Ain Dara

Ain Dara is a settlement best known for its destroyed Iron Age Syro-Hittite temple. The temple is noted for its similarities to Solomon's Temple, also known as the "First Temple in Jerusalem", as described in the Hebrew Bible. According to the excavator, Ali Abu Assaf, it existed from 1300 BC until 740 BC and remained almost unchanged during the construction of Solomon's Temple (1000–900 BC) as it had been before so it predates the First Temple. The temples of Emar, Mumbaqat, and Ebla (Temple D) are also comparable, as is the nearby 8th century BCE temple at Tell Tayinat. The surviving sculptures depict lions and sphinxes, which are comparable to the cherubim of the First Temple. Massive footprints were carved into the floor; whether of giants, humans, or animals is debatable. Also left to speculation is to whom the temple is dedicated. Ain Dara may have been devoted to Inanna, the female Mesopotamian deity of fertility and civilisation, or to the Canaanite version of Ishtar, Aṯtart. It also might have been dedicated to the male storm deity Hadad, or it might have been an oracle on a road known as the international coastal highway between the Syrian Desert and Mediterranean Sea. According to the Assad government, the temple was significantly damaged by Turkish jets during the Turkish military operation in Afrin in late January 2018. Reports indicate that at least 60% percent of the structure was reduced to rubble. The entire front facade of the temple has been destroyed in photos and video released online. The site's emblematic basalt lion was stolen in December 2019 by members of the Hamza Division, which was part of the Syrian National Army. Based on remote sensing by January 2022, "the entirety of the high and low mounds, with the exception of the stone-built temple complex itself, had been bulldozed".

Ain Dara is located near the village of Ain Dara, in Afrin District, in the Aleppo Governorate, Syria. The site is 67 kilometres (42 mi) northwest of Aleppo near the Syro-Turkish border.

The site history begins with the earliest habitation signs in the Chalcolithic, period during the fourth millennium BC. The tell remained occupied until the Ottoman period (1517 -1917). Ain Dara overlooks the Afrin Valley where trade routes crossed from Mesopotamia (east), Anatolia (north), Levant (south) and the Mediterranean (west). The site covers 25 ha (60 acres), consisting of an Upper City (acropolis; 25 m (82 ft) above the plain) and Lower Town.

Ali Abu Assaf discovered the temple and inferred that it was built in three structural phases in the period from about 1300 BC to 740 BC. The first phase was from 1300 to 1000 BC, the second phase from 1000 to 900 BC, and third phase from 900 to 740 BC.

Around 1350 BC, Suppiluliuma I of Hatti conquered most of vassal kingdoms and the land west of the Euphrates from Tushratta of Mitanni. He installed his son as the Viceroy of Aleppo which most likely controlled the Afrin Valley as well. Another son was installed as the Viceroy of Carchemish to the east. If Temple Phase I was begun around 1300 BC, then this would have happened in the late reign of Mursili II or early reign of Muwatalli II. At the time, the Hittites mobilized their armies both to the south towards Egypt and east towards Assyria. Ain Dara would then have been located on important routes with major traffic from Anatolia into the Northern Levant. The Hittite Empire controlled this region until it collapsed around 1190 BCE at the end of the Late Bronze Age.

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).