fbpx
Wikipedia

Baalbek

January 09, 2023

Not to be confused with Balbec, Indiana, in the United States.

Baalbek[a] (/ˈbɑːlbɛk, ˈbeɪəlbɛk/;[5] Arabic: بَعْلَبَكّ, romanized: Baʿlabakk, Syriac-Aramaic: ܒܥܠܒܟ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about 67 km (42 mi) northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate.[6] In Greek and Roman times Baalbek was also known as Heliopolis (Ἡλιούπολις, Greek for "Sun City"). In 1998 Baalbek had a population of 82,608, mostly Shia Muslims, followed by Sunni Muslims and Christians.[7]

Baalbek
بَعْلَبَكّ
City
Baalbek
Location in Lebanon
Coordinates: 34°0′22.81″N 36°12′26.36″E / 34.0063361°N 36.2073222°E / 34.0063361; 36.2073222Coordinates: 34°0′22.81″N 36°12′26.36″E / 34.0063361°N 36.2073222°E / 34.0063361; 36.2073222
Country Lebanon
GovernorateBaalbek-Hermel
DistrictBaalbek
Area
 • City7 km2 (3 sq mi)
 • Metro
16 km2 (6 sq mi)
Elevation
1,170 m (3,840 ft)
Population
[citation needed]
 • City82,608
 • Metro
105,000
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)+3
CriteriaCultural: i, iv
Reference294
Inscription1984 (8th Session)

It is home to the Baalbek temple complex which includes two of the largest and grandest Roman temple ruins: the Temple of Bacchus and the Temple of Jupiter. It was inscribed in 1984 as an UNESCO World Heritage site.

Name

A few miles from the swamp from which the Litani (the classical Leontes) and the Asi (the upper Orontes) flow, Baalbek may be the same as the manbaa al-nahrayn ("Source of the Two Rivers"), the abode of El in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle[8] discovered in the 1920s and a separate serpent incantation.[9][10]

Baalbek was called Heliopolis during the Roman Empire, a latinisation of the Greek Hēlioúpolis (Ἡλιούπολις) used during the Hellenistic Period, [11] meaning "Sun City"[12] in reference to the solar cult there. The name is attested under the Seleucids and Ptolemies.[13] However, Ammianus Marcellinus notes that earlier "Assyrian" names of Levantine towns continued to be used alongside the official Greek ones imposed by the Diadochi, who were successors of Alexander the Great.[14] In Greek religion, Helios was both the sun in the sky and its personification as a god. The local Semitic god Baʿal Haddu was more often equated with Zeus or Jupiter or simply called the "Great God of Heliopolis",[15][b] but the name may refer to the Egyptians' association of Baʿal with their great god Ra.[13][c] It was sometimes described as Heliopolis in Syria or Coelesyria (Latin: Heliopolis Syriaca or Syriae) to distinguish it from its namesake in Egypt. In Catholicism, its titular see is distinguished as Heliopolis in Phoenicia, from its former Roman province Phoenice. The importance of the solar cult is also attested in the name Biḳāʿ al-ʿAzīz borne by the plateau surrounding Baalbek, as it references an earlier solar deity and not later men, named Aziz. In Greek and Roman antiquity, it was known as Heliopolis. It still possesses some of the best-preserved Roman ruins in Lebanon, including one of the largest temples of the empire. The gods that were worshipped there (Jupiter, Venus, and Bacchus) were equivalents of the Canaanite deities Hadad, Atargatis. Local influences are seen in the planning and layout of the temples, as they vary from the classic Roman design. [18]

The name BʿLBK is first attested in the Mishnah, a second-century rabbinic text, as a geographic epithet for a kind of garlic, shum ba'albeki (שום בעלבכי).[19] Two early 5th-century Syriac manuscripts, a c. 411[17] translation of Eusebius's Theophania[20][21] and a c. 435[22] life of Rabbula, bishop of Edessa.[23][17] It was pronounced as Baʿlabakk (Arabic: بَعْلَبَكّ) in Classical Arabic.[24][10] In Modern Standard Arabic, its vowels are marked as Baʿlabak (بَعْلَبَك)[25] or Baʿlabekk.[26] It is Bʿalbik (بْعَلْبِك, is [ˈbʕalbik]) in Lebanese Arabic.[25]

