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.
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South Lebanon:
