By Amihai Mazar
Israelite religious practices during the time of the Old Testament are detailed in various biblical narratives, such as in the Book of Leviticus, in the descriptions of the Jerusalem temple in the Book of Kings, and in the various prophecies against foreign cults. Further knowledge on the realia (actual objects) of the Israelite cult has been provided by a variety of archaeological finds. One of the most outstanding discoveries in this realm is the temple at Dan.
For almost twenty years an archaeological expedition led by Professor Abraham Biran from the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology in Jerusalem has been digging at Dan, the northernmost biblical site in Israel. Like at other archaeological sites in Israel, the expedition is assisted by hundreds of volunteers who arrive from all over the world to participate in the discovery of the Holy Land’s past. Their efforts at Dan have brought to light the remains of the actual cult place erected by the kings of Israel there.
Jeroboam I, the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel after the division of the kingdom following the death of Solomon, erected two religious centers on the borders of his kingdom, at Bethel and at Dan (I Kings 12:26-33). His purpose was to undermine the monopoly of the ritual center at Jerusalem founded by David and Solomon just half a century before. He also introduced into his temples the golden calf as a cult symbol; this was probably a statue of a young bull, considered to be the pedestal for the unseen god of Israel, like the Cherubim in the Jerusalem Temple. The shape of this bull can perhaps be deduced from a discovery of a bronze statuette of a bull found in what was identified by the author as an early Israelite "High Place," discovered in the mountainous region north of Samaria. The site where the statuette was discovered was used for religious purposes in the early 12th century B.C.E., the time of the Judges. The bull figurine used there might have been inspired from Canaanite prototypes, but it perhaps demonstrates the earliest appearance of the bull’s symbol in Israelite religion.
Jeroboam’s temple at Dan was uncovered at the northern edge of the mound near the important spring of Dan, one of the three sources of the River Jordan. The temple was constructed above an earlier religious center dating from the 11th-10th centuries B.C.E., which may be associated with the Danite migration to this place (Judges 18). The sanctuary erected by Jeroboam and his successors is a unique example of a sacred enclosure from the times of the Old Testament, intended for formal, royal cult practices. It was comprised of three parts: a podium for a temple structure, in front of which was a square open area where the main sacrificial altar was located, and side chambers used for ritual, minor sacrifice and administration.
The podium was an imposing construction. of which a 19 meter-long facade of large ashlar stones was exposed. At fast it was explained as an open air platform, the Hebrew bamah (high place), but later the excavator, Abraham Biran, changed his mind and concluded that it served as a foundation for a real temple. To its south, there was an open courtyard in which a rectangular base of a sacrificial altar 5 x 6 meters in size and built of ashlar stones was uncovered. Two large pottery pithoi on which a snakelike decoration was applied probably contained libation liquids. Further south, there was a small plastered pool whose water, derived from the nearby Spring of Dan, must have been used in the ritual. An installation in the same vicinity is explained by the excavator as related to water libation ceremonies, while others interpret it as an oil press from which first quality olive oil was produced for the religious ceremonies. This first sacred enclosure was severely burnt in a violent conquest, perhaps in the invasion of Ben-Hadad I, King of Aram Damascus in 883 B.C.E.
Later during the 9th century B.C.E., perhaps in the reign of King Ahab, the sacred enclosure at Dan was rebuilt on a larger scale. The podium consisted of ashlar stones and measured 19 x 19 meters; ashlar steps led to it from the south. The altar to the south of the podium was now surrounded by a square enclosure (12.5 x 14 meters) and in tum by a wall built of well cut ashlar stones. It too was approached by a flight of steps. Of the altar itself only a fragment of a corner horn was preserved, but this enables a reconstruction of a large altar built of well cut stones with four horns. A similar altar was discovered at Beer-Sheba. These two altars recall the biblical mention of the altar’s horns as objects to be held when pursued by the civil authorities (see for example I Kings 1:51-52). A smaller horned altar, made of one stone, stood in a niche at the corner of the enclosure. Such smaller altars are known from several Israelite sites as a common feature in daily religious practices.
Around the podium and the altar there was a paved courtyard. A series of elongated rooms on its west side had various functions related to the cult practices. One was probably an assembly room; it was an elongated hall and had a pedestal at one of its narrow walls; another room contained the square foundation of an altar and three iron shovels which were probably used for handling incense.
The entire complex at Dan is a unique example of an Israelite public ritual center, erected and maintained by the kingdom. The enclosure was probably built by royal architects and artisans who were acquainted with the building techniques employed in the royal palaces of the kingdom, as can be learned from similar architectural features found at Dan and at the palace of the Israelite kings at Samaria.
Dan was destroyed in the Assyrian conquest of the Galilee in 732 B.C.E., but the sanctity of the site was remembered for centuries. During the Hellenistic period the enclosure was rebuilt and used again. A bilingual Greek-Aramaic inscription found there is a dedication to "the God of Dan.’
Thus, the discoveries at Dan have, for the first time, revealed an actual building mentioned in the Bible, and provided first hand information on the planning and shape of an Israelite sanctuary in the time of the Monarchy.
