Precinct of Eshmun

Principally worshipped as a healing deity, Eshmun was also a protector and the guardian of the Phoenician city of Sidon. He was also associated with spring and the renewal of life. Temples to Eshmun, such as the great complex near Sidon, had stone water channels and great basins to allow worshippers to carry out purifying ablutions before any rites. Votive offerings were left in the cisterns and pools as thanks for the gift of healing or in the hope of securing Eshmun’s favour. The story of Eshmun’s origin is a little gory, and gentlemen of a nervous disposition should look away now. Eshmun was originally a mortal man, and his beauty captivated and entranced the goddess Astarte. She pursued him relentlessly, determined to take him as a lover. In order to escape her advances, and in a rather permanent way, Eshmun castrated himself. With an axe. Unfortunately for all concerned, he died from the wound. The grief-stricken Astarte brought him back from the dead, and made him a god, so his axe work didn’t have the desired outcome after all.