Soon, under Egyptian influence, the Phœnicians began to construct temples. The _maabed_ (temple) of Amrith[90] is still an Egyptian temple on a small scale; as in the latter, there is a _cella_ or tabernacle of stone, within which the divine image was contained. It is composed of slabs erected on three sides. One side remained open, and was only closed by a curtain. The monolithic slab of the roof is adorned on its four edges with a light border with mouldings, and projects like eaves above the door; in the interior it is cut in a semicircular form, so that it presents the appearance of a shallow vault. The rock which forms the base has been isolated from the mountain by sapping, and thus the chapel, including this natural pedestal, reaches 22 feet in height. At the edge of the surrounding court were certain structures, doubtless a colonnade bordering the sacred enclosure; but this has disappeared. The _maabed_ of Amrith is the most important remaining representative of the temples of Phœnicia. At Ain el-Hayât, however, two shrines have been discovered similar to that of Amrith; one (fig. 188) tolerably well preserved, consists of a monolithic _cella_, resting on a substructure of large blocks; the whole is 17½ ft. high. Above the door a row of Egyptian uræi is seen; the ceiling within is perceptibly cut into the form of a vault on which two pairs of wings, surrounding the Egyptian solar disk, are sculptured in relief. [Illustration: Fig. 188.--Shrine at Ain el-Hayât (Renan, _Mission de Phénicie_).] The famous temples of Melkarth at Tyre, and of Astarte at Sidon and at Gebal (Byblos), which excited the admiration of ancient travellers, are no longer known except in memory. The _maabed_ of Amrith alone gives us some idea of their architectural arrangement; they consisted of courts, in the centre of which rose the shrine of the deity built upon a platform. The Phœnician and Canaanitish temple showed therefore a strong resemblance to the temple of Jerusalem and also to the great mosque of Mecca,--the only monument which perpetuates this architectural type among us. [Illustration: Fig. 189.--Coin of Paphos]