Yanouh, Byblos

The families native to Yanouh are Ghanem, Ephrem, Bahout, Bardawil, Beaini, Hawat, Dagher, Souaid, Assaker, Maroun, Nohra, Zaaiter and Zeid.

The earliest remains at Tell el Kharayeb (“Hill of Ruins”) in Yanouh date back to the third millennium BC; these include a town of about {{convert|150|m|ft}} in diameter, surrounded by a defensive wall and a lower urban quarter extending towards the south of the site. Surrounding the hill are a number of rectangular underground tombs with walls built of carefully hewn parallelepiped blocks. From the 12th to the 4th century BC the site witnessed significant agricultural and domestic development as manifested by archaeological artifacts found on site.{{Sfn|Aliquot|2006|pp=233–271|loc=Paragraphs 92–93}} During an archeological survey in the early 2000s, remnants of religious sandstone building from the second half of the 2nd century BC were uncovered along with an Aramaic inscription belonging to the same Hellenistic period.{{sfn|Charpentier|2020|pp=75–93|loc=Paragraph 4–5}} The inscription is notable for being the earliest known Aramaic writing to be found on Lebanese soil; it mentions a “House of God” and was dated to around 110-109 BC.{{Sfn|Briquel-Chatonnet|Bordreuil|2001}} In the first century AD, a small roman temple was annexed to the east of the Hellenistic religious structure and a grand temple, complete with a temenos and columned portico, was built to it's north. The small temple was, like the earlier Hellenistic structure, oriented to the south. The Great Temple and it's temenos were oriented on an east-west axis, with the access pointing eastward.{{sfn|Charpentier|2020|pp=75–93|loc=Paragraph 4–16}}{{Sfn|Aliquot|2006|pp=233–271|loc=Paragraphs 96–102}} Both small temple and great temples were built with contrasting blue-gray limestone, which gave the temple the local appellation of Mar Girios al-Azrak (Saint George the Blue), since the structure was reused as a Christian church dedicated to the Saint.{{sfn|Charpentier|2020|pp=75–93|loc=Paragraph 3, 6}}{{Sfn|Aliquot|2006|pp=233–271|loc=Paragraph 92}} The titulary deity of the Roman sanctuary remains unidentified due to the absence of inscriptions.{{Sfn|Aliquot|2006|pp=129–130}} In the Byzantine Period, between the 4th and 7th centuries CE, the portico of the Great Temple was torn down. A Christian basilica with columns was built towards the end of the 5th century. During the first half of the 7th century a fire destroyed much of the buildings and reconstruction and rearrangement immediately followed; the basilica with columns was replaced by one with pillars. The whole site was transformed into a monastery.{{sfn|Charpentier|2020|pp=75–93|loc=Paragraphs 18–34}}

The Christians of Yanouh enjoyed quiet and prosperity even under Umayyad rule. Under the harsh Abbasid domination, between the 8th and 9th centuries, the site was totally abandoned, only to be repopulated under the Crusaders between the 10th and 13th centuries where inhabitants numbered 3500. During this time a chapel was built to the north of the Great Roman temple, which was itself turned into a church; the basilica was reshaped with access from the south side and thirty-five chapels were added to form a monastery complex. During this period, more land was cleared for agriculture and village dwellings appeared on the tell.

The whole site became a monastery named The Virgin of Ianosh (Anoch) and became with Patriarch Yuhanna in 938 the patriarchal seat of the Maronite Church until the mid-13th century. Between 1215 and 1246, two papal bulls mentioned the seat of the patriarchs as being the Church of the Virgin of Ianosh.

In 1276, under Mameluke persecution, the Maronite Patriarchate moved from Yanouh to Saint Ilige in the village of Mayfouq. In the 15th century Yanouh and its surroundings were occupied by Shiites. In 1534 war waged between Kaisites and Yamanites in Joubbat El Mneitra and a great many inhabitants left. The monastery and village of Yanouh were deserted once again and the area described by Patriarch Estephan El Douaihy as a desert.