The etymology of Baalbek has been debated indecisively[18] since the 18th century.[10] Cook took it to mean "Baʿal (Lord) of the Beka"[17] and Donne as "City of the Sun".[27] Lendering asserts that it is probably a contraction of Baʿal Nebeq ("Lord of the Source" of the Litani River).[12] Steiner proposes a Semitic adaption of "Lord Bacchus", from the classical temple complex.[10]

On the basis of its similar name, several 19th-century Biblical archaeologists attempted to connect Baalbek to the "Baalgad" mentioned in the Hebrew Scripture's Book of Joshua,[28] the Baalath listed among Solomon's cities in the First Book of Kings,[29][30] the Baal-hamon where he had a vineyard,[31][3] and the "Plain of Aven" in Amos.[32][33]

History

Prehistory

The hilltop of Tell Baalbek, part of a valley to the east of the northern Beqaa Valley[34] (Latin: Coelesyria),[35] shows signs of almost continual habitation over the last 8–9000 years.[36] It was well-watered both from a stream running from the Rās-el-ʿAin spring SE of the citadel[37] and, during the spring, from numerous rills formed by meltwater from the Anti-Lebanons.[38] Macrobius later credited the site's foundation to a colony of Egyptian or Assyrian priests.[38] The settlement's religious, commercial, and strategic importance was minor enough, however, that it is never mentioned in any known Assyrian or Egyptian record,[39] unless under another name.[3] Its enviable position in a fertile valley, major watershed, and along the route from Tyre to Palmyra should have made it a wealthy and splendid site from an early age.[3][30] During the Canaanite period, the local temples were largely devoted to the Heliopolitan Triad: a male god (Baʿal), his consort (Astarte), and their son (Adon).[40] The site of the present Temple of Jupiter was probably the focus of earlier worship, as its altar was located at the hill's precise summit and the rest of the sanctuary raised to its level.

In Islamic mythology, the temple complex was said to have been a palace of Solomon's[41][d] which was put together by djinn[44][45][46] and given as a wedding gift to the Queen of Sheba;[18] its actual Roman origin remained obscured by the citadel's medieval fortifications as late as the 16th-century visit of the Polish prince Radziwiłł.[43][47]

Antiquity

 
Reconstruction of Temple of Jupiter/Baalbek
 
Roman Heliopolis and its surroundings in the 2nd and the 3rd century.

After Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia in the 330s BC, Baalbek (under its Hellenic name Heliopolis) formed part of the Diadochi kingdoms of Egypt & Syria. It was annexed by the Romans during their eastern wars. The settlers of the Roman colony Colonia Julia Augusta Felix Heliopolitana may have arrived as early as the time of Caesar[3][38] but were more probably the veterans of the 5th and 8th Legions under Augustus,[30][48][17] during which time it hosted a Roman garrison.[3] From 15 BC to AD 193, it formed part of the territory of Berytus. It is mentioned in Josephus,[49] Pliny,[50] Strabo,[51] and Ptolemy[52] and on coins of nearly every emperor from Nerva to Gallienus.[3] The 1st-century Pliny did not number it among the Decapolis, the "Ten Cities" of Coelesyria, while the 2nd-century Ptolemy did.[52] The population likely varied seasonally with market fairs and the schedules of the Indian monsoon and caravans to the coast and interior.[53]

During Classical Antiquity, the city's temple to Baʿal Haddu was conflated first with the worship of the Greek sun god Helios[17] and then with the Greek and Roman sky god under the name "Heliopolitan Zeus" or "Jupiter". The present Temple of Jupiter presumably replaced an earlier one using the same foundation;[e] it was constructed during the mid-1st century and probably completed around AD 60.[f][57] His idol was a beardless golden god in the pose of a charioteer, with a whip raised in his right hand and a thunderbolt and stalks of grain in his left;[60] its image appeared on local coinage and it was borne through the streets during several festivals throughout the year.[58] Macrobius compared the rituals to those for Diva Fortuna at Antium and says the bearers were the principal citizens of the town, who prepared for their role with abstinence, chastity, and shaved heads.[58] In bronze statuary attested from Byblos in Phoenicia and Tortosa in Spain, he was encased in a pillarlike term and surrounded (like the Greco-Persian Mithras) by busts representing the sun, moon, and five known planets.[61] In these statues, the bust of Mercury is made particularly prominent; a marble stela at Massilia in Transalpine Gaul shows a similar arrangement but enlarges Mercury into a full figure.[61] Local cults also revered the Baetylia, black conical stones considered sacred to Baʿal.[53] One of these was taken to Rome by the emperor Elagabalus, a former priest "of the sun" at nearby Emesa,[62] who erected a temple for it on the Palatine Hill.[53] Heliopolis was a noted oracle and pilgrimage site, whence the cult spread far afield, with inscriptions to the Heliopolitan god discovered in Athens, Rome, Pannonia, Venetia, Gaul, and near the Wall in Britain.[59] The Roman temple complex grew up from the early part of the reign of Augustus in the late 1st century BC until the rise of Christianity in the 4th century. (The 6th-century chronicles of John Malalas of Antioch, which claimed Baalbek as a "wonder of the world",[62] credited most of the complex to the 2nd-century Antoninus Pius, but it is uncertain how reliable his account is on the point.)[43] By that time, the complex housed three temples on Tell Baalbek: one to Jupiter Heliopolitanus (Baʿal), one to Venus Heliopolitana (Ashtart), and a third to Bacchus. On a nearby hill, a fourth temple was dedicated to the third figure of the Heliopolitan Triad, Mercury (Adon or Seimios[63]). Ultimately, the site vied with Praeneste in Italy as the two largest sanctuaries in the Western world.

