in the Greek style, surmounted by
a triangular pediment, and dating, at the earliest, from the time of the
Seleucides; the other terminated in a long colonnade, belonging to the
same period, added as a new facade to an earlier building, apparently in
order to bring it abreast of more modern requirements.

[Illustration: 252.jpg]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the original in the _Cabinet
des Medailles_.

The sanctuary which stands hidden behind this incongruous veneer is, as
represented on the coins, in a very archaic style, and is by no means
wanting in originality or dignity. It consists of a vast rectangular
court surrounded by cloisters. At the point where lines drawn from the
centres of the two doors seem to cross one another stands a conical
stone mounted on a cube of masonry, which is the beth-el animated by
the spirit of the god: an open-work balustrade surrounds and protects it
from the touch of the profane. The building was perhaps not earlier
than the Assyrian or Persian era, but in its general plan it evidently
reproduced the arrangements of some former edifice.*

* The author of the _De Dea Syra_ classed the temple of
Byblos among the Phoenician temples of the old order, which
were almost as ancient as the temples of Egypt, and it is
probable that from the Egyptian epoch onwards the plan of
this temple must have been that shown on the coins; the
cloister arcades ought, however, to be represented by
pillars or by columns supporting architraves, and the fact
of their presence leads me to the conclusion that the temple
did not exist in the form known to us at a date earlier than
the last Assyrian period.

At an early time El was spoken of as the first king of G-ablu in the
same manner as each one of his Egyptian fellow-gods had been in their
several nomes, and the story of his exploits formed the inevitable
prelude to the beginning of human history. Grandson of Eliun who had
brought Chaos into order, son of Heaven and Earth, he dispossessed,
vanquished, and mutilated his father, and conquered the most distant
regions one after another--the countries beyond the Euphrates, Libya,
Asia Minor and Greece: one year, when the plague was ravaging his
empire, he burnt his own son on the altar as an expiatory victim, and
from that time forward the priests took advantage of his example
to demand the sacrifice of children in moments of public danger or
cal