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| Origin of the name | ||
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The name Beit Mery comes from the syriac "Bet
Mâré" which means the place for praying or the house of my master, my king.
This name is in honor of the famous Phoenician god Markod (god of music,
dancing and singing) whose cult was centralized in Beit Mery on the hill of
Deir El Kalaa. And we find, till our days, during the the local feast of
Saint Sassine similarities with the past festivities attributed to the god
Markod.
In Lebanon, there exists numerous towns and village whose name begins with Beit and its origin is somehow alike. |
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| The Old Beirut | ||
| It was told that Beirut had a temple, on elevations called today Deir El Kalaa in Beit Mery, that was called the Old Beirut. This name which was mentioned on several historical documents (the most recent document is an official document written in 1747 related to the properties of the St John convent) certainly has a story. In fact, the inhabitants of Beirut used to find shelter on the hill of Deir El Kalaa when their town was affected by seismic activity, wars and fires (note that Beirut was burned and rebuilt seven times). This phenomenon also took place during the first and second world war (when the Royal Air Force bombarded the capital). |
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| The Roman Era | ||
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During the reign of the roman emperor Claudius Cesar
(year 55), numerous temples, public baths, theatres and stadiums were built
in Beirut and on the hill that held its name (Beit Mery). When the Romans
conquered Lebanon in the half of the 1st century, they appropriated the
local gods in order to satisfy the local religious needs of the inhabitants
of the country. The god Baal Markod was thus considered as being the equivalent of Jupiter, god of the gods. As for the Phoenician goddess Astarte, she was compared to the Roman goddess Juno. Thus, the Romans constructed the temples of Markod-Jupiter and Juno-Astarte which ruins still stand today on the hill of Deir El Kalaa. Note that historians suppose that the Old Beirut was burnt and rebuilt several times during the reign of the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans resulting from seismic activity and wars. Consequently, the temples would have been rebuilt more than once. |
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| Religions and Beliefs | ||
| Time witnessed the conquest of Lebanon by several civilizations. They added their religions and beliefs to the region. Phoenicians and Greeks believed, for example, that high elevations are the residence of the gods and that they use to appear in those high elevations. This is one of the reasons which lead to the construction, in Beit Mery on the hill of Deir El Kalaa, of a temple for the god Baal Markod. It was the first temple in the country to have a view on the whole Lebanese shore. | ||
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