Hermel

Located at the feet of the oriental buttresses of northern Lebanon, 5km from the spring of the Orontis River and in the middle of a grassy ghouta, Hermel consists of an archeological "tell" at the foot of which mills, drums, and capitals of columns are lying, attesting the antiquity of the site. Its proximity to the source of the Orontis and the most forested part of Lebanon, have, since ancient times, destined it and its surrounding area to be a borderland, a zone of waters distribution, and a path approaching one of the most covered forests of the oriental empires.

Der Mar Maroun

Deir Mar Maroun close to the sources of the Orontis, its 3 floors are entirely built in the rock and dated(6th-7th c the ruins of a convent and several churches from the second half of the 6th century in the village of Brissa the ruined church of Marihin that had yielded in 1958 59 from the 6th- 7th c. golden, silver, and bronze items including procession crosses, chalices, patens, censers, and lamps, of which 16 are exhibited at the national museum.

Shallalat Ain Al Zarkaa

the sources of the orontis

The Hermel sources are the most beautiful of the three groups of the Orontis springs that are located in the north of the Beqaa; since the antiquity, they have constituted the center of the vast gardens that the ancient texts had called Paradeissos or; Triparadeissos and were considered an excellent bridge of geographical reference able to mark state borders  We find the traces of these; gardens;  or paradises; above el-Qaa at the place called al Bassateen; which is an Arabic translation of the Greek world;paradeissos;  These gardens were irrigated from channels, the most spectacular of which is; or the white channel, large underground conduct, stacked out Qanat-el- Beida; with ventilation shafts, arranged at regular intervals. The underground channels departed from ancient dams near the surface channels of which are still in use today

The Oront River  is 488km

The name of the Oront is very old: it is mentioned in the Mesopotamian texts the first-millennium BC.and by classic authors under the Hellenized form; Orontes. The Arabs sources knew certainly of the term Nahrel- oront, but, as it flows Sout Northward they had preferred to call it Nahr el- Maqloub Ithe reversed river), and si(the rebel river)because it could not be irrigated unless it is tamed by the Norias. However, the etymology of the Arabian name Assi comes from Axios, the name that was given by the Macedonians since Alexander the Great, as it reminds ed them of their Axios, which is now known as the Vardar River.

Hermel Pyramid.

The most famous monument of the Greco-roman period is indisputable; Qi el-Hermel; it is an Amou; 26m high tower standing on a prince tomb of the 1 st or 2nd century B.C. at the top of a rocky hill at 2km from the city, restored in 1931, the monument is composed of a lower floor decorated with hunting sceneries, and a higher one decorated with pilasters topped by ionic capitals and a pyramidal cover.

Reliefs of Hunting scenes are visible:

On the Eastside: we can see a boar pierced by three Spears and attacked by two watchdogs, over the dogs one sees cylinders surrounded by ropes or a set of disks These reliefs were surmounted by a frame that had once enclosed an inscription that has since disappeared.

The north side: shows two deers one in front of the other, standing on a board under which two crossed spears seem surmounted by a trap, under each of the deers is placed a cylinder.

The west side: shows a large bull attacked by two wolves behind which we see spears and ropes.

The south side: is almost completely worn away, but we see an animal probably a bear, and some accessories.

Over the higher registers which are decorated with four pilasters, raises, a square pyramid roughly 3meters in height.