|pages=381–421}}</ref>

Known in ancient times as '''Aphaca''' ({{langx|grc|Ἄφακα}}),<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0064%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D11%3Aentry%3Daphaca-geo Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Aphaca]</ref> the word can be interpreted as "source",<ref>Describing the recently recovered ancient name for another source, issuing from a cave, which irrigated the Palmyrene oasis, Jean Starcky remarked on the [[Aramaean]] root ''nefaq'', "exit" and the Aramaean ''afqâ'', "canal" (Srarcky, "Récentes découvertes à Palmyre", ''Syria'' '''25'''.3/4 (1946/48), p 335.</ref> is located in the mountains of [[Lebanon]], about 20 kilometres from the ancient city of [[Byblos]], which still stands just east of the town of [[Qartaba]].<ref name=Afka>{{cite web|title=Afka Falls in Lebanon |publisher=SpeleoPhilately.com |access-date=2007-12-03 |url=http://www.speleophilately.com/Articles/Asia/Lebanon/AfkaFallsInLebanon.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716114816/http://www.speleophilately.com/Articles/Asia/Lebanon/AfkaFallsInLebanon.html |archive-date=2011-07-16 }}</ref> It is the site of one of the finest waterfalls in the mountains of the [[Middle East]],<ref name=Travel>{{cite web|title=Damascus and Lebanon|publisher=Travel Web Site|access-date=2007-12-03|url=http://travel-web-site.net/content/view/25/|archive-date=2011-10-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002152409/http://travel-web-site.net/content/view/25/|url-status=dead}}</ref> which feeds into the [[Adonis River]] (known today as [[Abraham River]] or ''Nahr Ibrahim'' in [[Arabic]]),<ref name=Tammuz>{{cite web|title= Tammuz|publisher=The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia|access-date=2007-12-03|url=http://www.searchgodsword.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T8597| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071104161401/http://www.searchgodsword.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T8597| archive-date= 4 November 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> and forms [[Lake Yammoune]], with which it is also associated by legend.<ref name=JBL>{{cite journal|title=El in the Ugaritic Texts|author=W. F. Albright|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature|volume= 75|date=September 1956|pages=255–257|issue=3| doi=10.2307/3261938 |jstor=3261938}}</ref>

In [[Greek mythology]], [[Adonis]] was born and died at the foot of the falls in Afqa. The ruins of the celebrated temple of [[Aphrodite]] [[Aphacitis|Aphakitis]]— the Aphrodite particular to this site—<ref>The localized particularity of Roman mountain sanctuaries in northern Lebanon was noted in Daniel Kercker and Willy Zschietzchmann, ''Römische Tempel in Syrien'' (Arch. institut des deutschen Reiches, Berlin/Leipzig) 1938; R.D., reviewing the work in ''Syria'' '''21'''. 3/4 (1940) p.347 added further examples of localised Syrian divinities.</ref> are located there.<ref name=Tammuz/> [[Sir Richard Francis Burton]] and [[Sir James Frazer]] further attribute the temple at Afqa to the honouring of [[Astarte]] or [[Ishtar]] ([[Ashtaroth]]).<ref name=Burton>{{cite web|title="Terminal Essay" (In his translation of ''The Arabian Nights''|author=Sir Richard Francis Burton|publisher=People with a History|year=1885|access-date=2007-12-03|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/index.html| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071024181402/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/index.html| archive-date= 24 October 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name=Frazer>{{cite web|title="Adonis in Syria" in ''The Golden Bough''|author=Sir James George Frazer|publisher=Bartleby.com|year=1922|access-date=2007-12-03|url=http://www.bartleby.com/196/77.html | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071214025149/http://www.bartleby.com/196/77.html| archive-date= 14 December 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> Afqa is aligned centrally between [[Baalbek]] and [[Byblos]], pointing to the [[summer solstice]] sunset over the [[Mediterranean]]. It is from Byblos that the [[myth]] was told of a mystical [[wikt:ark|ark]] that came ashore containing the bones of [[Osiris]]. The ark became stuck in a swamp until [[Isis]] found it and carried it back to [[Ancient Egypt]].<ref name="Forlong2003">{{cite book|author=J. G. R. Forlong|title=Encyclopedia of Religions Or Faiths of Man 1906|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IfQQ6hWz37EC&pg=PA23|access-date=14 November 2012|date=1 February 2003|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-0-7661-4307-4|pages=23–}}</ref>

