Agnosticism / Atheism: What's Hot Now: Diagram of the Temple of Venus

Agnosticism / Atheism: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Diagram of the Temple of Venus Oct 17th 2011, 10:04 This diagram shows what the Temple of Venus in Baalbek, Lebanon, originally looked like. Today all that's left is the wall to the rear. Although earthquakes and time probably did most of the damage, Christians may have contributed to it. There are many examples of early Christians attacking religious worship here -- not merely worship at Baalbek generally, but at the Temple of Venus in particular. It appears that sacred prostitution occurred on the site and it may be that in addition to this small temple there were several other structures associated with the worship of Venus and Astarte. According to Eusebius of Caesarea "men and women vie with one another to honour their shameless goddess; husbands and fathers let their wives and daughters publicly prostitute themselves to please Astarte." This could help explain why the Temple of Venus is so small relative to the Jupiter and Bacchus temples, as well as why it's located off to the side of the other two rather than integrated into the main complex.

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