The emperor Trajan consulted the site's oracle twice. The first time, he requested a written reply to his sealed and unopened question; he was favorably impressed by the god's blank reply as his own paper had been empty.[64] He then inquired whether he would return alive from his wars against Parthia and received in reply a centurion's vine staff, broken to pieces.[65] In AD 193, Septimius Severus granted the city ius Italicum rights.[66][g] His wife Julia Domna and son Caracalla toured Egypt and Syria in AD 215; inscriptions in their honour at the site may date from that occasion; Julia was a Syrian native whose father had been an Emesan priest "of the sun" like Elagabalus.[62]

The town became a battleground upon the rise of Christianity.[63][h] Early Christian writers such as Eusebius (from nearby Caesarea) repeatedly execrated the practices of the local pagans in their worship of the Heliopolitan Venus. In AD 297, the actor Gelasinus converted in the middle of a scene mocking baptism; his public profession of faith provoked the audience to drag him from the theater and stone him to death.[63][3] In the early 4th century, the deacon Cyril defaced many of the idols in Heliopolis; he was killed and (allegedly) cannibalised.[63] Around the same time, Constantine, though not yet a Christian, demolished the goddess' temple, raised a basilica in its place, and outlawed the locals' ancient custom of prostituting women before marriage.[63] Bar Hebraeus also credited him with ending the locals' continued practice of polygamy.[69] The enraged locals responded by raping and torturing Christian virgins.[63] They reacted violently again under the freedom permitted to them by Julian the Apostate.[3] The city was so noted for its hostility to the Christians that Alexandrians were banished to it as a special punishment.[3] The Temple of Jupiter, already greatly damaged by earthquakes,[70] was demolished under Theodosius in 379 and replaced by another basilica (now lost), using stones scavenged from the pagan complex.[71] The Easter Chronicle states he was also responsible for destroying all the lesser temples and shrines of the city.[72] Around the year 400, Rabbula, the future bishop of Edessa, attempted to have himself martyred by disrupting the pagans of Baalbek but was only thrown down the temple stairs along with his companion.[71] It became the seat of its own bishop as well.[3] Under the reign of Justinian, eight of the complex's Corinthian columns were disassembled and shipped to Constantinople for incorporation in the rebuilt Hagia Sophia sometime between 532 and 537.[citation needed] Michael the Syrian claimed the golden idol of Heliopolitan Jupiter was still to be seen during the reign of Justin II (560s & 570s),[71] and, up to the time of its conquest by the Muslims, it was renowned for its palaces, monuments, and gardens.[73]

Middle Ages

 
The ruins of a Baalbek mosque c. 1900
 
The probable remains of a medieval mosque in front of some of the Mamluk fortifications

