Head of a sphinx from a statue of Venus Heliopolitana

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This head belonged to one of two sphinxes that guarded a statue of Venus Heliopolitana unearthed in Baalbek and now on display at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Adorned with a double diadem, the sphinx had eyes and eyebrows that would have been intricately embedded, and its earlobes were pierced for earrings. Thrones featuring sphinxes on either side date back to the latter half of the second millennium B.C. and have been discovered at Phoenician sites such as Byblos and Sidon, where they likely served as symbols of the goddess Astarte. The Venus Heliopolitana, also known as the "Venus of Heliopolis Syriaca," was revered at Baalbek, a city nestled in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley. The deity was a manifestation of Ashtart who formed one-third of the Heliopolitan Triad, comprising herself as the consort of Jupiter (Ba'al) and mother of Mercury (Adon).