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Roman Byblos

the seaport city around 300 CE

page added November 3, 2022

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 Roman Byblos - the history

aerial view of Roman ByblosAfter a lull during the Hellenistic period, Byblos had a resurgence during the Roman era (hover over the image at the left to enlarge). Byblos became a very large city with temples, shrines, long colonnaded streets, grand avenues, villas, and gridded residential neighborhoods spreading out across countryside far beyond the confines of the two hills that once defined the town limits. A large harbor was constructed to the north of the city, and there was now no need for a fortifications. All remnants of previous habitations vanished beneath the marble metropolis. Have a look at our reconstructions below, and be sure to check our animated video flyover.






 Roman Byblos - the buildings

Astarte Temple complexThe image at the left (hover over to enlarge) shows many of the major monuments of the Roman city. The Basilica is the large sandstone building dominating the hill at the upper right. Below it to the left is the small theater. The large complex to the right center of the rendering is the Adonis Temple temenos. The building in the lower left is the Astarte Temple complex (also known as the Gebal Baalat temple; continuing a long tradition of such structures on this site). The temenos encloses the main temple building with a wide colonnaded front, a courtyard, and separate storage or office spaces.

the Basilica and harborThis aerial view (hover over the image to enlarge) looking eastward over the harbor clearly shows the hilltop location of the Basilica. This very large structure, also set within its own temenos walls, is built with very large ashlar blocks, akin to similar temples in Rome at the time. The temenos has two gates, one terminating a steep road leading up from the lower town and a second opening to the theater.

Astarte Temple complex, baths, and basilicaHere we see the Adonis Temple complex (also known as the Grand Temple Roman; hover over the image to enlarge). The Basilica again looms above it with the theater below the Basilica. The city baths can be seen in the lower right corner of the image. Its covered porch leads to the front door; the long vaulted roof covers the different pools comprising the baths. The Adonis temple complex includes a large formal propylon giving entry to the encircling peristyle. Inside the courtyard are several temples, isncluding the large central Adonis Temple (which has its own massive entry portico), small subsidiary sanctuaries, plus numerous storage spaces and a ritual basin.

NymphaeumThe Nymphaeum, or public water basin, sits at the bend in the major colonnaded street connecting the harbor with the rest of the city (hover over the image at the left to enlarge). This large structure provided several spigots for people to obtain fresh water from the main basin within the apse. The Nymphaeum had many sculptures in niches representing Hygeia and Achilles, Penthesilea and Orphaeus with animals; and its facade was adorned with colorful Turkish-granite Corinthian columns.

main street A view down the main street of ancient Roman Byblos, looking toward the Nymphaeum in the distance (hover over the image to enlarge). This busy colonnaded thoroughfare was flanked by shops of various kinds and led from a triple gate uphill from the harbor into the main town, a large section of gridded roads expanding across the countryside east of the two hills where the main temples were located (see also the aerial view at the top of this page).

Roman Byblos neighborhood sceneRoman Byblos neighborhood sceneOut in the residential neighborhoods, life was much different than in the heart of the city (hover over the images at the left to enlarge). Things were less grand, a bit more chaotic, and typical of regular everyday life in the ancient world. These images represent our best guesses as to the types of scenes one might have found walking through back streets of ancient Byblos.








 Roman Byblos - virtual heritage

In our continuing effort to push the boundaries of interactive online archaeological visualizations, we have converted one of the ancient Roman neighborhoods into virtual reality for you to explore. Using the latest technology and not requiring any plugins or additional tools, the world below provides a peek into Byblos' past. Note that this is a large file and may take a minute or two to load (depending on your connection speed), and it may strain the processors of older systems to run smoothly. Once it opens, you can move around the virtual world with your mouse, the arrow keys, or the 'W,' 'A,' 'S,' and 'D' keys; press 'C' to freeze the cursor while you look around or explore the rest of this page. There is much to see (be sure you check out down the ends of both streets); enjoy.