Baalbek was occupied by the Muslim army in AD 634 (AH 13),[71] in 636,[16] or under Abu ʿUbaidah following the Byzantine defeat at Yarmouk in 637 (AH 16),[citation needed] either peacefully and by agreement[18] or following a heroic defense and yielding 2,000 oz (57 kg) of gold, 4,000 oz (110 kg) of silver, 2000 silk vests, and 1000 swords.[73] The ruined temple complex was fortified under the name al-Qala' (lit. "The Fortress")[71] but was sacked with great violence by the Damascene caliph Marwan II in 748, at which time it was dismantled and largely depopulated.[73] It formed part of the district of Damascus under the Umayyads and Abbasids before being conquered by Fatimid Egypt in 942.[18] In the mid-10th century, it was said to have "gates of palaces sculptured in marble and lofty columns also of marble" and that it was the most "stupendous" and "considerable" location in the whole of Syria.[16] It was sacked and razed by the Byzantines under John I in 974,[18] raided by Basil II in 1000,[74] and occupied by Salih ibn Mirdas, emir of Aleppo, in 1025.[18]

In 1075, it was finally lost to the Fatimids on its conquest by Tutush I, Seljuk emir of Damascus.[18] It was briefly held by Muslim ibn Quraysh, emir of Aleppo, in 1083; after its recovery, it was ruled in the Seljuks' name by the eunuch Gümüshtegin until he was deposed for conspiring against the usurper Toghtekin in 1110.[18] Toghtekin then gave the town to his son Buri. Upon Buri's succession to Damascus on his father's death in 1128, he granted the area to his son Muhammad.[18] After Buri's murder, Muhammad successfully defended himself against the attacks of his brothers Ismaʿil and Mahmud and gave Baalbek to his vizier Unur.[18] In July 1139, Zengi, atabeg of Aleppo and stepfather of Mahmud, besieged Baalbek with 14 catapults. The outer city held until 10 October and the citadel until the 21st,[75] when Unur surrendered upon a promise of safe passage.[76] In December, Zengi negotiated with Muhammad, offering to trade Baalbek or Homs for Damascus, but Unur convinced the atabeg to refuse.[75] Zengi strengthened its fortifications and bestowed the territory on his lieutenant Ayyub, father of Saladin. Upon Zengi's assassination in 1146, Ayyub surrendered the territory to Unur, who was acting as regent for Muhammad's son Abaq. It was granted to the eunuch Ata al-Khadim,[18] who also served as viceroy of Damascus.

In December 1151, it was raided by the garrison of Banyas as a reprisal for its role in a Turcoman raid on Banyas.[77] Following Ata's murder, his nephew Dahhak, emir of the Wadi al-Taym, ruled Baalbek. He was forced to relinquish it to Nur ad-Din in 1154[18] after Ayyub had successfully intrigued against Abaq from his estates near Baalbek. Ayyub then administered the area from Damascus on Nur ad-Din's behalf.[78] In the mid-12th century, Idrisi mentioned Baalbek's two temples and the legend of their origin under Solomon;[79] it was visited by the Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela in 1170.[43]

Baalbek's citadel served as a jail for Crusaders taken by the Zengids as prisoners of war.[80] In 1171, these captives successfully overpowered their guards and took possession of the castle from its garrison. Muslims from the surrounding area gathered, however, and entered the castle through a secret passageway shown to them by a local. The Crusaders were then massacred.[80]

Three major earthquakes occurred in the 12th century, in 1139, 1157, and 1170.[73] The one in 1170 ruined Baalbek's walls and, though Nur ad-Din repaired them, his young heir Ismaʿil was made to yield it to Saladin by a 4-month siege in 1174.[18] Having taken control of Damascus on the invitation of its governor Ibn al-Muqaddam, Saladin rewarded him with the emirate of Baalbek following the Ayyubid victory at the Horns of Hama in 1175.[81] Baldwin, the young leper king of Jerusalem, came of age the next year, ending the Crusaders' treaty with Saladin.[82] His former regent, Raymond of Tripoli, raided the Beqaa Valley from the west in the summer, suffering a slight defeat at Ibn al-Muqaddam's hands.[83] He was then joined by the main army, riding north under Baldwin and Humphrey of Toron;[83] they defeated Saladin's elder brother Turan Shah in August at Ayn al-Jarr and plundered Baalbek.[80] Upon the deposition of Turan Shah for neglecting his duties in Damascus, however, he demanded his childhood home[84] of Baalbek as compensation. Ibn al-Muqaddam did not consent and Saladin opted to invest the city in late 1178 to maintain peace within his own family.[85] An attempt to pledge fealty to the Christians at Jerusalem was ignored on behalf of an existing treaty with Saladin.[86] The siege was maintained peacefully through the snows of winter, with Saladin waiting for the "foolish" commander and his garrison of "ignorant scum" to come to terms.[87] Sometime in spring, Ibn al-Muqaddam yielded and Saladin accepted his terms, granting him Baʿrin, Kafr Tab, and al-Maʿarra.[87][88] The generosity quieted unrest among Saladin's vassals through the rest of his reign[85] but led his enemies to attempt to take advantage of his presumed weakness.[87] He did not permit Turan Shah to retain Baalbek very long, though, instructing him to lead the Egyptian troops returning home in 1179 and appointing him to a sinecure in Alexandria.[81] Baalbek was then granted to his nephew Farrukh Shah, whose family ruled it for the next half-century.[81] When Farrukh Shah died three years later, his son Bahram Shah was only a child but he was permitted his inheritance and ruled til 1230.[18] He was followed by al-Ashraf Musa, who was succeeded by his brother as-Salih Ismail,[18] who received it in 1237 as compensation for being deprived of Damascus by their brother al-Kamil.[89] It was seized in 1246 after a year of assaults by as-Salih Ayyub, who bestowed it upon Saʿd al-Din al-Humaidi.[18] When as-Salih Ayyub's successor Turan Shah was murdered in 1250, al-Nasir Yusuf, the sultan of Aleppo, seized Damascus and demanded Baalbek's surrender. Instead, its emir did homage and agreed to regular payments of tribute.[18]

