[SOUND] [MUSIC] The sacred area of the garden was the largest Phoenician sanctuary in the Mediterranean. At the center of the sanctuary, there was a huge pool. The pool for the fresh waters. On the eastern side there was the Temple of Baal, Greek Poseidon, which was an obelisk in the middle, and a sacred well. On the opposite side of the circle, of the sacred precinct, in the area in which we are now, there was the temple of fresh waters, of sacred waters. This temple was full of drains collecting waters in a specific point, which was this one. When two stones were just put as covers over a cistern, an underwater cistern. Where did Phoenicians take this idea of obelisks that they used in the [INAUDIBLE] in the sacred area of the [INAUDIBLE]? This question could be answered looking back to the east, to one of the main cities of Phoenicia, that is Byblos in northern Lebanon. As you see, this temple or the Temple of Obelisk was actually characterized by the presence of these upright stones, which are tapering. And they are not exactly like the prototypes in Egypt, which are ten meters or more high, these are very small production, let's say. They are one meter and a half up to three meters high. And they are connected with a card of celestial deities. Or aligning, that is, like stars, and they are often connected also with anchor stones. You see that just beside one of the obelisks there is an anchor stone with a pierced anchor stone. In some cases, the obelisks have small holes that were used to put inside both tetris or prius, written upon shards or other supports. So we see the location of Byblos, and we see the connection of all these ancient cities. This town was one of the earliest and most ancient city of Phoenicia. It arose around a central well, a sacred well, or what is called a spring. And it was inhabited since the neolithic period. So very early periods. And it became a city around the end of the fourth millenium BC, much earlier than other sites in the Levant, so it's very, very interesting. Of course there are many monuments nowadays. Some of them are later, are Roman, of the time of the Crusaders. But what we are interested in is the early Bronze Age. That is the early stage of the city. Again, for having another example of this early urbanization, which was in the roots that the Phoenicians carried to the west. So, you see here the main buildings, some of them are temples, many of them are temples. Then there is a royal necropolis, and there was also a palace, which has unfortunately disappeared. There is a dwelling quarter, and there is of course, a central spring that these the central place of the site. Among sacred buildings, there an old obelisk temple is a distinguished example of what actually was a Phoenician temple. Because it has an entrance, it has a sacred precinct. And all around the main shrine, which is in the center, there were many other installations. Some of them connected with wells. So you see that on the back side of the temple, there is a cistern and aside the temples, there is a well. So water was connected with this as well, as it was the of the sun, and of the other major stars of the Phoenician sky. So, you see here two images of the temple as it was reconstructed by the archaeologist as they excavated it. And there was a major monument in the centre, which was not unfortunately preserved up to now. You see the entrance and just right the entrance, you see that there are some very interesting installations, such as the small obelisk with a small shrine inside it. So this was for hosting an statuette of bronze depicting the gods. Of course in this case, the particular god of this temple which that is a god of revenge. And in some cases of the health. You see there was also a slab for sacrifices. All these things, then we found them again in the west, in the Phoenician expansion. Look for example to this shrine. It is very similar to many of what we can found on the status of a in the west. So there is a connection. Within the temple, there was a deposit. And this deposit concealed some secret weapons like this golden axe. And they were connected possibly to the dedication by this king who wrote his name in an Egyptian hieroglyphics upon one of these obelisks. Which is very, it looks like so much like an Egyptian and a specimen but it is again smaller than Egyptians. So from the same context that is the tomb of this king, we have an extraordinary dagger made of gold, with depiction, which shows a king of this current people during a hunting. Which was the major activity was the god is depicted on the handle of the dagger. And many of this gods, which you can easily recognize by the fact that they are coated with gold foil, were found in the secret areas of Byblos. There are thousand of these. So, it was common to keep such gods images within houses or in temples to be worshiped. And they usually have this straight angle carrying a weapon or a with which, the God of the Thunderstorm used to hit clouds to produce rain. As they landed in they found a place rich of water. And for this reason, they built up a temple and building, which was useful for exchange merchants. Merchandise their own products and start to live on the island. But the secret of the this early settlement was fresh water and this is the place in which fresh water was collected. Is a large pool with a spring, which is at the head of the pool on the northern side. And water was springing out from that group of blocks, protruding from the side wall of the pool.