==History==
[[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] tax records, which did not differentiate different Muslim groups from each other, indicate Afqa, or "Ifqi", had 20 Muslim households and six bachelors in 1523, 38 Muslim households and five bachelors in 1530, and 25 Muslim households and 15 bachelors in 1543.{{sfn|Bakhit|1972|p=275}}

The Afaq archaeological sites were amongst 34 cultural heritage properties given enhanced protection by [[UNESCO]] to safeguard them during the [[2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon|Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2024]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Cultural property under enhanced protection Lebanon |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/culture/cultural-property-under-enhanced-protection-lebanon |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241231104017/https://www.unesco.org/en/culture/cultural-property-under-enhanced-protection-lebanon |archive-date=2024-12-31 |access-date=2025-01-01 |language=en}}</ref>

==Physical description==

The waterfall at Afqa is the source for the River Adonis and is located on a {{convert|600|ft|m|adj=on}} bluff that forms an immense natural amphitheater.<ref name=Afka/> The river emerges from a large limestone cave in the cliff wall which stores and channels water from the melted snow of the mountains before releasing it into springs and streams below.<ref name=Afka/> At Afqa, several watery threads flow from the cave to form numerous cataracts, a scene of great beauty.<ref name=Afka/> The cave has over two miles (three km) of known passageways inside.<ref name="readersnatural">{{Cite book|title=Natural Wonders of the World|publisher=Reader's Digest Association, Inc|year=1980|isbn=0-89577-087-3|editor-last=Scheffel|editor-first=Richard L.|location=United States of America|pages=30|editor2-last=Wernet|editor2-first=Susan J.}}</ref>

A great and ancient temple is located here, where the goddess Aphrodite was worshipped. Eusebius, the biographer of emperor [[Constantine the Great|Constantine I]], wrote that the emperor ordered to demolish the Temple.<ref>[Life of Constantine (1999), Eusebius, trans. Averil Cameron, Stuart G. Hall, Clarendon Press Oxford, 1999, pp. 144-145, «On the Emperor's command the devices of licentious error were at once destroyed, and a detachment of soldiers saw to the clearing of the site. Those who had hitherto indulged themselves learned chastity from the Emperor's menace.»].</ref> Frazer attributes its construction to the legendary forebear of King Cinyras, who was said to have founded a sanctuary for Aphrodite (i.e. Astarte).<ref name=Frazer/> Reconstructed on a grander scale in Hellenistic times, then destroyed by the Emperor Constantine the Great in the fourth century,<ref>[[Eusebius of Caesarea|Eusebius]], ''Vita Constantina'', iii. 55.</ref> it was partially rebuilt by the later fourth-century emperor, [[Julian the Apostate]].<ref name=Afka/> The site was finally abandoned during the reign of [[Theodosius I]]<ref name=Afka/> Massive hewn blocks and a fine column of [[Syenite]] granite still mark the site, on a terrace facing the source of the river.<ref name=Frazer/>

The remains of a [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] aqueduct that carried the waters of the River Adonis to the inhabitants of ancient Byblos are also located here.<ref name=Afka/>

[[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Edward Robinson]] and [[Eli Smith]] camped at the site in 1852, merely remarking on its "shapeless ruins" and the difficulty of transport of two massive columns of Syenite granite.<ref>Edward Robinson and Eli Smith, "Outlines of a Journey in Palestine in 1852" ''Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London'' '''24''' (1854:1-35) p. 35.</ref>  Frazer describes the village at Afqa in his 1922 book, ''[[The Golden Bough]]'' as:
<blockquote>"...the miserable village which still bears the name of Afqa at the head of the wild, romantic, wooded gorge of the Adonis. The hamlet stands among groves of noble walnut trees on the brink of the lyn. A little way off the river rushes from a cavern at the foot of a mighty amphitheater of towering cliffs to plunge in a series of cascades into the awful depths of the glen. The deeper it descends, the ranker and denser grows the vegetation, which, sprouting from the crannies and fissures of the rocks, spreads a green veil over the roaring or murmuring stream in the tremendous chasm below. There is something delicious, almost intoxicating, in the freshness of these tumbling waters, in the sweetness and purity of the mountain air, in the vivid green of the vegetation.<ref name=Frazer/></blockquote>