The Mongolian general Kitbuqa took Baalbek in 1260 and dismantled its fortifications. Later in the same year, however, Qutuz, the sultan of Egypt, defeated the Mongols and placed Baalbek under the rule of their emir in Damascus.[18] Most of the city's still-extant fine mosque and fortress architecture dates to the reign of the sultan Qalawun in the 1280s.[citation needed] By the early 14th century, Abulfeda the Hamathite was describing the city's "large and strong fortress".[90] The revived settlement was again destroyed by a flood on 10 May 1318, when water from the east and northeast made holes 30 m (98 ft) wide in walls 4 m (13 ft) thick.[91] 194 people were killed and 1500 houses, 131 shops, 44 orchards, 17 ovens, 11 mills, and 4 aqueducts were ruined, along with the town's mosque and 13 other religious and educational buildings.[91] In 1400, Timur pillaged the town,[92] and there was further destruction from a 1459 earthquake.[93]

Early modernity

 
Baalbek & environs, c. 1856

In 1516, Baalbek was conquered with the rest of Syria by the Ottoman sultan Selim the Grim.[93] In recognition of their prominence among the Shiites of the Beqaa Valley, the Ottomans awarded the sanjak of Homs and local iltizam concessions to Baalbek's Harfush family. Like the Hamadas, the Harfush emirs were involved on more than one occasion in the selection of Church officials and the running of local monasteries.
Tradition holds that many Christians quit the Baalbek region in the eighteenth century for the newer, more secure town of Zahlé on account of the Harfushes' oppression and rapacity, but more critical studies have questioned this interpretation, pointing out that the Harfushes were closely allied to the Orthodox Ma'luf family of Zahlé (where indeed Mustafa Harfush took refuge some years later) and showing that depredations from various quarters as well as Zahlé's growing commercial attractiveness accounted for Baalbek's decline in the eighteenth century. What repression there was did not always target the Christian community per se. The Shiite 'Usayran family, for example, is also said to have left Baalbek in this period to avoid expropriation by the Harfushes, establishing itself as one of the premier commercial households of Sidon and later even serving as consuls of Iran.[94]

From the 16th century, European tourists began to visit the colossal and picturesque ruins.[70][95][i] Donne hyperbolised "No ruins of antiquity have attracted more attention than those of Heliopolis, or been more frequently or accurately measured and described."[53] Misunderstanding the temple of Bacchus as the "Temple of the Sun", they considered it the best-preserved Roman temple in the world.[citation needed] The Englishman Robert Wood's 1757 Ruins of Balbec[2] included carefully measured engravings that proved influential on British and Continental Neoclassical architects. For example, details of the Temple of Bacchus's ceiling inspired a bed[119] and ceiling by Robert Adam and its portico inspired that of St George's in Bloomsbury.[120]

During the 18th century, the western approaches were covered with attractive groves of walnut trees,[44] but the town itself suffered badly during the 1759 earthquakes, after which it was held by the Metawali, who again feuded with other Lebanese tribes.[citation needed] Their power was broken by Jezzar Pasha, the rebel governor of Acre, in the last half of the 18th century.[citation needed] All the same, Baalbek remained no destination for a traveller unaccompanied by an armed guard.[citation needed] Upon the pasha's death in 1804, chaos ensued until Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt occupied the area in 1831, after which it again passed into the hands of the Harfushes.[93] In 1835, the town's population was barely 200 people.[112] In 1850, the Ottomans finally began direct administration of the area, making Baalbek a kaza under the Damascus Eyalet and its governor a kaymakam.[93]

