page_title: Byblos
section_title: The Byblos archaeological site
hierarchical_section_title: Byblos / The Byblos archaeological site
caption_attribution_description: English: L-Shaped Temple (Sanctuary of El or Resheph). Byblos
context_page_description: Byblos is the largest city in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occupied between 8800 and 7000 BC and continuously inhabited since 5000 BC, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
context_section_description: Ain el-Malik or King’s Spring, about 20 m deep, is a large cavity accessible by spiral stairs. Once it supplied the city with water. According to Plutarch’s version of the Egyptian Osiris myth, the king’s servants met Isis on the stairs of the spring and took her to the royal palace, where she found the body of her husband Osiris embedded in one of the palace pillars.
  The L-shaped Temple was erected about 2700 BC.
  The Temple of the Obelisks, originally built in 1600–1200 BC on top of the “L-shaped temple,” was moved by archaeologists to its present location. The many small obelisks found in this temple were used as religious offerings. The sanctuary contained a large number of human figurines made of bronze covered with gold leaf, which are now displayed in the National Museum of Beirut.
  The necropolis dates back to the second millennium BC and contains tombs of the Byblos kings, including King Ahiram.
  The Roman theater was built around AD 218.
caption: The L-shaped Temple
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-H9", "Image DateTime": "2010:11:28 10:49:33", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "192", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 3, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Landscape Mode", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:11:28 10:49:33", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:11:28 10:49:33", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "23/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "26/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1280", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "960", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}