The Phoenician sanctuary of Kharayeb is a historic temple in the hinterland of Tyre, Southern Lebanon, that was excavated in three stages. In 1946, Maurice Chehab, head of Lebanon's Directorate General of Antiquities, led the first mission that revealed a Hellenistic period temple and thousands of clay figurines dating from the sixth-to-first centuries BC. Excavations in 1969 by Lebanese archaeologist Brahim Kaoukabani and in 2009 by the Government of Italy yielded evidence of cultic practices, and produced a detailed reconstruction of the sanctuary's architecture.
Illustrative reconstruction of the sanctuary
Figurines of the Iron Age from Kharayeb and Tyre, at the National Museum of Beirut
Figurines of the Hellenistic period (330–31 BC) from Kharayeb and Tyre, showcasing Greek influence, displayed at the Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport
Terracotta figurine holding a duck from the Kharayeb sanctuary, in the collection of the National Museum of Beirut
Roman temple of Bziza
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The Roman temple of Bziza is a well-preserved first century AD building dedicated to Azizos, a personification of the morning star in ancient Arab polytheism. This Roman temple lends the modern Lebanese town of Bziza its current name, as Bziza is a corruption of Beth Azizo meaning the house or temple of Azizos. Azizos was identified as Ares by Emperor Julian.
Temple of Azizos in Bziza