Maria Teresa Rubiato

Fit for a king. At the top of a staircase leading from the lower city, excavators in Area M discovered a cultic installation, including a large podium, set into a niche in the wall. In Canaanite times, the podium supported a throne where the statue of a local deity was placed or where the king himself sat, gazing out across the lower city. In this reconstruction drawing, the podium appears against the back wall (on the northern edge of a small plaza). In the foreground, steps lead up from the lower city. To the right of the podium, a second set of steps leads up to the acropolis.