On
the right side of the road lies one of the largest monolithic
stone coffins found in Lebanon. This huge limestone
sarcophagus, the so-called Hiram's tomb or Qabr Hiram,
belongs, according to local tradition, either to Hiram I, the
Tyrian king, or to Hiram, the Tyrian architect and builder of
the Solomonic temple.
Some scholars reject this identification
and date the sarcophagus to the mid-first millennium B.C. The
overall height of the monument is 6m. Below the sarcophagus
are three courses of large stone slabs and a rock-cut cave
which was first discovered by Renan in the mid-nineteenth
century. Its relation to the tomb remains unclear. In the
village of Hanaway (11 kilometers) are the ruins of what seems
to be a Phoenician settlement. |