The history of Damascus' dominant religious edifice spans three millennia starting with the Temple of Hadad under the Arameans all the way to the Omayyad Mosque with the Roman shrine of Jupiter and St. John's Baptist Byzantine Church in-between.
There exists no shortage of palpable evidence of the Roman temple. Colossal remnants of its once magnificent propylaeum are still visible in the west and recycled columns with beautiful Corinthian capitals are still in use in the Temple's most recent Muslim reincarnation. Vestiges of the Hellenistic and Aramean eras on the other hand are practically non-existent.
A sensation discovery was made in the late 1940's during restoration works near the northeast corner of the Mosque. The findings were published in French language by Emir Jaafar Abdul-Kadir in the periodical "Syria" in 1949 (link below). The location is point C on the above diagram where a basaltic orthostat was found encrusted under the north wall in the third row under the Hellenistic foundation. This priceless treasure was disengaged and transferred to the National Museum of Damascus where it currently resides.
As for its dimensions, they're 80 cm x 70 cm with a variable thickness of 31 cm to 51 cm. It represents a winged sphinx that bears clear Egyptian influence with notable exceptions:
1. The upper part of the double crown is horizontal.
2. The shape of the beard.
3. The double wings.
Those elements bear striking resemblance to a Samaritan sphinx made of ivory as well as few ivory artifacts found at Arslan Tash that are currently preserved at the Louvre Museum in France and deemed of Phoenician provenance.
The similarities suggest an equally Phoenician origin of the Damascene sphinx to be dated in all likelihood to the ninth century B.C. and the reign of King Hazael. It also implies that the services of Phoenician artisans were at least occasionally solicited by the rulers of Israel and Damascus.
http://www.persee.fr/doc/syria_0039-7946_1949_num_26_3_4515
https://english.louvrebible.
There exists no shortage of palpable evidence of the Roman temple. Colossal remnants of its once magnificent propylaeum are still visible in the west and recycled columns with beautiful Corinthian capitals are still in use in the Temple's most recent Muslim reincarnation. Vestiges of the Hellenistic and Aramean eras on the other hand are practically non-existent.
A sensation discovery was made in the late 1940's during restoration works near the northeast corner of the Mosque. The findings were published in French language by Emir Jaafar Abdul-Kadir in the periodical "Syria" in 1949 (link below). The location is point C on the above diagram where a basaltic orthostat was found encrusted under the north wall in the third row under the Hellenistic foundation. This priceless treasure was disengaged and transferred to the National Museum of Damascus where it currently resides.
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| The orthostat as it appeared in situ |
1. The upper part of the double crown is horizontal.
2. The shape of the beard.
3. The double wings.
Those elements bear striking resemblance to a Samaritan sphinx made of ivory as well as few ivory artifacts found at Arslan Tash that are currently preserved at the Louvre Museum in France and deemed of Phoenician provenance.
The similarities suggest an equally Phoenician origin of the Damascene sphinx to be dated in all likelihood to the ninth century B.C. and the reign of King Hazael. It also implies that the services of Phoenician artisans were at least occasionally solicited by the rulers of Israel and Damascus.
http://www.persee.fr/doc/syria_0039-7946_1949_num_26_3_4515
https://english.louvrebible.
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