Excavations

 
The largest stone at Baalbek, uncovered in 2014

Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany and his wife passed through Baalbek on 1 November 1898,[70] on their way to Jerusalem. He noted both the magnificence of the Roman remains and the drab condition of the modern settlement.[70] It was expected at the time that natural disasters, winter frosts, and the raiding of building materials by the city's residents would shortly ruin the remaining ruins.[90] The archaeological team he dispatched began work within a month. Despite finding nothing they could date prior to Baalbek's Roman occupation,[121] Otto Puchstein and his associates worked until 1904[70] and produced a meticulously researched and thoroughly illustrated series of volumes.[121] Later excavations under the Roman flagstones in the Great Court unearthed three skeletons and a fragment of Persian pottery dated to the 6th–4th centuries BC. The sherd featured cuneiform letters.[122]

In 1977, Jean-Pierre Adam made a brief study suggesting most of the large blocks could have been moved on rollers with machines using capstans and pulley blocks, a process which he theorised could use 512 workers to move a 557 tonnes (614 tons) block.[123][124] "Baalbek, with its colossal structures, is one of the finest examples of Imperial Roman architecture at its apogee", UNESCO reported in making Baalbek a World Heritage Site in 1984.[125] When the committee inscribed the site, it expressed the wish that the protected area include the entire town within the Arab walls, as well as the southwestern extramural quarter between Bastan-al-Khan, the Roman site and the Mameluk mosque of Ras-al-Ain. Lebanon's representative gave assurances that the committee's wish would be honoured. Recent cleaning operations at the Temple of Jupiter discovered the deep trench at its edge, whose study pushed back the date of Tell Baalbek's settlement to the PPNB Neolithic. Finds included pottery sherds including a spout dating to the early Bronze Age.[126] In the summer of 2014, a team from the German Archaeological Institute led by Jeanine Abdul Massih of the Lebanese University discovered a sixth, much larger stone suggested to be the world's largest ancient block. The stone was found underneath and next to the Stone of the Pregnant Woman ("Hajjar al-Hibla") and measures around 19.6 m × 6 m × 5.5 m (64 ft × 20 ft × 18 ft). It is estimated to weigh 1,650 tonnes (1,820 tons).[127]

20th century

 
A detail from a 1911 map of Turkey in Asia, showing Baalbek's former rail connections

Baalbek was connected to the DHP, the French-owned railway concession in Ottoman Syria, on 19 June 1902.[128] It formed a station on the standard-gauge line between Riyaq to its south and Aleppo (now in Syria) to its north.[129] This Aleppo Railway connected to the Beirut–Damascus Railway but—because that line was built to a 1.05-meter gauge—all traffic had to be unloaded and reloaded at Riyaq.[129] Just before the First World War, the population was still around 5000, about 2000 each of Sunnis and Shia Mutawalis[93] and 1000 Orthodox and Maronites.[48] The French general Georges Catroux proclaimed the independence of Lebanon in 1941 but colonial rule continued until 1943. Baalbek still has its railway station[129] but service has been discontinued since the 1970s, originally owing to the Lebanese Civil War.

The Roman ruins have been the setting for the long running Baalbek International Festival.

In March 1974, Musa al-Sadr announced the launching of the "Movement of the Deprived" in front of a large rally in Baalbek. Its objective was to stand up for Lebanon's neglected Shia community. He also announced the setting up of military training camps to train villagers in southern Lebanon to protect their homes from Israeli attacks. These camps led to the creation of the Amal Militia.[130] In 1982, at the height of the Israeli invasion, Amal split into two factions over Nabih Berri's acceptance of the American plan to evacuate Palestinians from West Beirut. A large number of dissidents, led by Amal's military commander Hussein Musawi moved to Baalbek.[131] Once established in the town the group, which was to evolve into Hizbollah, began to work with Iranian Revolutionary Guards, veterans of the Iran Iraq War. The following year the Iranians established their headquarters in the Sheikh Abdullah barracks in Baalbek.[132] Ultimately there were between 1,500 to 2,000 Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon,[133] with outposts further south in the Shia villages, such as Jebchit.[134]

 
A map of Israeli bombing during the Second Lebanon War. Baalbek was a major target, with more than 70 bombs dropped.

