#aeichala

Temple of Zeus Hypsistos

Thelsea (Al-Dumayr, Syria)

94 CE (?)

The temple in Dumeir was a tetrastyle flat-façade temple with Semitic corner Towers. The temple was rededicated several times-  one inscription mentions the not well-known deity Aeichala and another inscription, now in the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, documents that in the year 94, construction work took place. In this text, the deity is identified as Ba'al Šamem, the "lord of heavens". Later, the god was called Zeus Hypsistos, the Greek name of Ba'al Šamem. 

Some modern scholars identify the group, or groups worshipping Hypsistos, with God-fearers mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, gentile (non-Jewish) sympathizers with Second Temple Judaism.

 The unusual building itself, essentially a monument with two gates, is perfectly preserved. It must have started as an enclosure surrounding a well. 

While its construction date is unknown, it was probably a Nabatean building, likely converted to a temple around the 2nd century

 In its present state, with walls standing seventeen meter high, the monument dates to the reign of Philip the Arab (r.244-249), who was born in the nearby Hauran region. Corner towers and staircases prove that rituals were performed on the roof, as was customary in Syria. In the Arab period, the building was converted to a fort, the gates being filled with stones.

*top reconstruction is by me, coloring based on references and not on finding on site.  

An interesting altar, now in the Louvre in Paris, offers a lot of information about the people. Its hexagonal shape betrays Roman influence, but the inscription is in Nabataean, a language related to Arabic. It informs us that the local mayor was called "general" and that family relations were quite complex: the altar is erected by one Hani'u, freedman of a lady named Gadilu, daughter of Bagrat and mother of two sons, who were adopted by her second husband, Abdmaniku the General. One these sons, Adramu, became General as well. (The other son was called Nakidu.) Interestingly, the Seleucid Era is called the Roman Era and equated to the regnal years of king Rabbel II of Petra, indicating the double identity of the people of Thelsae.