The Roman temple of Bziza is a well-preserved first century AD building dedicated to Azizos, a personification of the morning star in ancient Arab polytheism.

The temple of Bziza was converted into a church and underwent architectural modification during two phases of Christianization; in the Early Byzantine period and later in the Middle Ages.

[3] The wave of cultural Hellenization created pan-Phoenician patriotism and a deeper attachment to pre-Hellenic religious traditions.

[3] Phoenician devotion to ancient gods continued under Roman rule as described in the De dea Syria [On the Syrian Goddess] treatise by second century AD rhetor Lucian of Samosata.

Lucian visited sacred cities of Syria, Phoenicia and the Libanus where numerous mountain sanctuaries were spreading all over the countryside.

[4][5] Temple building, urbanization and monumentalization of cities was financed by generous endowments of client kings and wealthy citizens seeking to increase their power and sphere of influence.

[6] The temple of Bziza was built during the Julio-Claudian dynasty in the first century AD, at a time when Roman hegemony over the region was still being consolidated.

[8][9][10] Temples were situated on or overlooking mountain summits that were believed to be sacred dwellings of the gods and giants, guarded by archaic men and wild beasts.

[5][11][9] Under the influence of suzerain powers, Phoenician temples were Hellenized then Romanized while maintaining balance between foreign elements and Semitic architectural archetypes, among which are tower altars, temenoi and cellas with elevated adytons.

[14] A policy of repression and persecution of paganism was initiated during the reign of Constantine I when he ordered the pillaging and destruction of Roman temples.

[25][26] In 1838, French orientalist painters Antoine-Alphonse Montfort and François Lehoux [fr] visited and painted the temple ruins.

[28][29][b] Flemish Jesuit orientalist Henri Lammens, who taught at Beirut's Saint Joseph University at the time, also visited the site in 1894 and took a photograph of the temple ruins.

[30] Nineteenth-century paintings and early twentieth-century photographs show the removed chapel remains and the oak tree that took root inside of the temple.

[31] In the early twentieth century, German architectural historian Daniel Krencker conducted a survey of the site, later publishing his findings with the assistance of archaeologist Willy Zschietzschmann [de] in the book Römische Tempel in Syrien ("Roman Temples in Syria").

[32] According to Krencker the chapel had been in ruins for a long time and a Christian devotion was still maintained in the nineteenth century in the "niche near the door".

[23] In 1965, the site was further excavated by Lebanese-Armenian archaeologist Harutune Kalayan,[33][34] uncovering the podium and an architectural plan of half of the front pediment etched on one of the temple walls.

[42][43] He is portrayed in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra as a horseman, accompanied by his cameleer twin brother Arsu (also called Monimos in later writings).

[34][60] The pronaos is well preserved, it is framed by short antae ending with angular pilasters that are repeated at the rear of the building.

[14][61] Kalayan noted that the exterior of the southwest cella wall bears marks of an architectural sketch for the assembly of the temple's pronaos half-pediment.

[69] Lebanese-Armenian archaeologist Levon Nordiguian suggests that the pronaos could have served as a church narthex or may have been reserved exclusively for women worshipers through this separate access door.

The aedes' main function was to house the cult image of the divinity, which was typically placed in the adyton of the Roman temples in Lebanon.

Roman religious rituals and sacrifices were conducted on an altar, consecrated to the temple's deity, that was always located outside at the front of the aedes where worshipers gathered.