| The remains of several large, rural sanctuaries located on high plateaus are situated within the boundaries of Roman Syria. Each sacred complex has temples identified by inscription and/or iconography as dedicated to a sky/agricultural or a mountain/altar deity, Baalshamin or Zeus. The sanctuaries are found at Tell Kedesh in Israel, in the Massif Calcaire in northern Syria, at Sia' in the Hauran, and at Baetocaece in the coastal Alaouites. The following investigation places the sanctuaries in various frameworks, but the primary focus is an examination of ritual space and its relationship to the landscape.;The countryside in Roman Syria was imbued with meaning long before buildings were added to it. The addition of architecture solidified that meaning and created new relationships within the sacred environment. Certain geographic phenomena are present at each site, yet each sanctuary created a unique dynamic between the architecture and the landscape.;Addressing the sanctuaries' locations in the countryside creates broader frames in which to examine political, economic and spiritual meanings, as well as the significance of the geographic sites themselves. These meanings are all interrelated and not easily separated from one another. The following pages weave together a formal analysis, historical data and epigraphical evidence into the countryside itself in order to present one of the many possible pictures of meaning at the sacred precincts. |
