Adonis' flowers, according to legend, they spring from his blood, spilled as he lay dying beneath the trees at Afqa, and return each year in remembrance. In his "Terminal Essay" in the 1885 translation of The Arabian Nights, Burton describes the temple at Afqa as a place of pilgrimage for the Metawali sect of Shia Islam, where vows are addressed to the Sayyidat al-Kabirah or "the Great Lady". In the early 20th century, strips of white cloth were still being attached to the ancient fig that shadows the source, and Metawalis and Christians alike were bringing the sick to be cured at "the abode of Sa’īdat Afkā, i.e. a feminine spirit of the same name as the place. Her husband built this temple. He was killed by a wild beast, and she searched among the mountains until she found his mangled body. This is evidently a modified view of the ancient myth of Astarte and Adonis," Lewis Bayles Paton reported in 1919, with a photograph of the cloth-hung fig tree. W. F. Albright noted this survival of this "female saint" as the most remarkable among "very few direct reflections of paganism in the names and legends of modern welis." 2006 Lebanon War During the 2006 Lebanon War, the Afqa bridge that connects Mount Lebanon with the Beqaa valley was one of five bridges destroyed by Israeli jets. References Bibliography External links A letter from Gertrude Bell describing Afqa in 1900 Map of Lebanon and geographical coordinates for Afqa Afqa on www.geographic.org 3D Google Map of the Afqa Grotto on gmap3d Afqa on Tageo.com Afqa on Localiban Populated places in Byblos District Shia Muslim communities in Lebanon Archaeological sites in Lebanon Levantine mythology Ancient Roman temples Roman sites in Lebanon Tourist attractions in Lebanon