Thirty minutes later Katie followed him into the grand entrance of the El Tovar Hotel. “Good afternoon, may I help you?” “Room for two, for Dr. Evans.” He looked around at the beautiful rustic hotel, built from massive logs of ponderosa pine and giant slabs of limestone. The hotel was three stories high, designed in a Swiss Alps chalet motif. It was exquisitely beautiful in an old European style. The support timbers were dark, dark brown, almost black with age, giving the ope

The other main temple, in fact the largest temple at Ebla, was located in the Lower Town North, and was part of a large cult complex, Ishtar’s Cult Area, also dedicated to the great goddess, in her quality as patron deity of the whole town. Ishtar’s Temple in the Lower Town (Area P) featured, like the other contemporary temples, one long cella, and was turned to the South, and it was located by the edge of a wide open space, the Cisterns Square, where ceremonies took place, a

“In Northern Iraq there is a place called Lalish where the Yezidis say the universe was born.” — Michael J. Totten The building itself was a large rectangular block structure with a stone patio on the top of the first floor where people were standing, and talking. The structure supported three spires elegantly carved into lines pointing upward into the heavens. They were the dominant architectural elements in the valley. The towers, carved from light reddish-brown colored lim

By the beginning of the Early Bronze Age (about 3000 B.C.) Canaanite Gubla had developed into the most important timber shipping center on the eastern Mediterranean and ties with Egypt were very close, and Egyptian influence can be seen in its art and its religion. The Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom needed the cedar wood and other wood for shipbuilding, tomb construction and funerary ritual. In return, Egypt sent gold, alabaster, papyrus rolls, papyrus rope and linen. Thus began

Nabil recalled the unusual event. Moudad was satisfied the Jema’iyye, the fall pilgrimage festival had been a good one. The Sacrifice of the Bull and the final community meal went off without a hitch yesterday. Now all of the thankful, uplifted people were gone, back to their everyday lives. Yes, the events of the last week went well. But things ended differently this time. “Father, you must come! Something has happened in Ištar’s temple chamber.” A young man with pale skin a