El Hofra Sanctuary of Baal-Hammon

Fanum Baal Hammonis (El Hofra)

TempleNumidia · Constantine, AlgeriaBuilt 300 BCE

About

Numidian kings built this hillside sanctuary to Baal-Hammon just south of Cirta, and under Massinissa's long 2nd-century-BCE reign it grew rich enough that worshippers left behind nearly a thousand carved votive stelae. Rome later folded the god into the cult of Saturn, and Latin dedications joined the older Punic ones on the same hill. By 117 CE the sanctuary had already stood for generations as one of Numidia's great religious sites.

What happened here

The building itself is a house for the god, and most people never go inside. Everything public happens on the steps and at the altar in front: an animal led up, examined, killed cleanly, its organs read, the meat divided and eaten. The priest covers his head and a flute player keeps up a noise so no ill-omened word is heard. Worshippers leave what they can afford — a terracotta figure, a coin, a model of the body part they want healed — and the accumulated clutter is periodically cleared and buried on site. On festival days the doors are opened and the cult statue is dressed, garlanded, and sometimes carried out through the streets. The temple also holds money, which is why towns keep their treasury in one.