Ain Dara temple - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Ain Dara temple - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The Ain Dara temple is an Iron Age Syro-Hittite temple noted for its similarities to Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple, as described in the Hebrew Bible. It is located near the village of Ain Dara, in Afrin, Syria. According to the excavator Ali Abu Assaf, it existed from 1300 BC until 740 BC and remained almost unchanged during the construction of Solomon's Temple (1000–900 BC) as it had been before, so that it predates the Temple. The temples of Emar, Mumbaqa, and Ebla (Temple D) are also comparable, as is the nearby 8th-century Tell Tayinat temple. The surviving sculptures depict lions and sphinxes (comparable to the cherubim of the First Temple). Read more on Wikipedia
Source: en.wikipedia.org