2006 Lebanon War

Main article: Operation Sharp and Smooth

On the evening of 1 August 2006,[135] hundreds of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers raided Baalbek and the Dar al-Hikma[136] or Hikmeh Hospital[137] in Jamaliyeh[135] to its north ("Operation Sharp and Smooth"). Their mission was to rescue two captured soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were abducted by Hezbollah on 12 July 2006. They were transported by helicopter[135] and supported by Apache helicopters and unmanned drones,[136][135] The IDF was acting on information that Goldwasser and Regev were at the hospital. al-Jazeera and other sources claimed the IDF was attempting to capture senior Hezbollah officials, particularly Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek.[137] The hospital had been empty for four days, the most unwell patients having been transferred and the rest sent home.[136] No Israelis were killed;[135] Five civilians were abducted and interrogated by the Israelis, presumably because one shared his name with Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah;[138] they were released on August 21.[139] Another 9 civilians were killed on 7 August by a strike in the middle of Brital, just south of Baalbek, and by the subsequent attack on the car leaving the scene for the hospital.[140] On 14 August just before the ceasefire took effect, two Lebanese police and five Lebanese soldiers were killed by a drone strike while driving their van around the still-damaged road through Jamaliyeh.[141]

Conservation work at Lebanon's historic sites began in October.[142] The ruins at Baalbek were not directly hit but the effects of blasts during the conflict toppled a block of stones at the Roman ruins and existing cracks in the temples of Jupiter and Bacchus were feared to have widened.[142] Frederique Husseini, director-general of Lebanon's Department of Antiquities, requested $550,000 from Europeans to restore Baalbek's souk and another $900,000 for repairs to other damaged structures.[142]

Ruins

 
1911 diagram of the ruins after the Puchstein excavations.[143] (Facing SW, with the Temple of Jupiter labelled "Temple of the Sun")
See also: Temple of Jupiter, Baalbek; Temple of Bacchus; Stone of the Pregnant Woman; Temples of the Beqaa Valley; List of Roman monoliths; List of ancient architectural records § Monoliths; and List of largest monoliths in the world

The Tell Baalbek temple complex, fortified as the town's citadel during the Middle Ages,[93] was constructed from local stone, mostly white granite and a rough white marble.[45] Over the years, it has suffered from the region's numerous earthquakes, the iconoclasm of Christian and Muslim lords,[53] and the reuse of the temples' stone for fortification and other construction. The nearby Qubbat Duris, a 13th-century Muslim shrine on the old road to Damascus, is built out of granite columns, apparently removed from Baalbek.[45] Further, the jointed columns were once banded together with iron; many were gouged open[144] or toppled by the emirs of Damascus to get at the metal.[45] As late as the 16th century, the Temple of Jupiter still held 27 standing columns[99] out of an original 58;[145] there were only nine before the 1759 earthquakes[2] and six today.[when?]

The complex is located on an immense[vague] raised plaza erected 5 m (16 ft) over an earlier T-shaped base consisting of a podium, staircase, and foundation walls.[j] These walls were built from about 24 monoliths, at their lowest level weighing approximately 300 tonnes (330 tons) each. The tallest retaining wall, on the west, has a second course of monoliths containing the famous "Three Stones" (Greek: Τρίλιθον, Trílithon):[37] a row of three stones, each over 19 m (62 ft) long, 4.3 m (14 ft) high, and 3.6 m (12 ft) broad, cut from limestone. They weigh approximately 800 tonnes (880 tons) each.[146] A fourth, still larger stone is called the Stone of the Pregnant Woman: it lies unused in a nearby quarry 800 m (2,600 ft) from the town.[147] Its weight, often exaggerated, is estimated at 1,000 tonnes (1,100 tons).[148] A fifth, still larger stone weighing approximately 1,200 tonnes (1,300 tons)[149] lies in the same quarry. This quarry was slightly higher than the temple complex,[123][150] so no lifting was required to move the stones. Through the foundation there run three enormous passages the size of railway tunnels.[37]