Yanouh is situated at Joubbat El Mneitra, 5 km east of Qartaba, on the right bank of the upper valley of the Adonis river. It is 40 km east of Byblos and 80 km from the capital city Beirut.

File:The blue convent.jpg|The grand temple from within

File:روعة وعظمة الإتقان الهندسي,و ابداع البشر في المغيري ما قبل الميلاد.jpg|Door-window decorations of the grand temple

File:تيجان المعبد الفينيقي في المغيري.jpg|Grand temple capital remains and decorative elements

File:البناء الأقدم ذو اللون الازرق والكنائس التي تعود للعصور الوسطي بالحجر الأسمر.jpg|The temenos wall (yellow) and the grand temple in the background

File:واجهة المعبد الفينيقي- الروماني- البيزنطي.jpg|Ornate lateral windows of the grand temple

File:ابداع البشر في المغيري ما قبل الميلاد.jpg|The adyton niche of the grand temple

File:دير يانوح- المغيري.jpg|General view of the site

File:دير مار جريس الأزرق.jpg|The temple is also called Mar Girios el Azrak as a church was once installed in the temple ruins.

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Aliquot |first=Julien |date=2006 |title=La vallée d'Adonis : à propos de Yanouh et le Nahr Ibrahim |trans-title=The valley of Adonis: about Yanouh and Nahr Ibrahim |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00306497/document |url-status=live |journal=Chronos |language=fr |volume=14 |pages=125 |oclc=784158544 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231015201630/https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00306497/document |archive-date=15 October 2023}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Briquel-Chatonnet |first1=Françoise |author-link1=Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet |last2=Bordreuil |first2=Pierre |date=2001 |title=Une nouvelle écriture araméenne au mont Liban (Appendix to Mission de Yanouh et de la haute vallée du Nahr Ibrahim Rapport Préliminaire 1999-2000) |trans-title=A new Aramaic script in Mount Lebanon |url= |journal=Bulletin d'Archéologie et d'Architecture Libanaises |language=fr |location=Beirut |publisher=Ministère de la culture [du Liban], Direction générale des antiquités |volume=5 |pages=148–152 |oclc= |trans-chapter=}}
• {{Cite conference |last=Briquel-Chatonnet |first=Françoise |date=2005 |editor-last=al-Ghul |editor-first=Omar |editor2-last=Zeyadeh |editor2-first=Afaf |title=The newly published Aramaic inscription of Yanouh (Lebanon) and the question of the Itureans |url=https://www.academia.edu/4458901 |conference=Proceedings of Yarmouk Second Annual Colloquium on Epigraphy and Ancient Writings 7th-9th October 2003 |publisher=Yarmoukh University |pages=1–10 |access-date=3 April 2025 |work=}}
• {{Cite book |last=Charpentier |first=Gérard |title=Chantiers et matériaux de construction : De l'Antiquité à la Révolution industrielle en Orient et en Occident |date=2020 |url=http://books.openedition.org/momeditions/9782 |pages=75–93 |editor-last=Baud |editor-first=Anne |series=Archéologie(s) |place=Lyon |publisher=MOM Éditions |language=fr |trans-title=Building Sites and Materials: From Antiquity to the Industrial Revolution in the East and the West |chapter=Remplois et restitution : le cas des sanctuaires de Yanouh (Liban) |trans-chapter=Replacements and restitution: the case of the Yanouh sanctuaries (Lebanon) |isbn=978-2-35668-175-1}}
• {{Cite web |last=Service de communication, Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée |date=2006-11-10 |title=Yanouh et le Nahr Ibrahim |url=http://www.mom.fr/Yanouh-et-le-Nahr-Ibrahim.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061210163605/http://www.mom.fr/Yanouh-et-le-Nahr-Ibrahim.html |archive-date=10 December 2006 |access-date=2010-08-14 |work=Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée |language=fr}}

{{Byblos District}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Populated places in Byblos District

Category:Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon