Ain Dara archaeological site located on a mound on the east bank of the river Afrin in northern Syria, about 7 km south of the city of Afrin & 49 km northwest of Aleppo.
At the northern end of the citadel mound there is a temple which cover area of 38 by 32 meters with an entrance from the southeast side. The temple itself has a rectangular antecella, a square cella, and a surrounding gallery on three sides.
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| Image credit: Wikipedia |
The mysterious temple first attracted the attention of the archaeological world in 1954-55 when a large basalt lion statue was discovered accidentally.
Later it was excavated by a team of Feisal Seirafi in 1956, 1962 and 1964 , and under ʿAlī Abū ʿAssāf in 1976, 1978 and 1980-1988.
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| Image credit: Wikipedia |
According to Bible History Daily, "The similarities between the ‘Ain Dara’ temple and the Solomon temple described in the Bible are indeed striking,” Both buildings were erected on huge artificial platform (2.5 foot) built on the highest point in their respective cities”. However later it confirmed they were not the same temple by archaeologists.
The temple was constructed and extended in several stages and decorated with orthostats and statues which most of them made from dark basalt stone.
Estimating the temple's age is difficult due to the lack of written historical sources. However, by examining the relief symbols engraved on the inside of the temple confirms that the site was built during the Hittite Empire period.
The Ain Dara site is believed to had been erected at the start of the Iron Age, somewhere between 1300 and 1000 B.C. It was extended by the Syro-Hittites, a group of political entities which emerged after the fall of the Hittite Empire.
The most baffling feature of this temple is an enormous 1-meter long footprints which engraved on the limestone threshold blocks.
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| Image credit: Hittite Monuments |
One pair of footmarks is found on the floor of the portico, while a second footprint stands about 30 feet away, just at the entrance into the main hall.
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| Image credit: Hittite Monuments |
It would take a considerable leap of 30 feet to reach from one footprint to the other.
Whose footprints are these? The question may never be answered because in January 2018, during the Civil War in Syria, most of the shrines were blown to pieces by the aerial bomb attack.
The colossal lion statue outside the temple is reportedly have been taken away by rebel groups in 2019.
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