==Possible early sanctuary of El==
[[Marvin H. Pope]] identified  the home of [[El (god)|El]] in the [[Ugarit|Ugaritic texts]] of ca. 1200 BCE, described as "at the source[s] of the [two] rivers, amid the fountains of the [two] deeps",<ref>''ARI'', p. 72.</ref> with this famous source of the river Adonis and [[Yammoune]], an [[intermittent lake]] on the other side of the mountain, which Pope asserted was closely associated with it in legend.<ref>Pope, "El in the Ugaritic Texts", (''Vetus Testamentum, Supplement'', II) 1955:61ff; approvingly reviewed by [[W. F. Albright]], in ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' '''75'''.3 (September 1956:255-257), who remarked, "However, the identification of El's home with a place in [[Phoenicia]] does not mean that it was not also at a great distance in a cosmic 'never never land'". The "cultic geography" of Adonis, including Afqa, is inspected by Brigitte Soyez in the opening section of ''Byblos et les fêtes des Adonies'' (Leiden: Brill) 1977.</ref>

==Mythology==
[[File:TOBIN(1863) p447 FALLS OF AFKA, LEBANON.jpg|thumbnail|300px|The Falls of Afka, with an ancient bridge (c.1860)]]
In classical Greek mythology, Afqa is associated with the [[Cult (religion)|cult]] of [[Aphrodite]] and [[Adonis]].<ref name=Afka/> According to the myth, [[Cinyras]], the King of Cyprus seduced his daughter [[Myrrha]] who was transformed into a tree that bears her name (see:[[Myrrh]]).<ref name=Afka/> After several months, the tree split open and the child Adonis emerged. He was reared by Aphrodite, who became enamored of him, causing her lover [[Ares]] to grow jealous. Ares sent a vicious boar to kill Adonis.<ref name=Afka/> At the pool at the foot of the falls of Afqa, Adonis bled to death from a deep wound in the groin.<ref name=Afka/> Aphrodite despaired at his death and out of pity for her the gods allowed Adonis to ascend from [[Hades]] for a short period each year.<ref name=Afka/>

Each spring at Afqa, the melting snows flood the river, bringing a reddish mud into the stream from the steep mountain slopes.<ref name=Afka/> The red stain can be seen feeding into the river and far out to the [[Mediterranean Sea]].<ref name=Afka/> Legend held this to be the blood of Adonis, renewed each year, at the time of his death. [[Lucian of Samosata]], a [[Syria]]n by birth,  describes how a local man of [[Byblos]] debunked the legend:
<blockquote>"'This river, my friend and guest, passes through the Libanus: now this Libanus abounds in the red earth. The violent winds which blow regularly on those days bring down into the river a quantity of earth resembling vermilion. It is this earth that turns the river to red. And thus the change in the river's colour is due, not to blood as they affirm, but to the nature of the soil.'  This was the story of the man of [[Byblos]]. But even assuming that he spoke the truth, yet there certainly seems to me something supernatural in the regular coincidence of the wind and the colouring of the river."<ref name=Lucian>{{cite web|title=''De Dea Syria''|publisher=Sacred Texts|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/tsg/tsg07.htm#fr_95|author=(On-line text)}}</ref></blockquote>

Lucian also describes practices by the Byblians of worship which some told him centered not on Adonis, but [[Osiris]].<ref name=Lucian/> He writes that he mastered the secret rites of Adonis at the temple at Afqa and that the locals there asserted that the legend about Adonis was true and occurred in their country.<ref name=Lucian/> Lucian describes the rites, annually performed, that involved the beating of breasts and wailing, and the "perform[ing] [of] their secret ritual amid signs of mourning through the whole countryside. When they have finished their mourning and wailing, they sacrifice in the first place to Adonis, as to one who has departed this life: after this they allege that he is alive again, and exhibit his effigy to the sky."<ref name=Lucian/>

