In a recent paper by O. Negbi it was argued that certain late bronze age Aegean temples owe elements of their design to influence from the Levant. Architectural features such as corner platforms, a ‘bent-axis’ approach, and twin temples, and cultural features such as the presence of ‘smiting god’ figurines, are analysed. It is concluded that there is no evidence that Aegean shrines were built according to a Canaanite model, and that there was no Canaanite cultic influence in the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age. If anything, the reverse applied in the early Iron Age, when the influence of the Sea Peoples is seen in some cultic architecture in the Levant.
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