Also in the fertile valley surrounding the river, millions of scarlet [[anemones]] bloom.<ref name=Afka/> Known as Adonis' flowers, according to legend, they spring from his blood, spilled as he lay dying beneath the trees at Afqa, and return each year in remembrance.<ref name=Afka/>

In his "Terminal Essay" in the 1885 translation of ''The Arabian Nights'', Burton describes the temple at Afqa as a place of pilgrimage for the [[Metawali]] sect of [[Shia]] [[Islam]], where vows are addressed to the ''Sayyidat al-Kabirah'' or "the Great Lady".<ref name=Burton/> In the early 20th century, strips of white cloth were still being attached to the ancient fig that shadows the source, and Metawalis and Christians alike were bringing the sick to be cured at "the abode of Sa’īdat Afkā, i.e. a feminine spirit of the same name as the place. Her husband built this temple. He was killed by a wild beast, and she searched among the mountains until she found his mangled body. This is evidently a modified view of the ancient myth of Astarte and Adonis," [[Lewis B. Paton|Lewis Bayles Paton]] reported in 1919, with a photograph of the cloth-hung fig tree.<ref>Paton, "Survivals of primitive religion in modern Palestine" ''The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research in Jerusalem'' '''1''' (1919/20):51-65) p. 55f and fig. 1, p. 56.2.</ref> W. F. Albright noted this survival of this "female saint" as the most remarkable among "very few direct reflections of paganism in the names and legends of modern [[Wali|weli]]s."<ref>Albright, "Islam and the Religions of the Ancient Orient" ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' '''60'''.3 (September 1940:283-301) p. 299. Albright insisted on the spelling ''Seiyidet'': "the spelling 'Sa’īdat Afkā' is naturally wrong".</ref>

==2006 Lebanon War==

During the [[2006 Lebanon War]], the Afqa bridge that connects [[Mount Lebanon]] with the [[Beqaa valley]] was one of five bridges destroyed by [[Israel]]i jets.<ref name=HRC>{{cite web|title=Daily Situation Report |author=Higher Relief Committee |date=5 August 2006 |publisher=Lebanon Under Siege |access-date=2007-12-03 |url=http://www.lebanonundersiege.gov.lb/images_Browse/00000187_HRC%2520Situation%2520Report.doc }}{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite thesis |last=Bakhit |first=Muhammad Adnan Salamah |title=The Ottoman Province of Damascus in the Sixteenth Century |publisher=School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |date=February 1972 |type=PhD}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071009024149/http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/letters/l439.htm A letter] from [[Gertrude Bell]] describing Afqa in 1900
* [http://www.tageo.com/index-e-le-v-05-d-m1155184.htm Map of Lebanon and geographical coordinates for Afqa]
* [http://www.geographic.org/geographic_names/name.php?uni=-1155184&fid=3662&c=lebanon Afqa on www.geographic.org]
* [http://gmap3d.com/?c=le&UF=-797637&UN=-1155190&DG=CAVE 3D Google Map of the Afqa Grotto on gmap3d]
* [http://www.tageo.com/index-e-le-v-05-d-m1155184.htm Afqa on Tageo.com]
* [http://www.localiban.org/spip.php?article4374 Afqa on Localiban] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714152556/http://www.localiban.org/spip.php?article4374 |date=2014-07-14 }}

{{Portal|Lebanon|History|Asia}}

{{Byblos District}}
{{Archaeological sites in Lebanon}}
{{Roman Archaeological sites in Beirut & Lebanon}}

[[Category:Populated places in Byblos District]]
[[Category:Shia Muslim communities in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Levantine mythology]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman temples]]
[[Category:Roman sites in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Summer solstice]]
[[Category:Temples of Aphrodite]]
[[Category:Astarte]]
[[Category:El (deity)]]