The temple complex was entered from the east through the Propylaea (προπύλαιον, propýlaion) or Portico,[53] consisting of a broad staircase rising 20 feet (6.1 m)[151] to an arcade of 12 columns flanked by 2 towers.[70] Most of the columns have been toppled and the stairs were entirely dismantled for use in the nearby later wall,[37][k] but a Latin inscription remains on several of their bases stating that Longinus, a lifeguard of the 1st Parthian Legion, and Septimius, a freedman, gilded their capitals with bronze in gratitude for the safety of Septimius Severus's son Antoninus Caracalla and empress Julia Domna.[152][l]

Immediately behind the Propylaeum is a hexagonal forecourt[70] reached through a threefold entrance[73] that was added in the mid-3rd century by the emperor Philip the Arab.[citation needed] Traces remain of the two series of columns which once encircled it, but its original function remains uncertain.[70] Donne reckoned it as the town's forum.[53] Badly preserved coins of the era led some to believe this was a sacred cypress grove, but better specimens show that the coins displayed a single stalk of grain instead.[153]

The rectangular Great Court to its west covers around 3 or 4 acres (1.2 or 1.6 ha)[73] and included the main altar for burnt offering, with mosaic-floored lustration basins to its north and south, a subterranean chamber,[154] and three underground passageways 17 ft (5.2 m) wide by 30 ft (9.1 m) high, two of which run east and west and the third connecting them north and south, all bearing inscriptions suggesting their occupation by Roman soldiers.[73] These were surrounded by Corinthian porticoes, one of which was never completed.[154] The columns' bases and capitals were of limestone; the shafts were monoliths of highly polished red Egyptian granite 7.08 m (23.2 ft) high.[154] Six remain standing, out of an original 128.[citation needed] Inscriptions attest that the court was once adorned by portraits of Marcus Aurelius's daughter Sabina, Septimius Severus, Gordian, and Velius Rufus, dedicated by the city's Roman colonists.[154] The entablature was richly decorated but is now mostly ruined.[154] A westward-facing basilica was constructed over the altar during the reign of Theodosius; it was later altered to make it eastward-facing like most Christian churches.[71]

 
The Great Court of ancient Heliopolis's temple complex

The Temple of Jupiter—once wrongly credited to Helios[155]—lay at the western end of the Great Court, raised another 7 m (23 ft) on a 47.7 m × 87.75 m (156.5 ft × 287.9 ft) platform reached by a wide staircase.[145] Under the Byzantines, it was also known as the "Trilithon" from the three massive stones in its foundation and, when taken together with the forecourt and Great Court, it is also known as the Great Temple.[143] The Temple of Jupiter proper was circled by a peristyle of 54 unfluted Corinthian columns:[156] 10 in front and back and 19 along each side.[145] The temple was ruined by earthquakes,[70] destroyed and pillaged for stone under Theodosius,[71] and 8 columns were taken to Constantinople (Istanbul) under Justinian for incorporation into the Hagia Sophia.[citation needed] Three fell during the late 18th century.[73] 6 columns, however, remain standing along its south side with their entablature.[145] Their capitals remain nearly perfect on the south side, while the Beqaa's winter winds have worn the northern faces almost bare.[157] The architrave and frieze blocks weigh up to 60 tonnes (66 tons) each, and one corner block over 100 tonnes (110 tons), all of them raised to a height of 19 m (62.34 ft) above the ground.[158] Individual Roman cranes were not capable of lifting stones this heavy. They may have simply been rolled into position along temporary earthen banks from the quarry[157] or multiple cranes may have been used in combination.[citation needed] They may also have alternated sides a little at a time, filling in supports underneath each time.[citation needed] The Julio-Claudian emperors enriched its sanctuary in turn. In the mid-1st century, Nero built the tower-altar opposite the temple. In the early 2nd century, Trajan added the temple's forecourt, with porticos of pink granite shipped from Aswan at the southern end of Egypt.[citation needed]

The Temple of Bacchus—once wrongly credited to Jupiter[159][m]—may have been completed under Septimius Severus in the 190s, as his coins are the first to show it beside the Temple of Jupiter.[citation needed] It is the best preserved of the sanctuary's structures, as the other rubble from its ruins protected it.[citation needed] It is enriched by some of the most refined reliefs and sculpture to survive from antiquity.[144] The temple is surrounded by forty-two columns—8 along each end and 15 along each side[160]—nearly 20 m (66 ft) in height.[citation needed] These were probably erected in a rough state and then rounded, polished, and decorated in position.[144][n] The entrance was preserved as late as Pococke[105] and Wood,[2] but the keystone of the lintel had slid 2 ft (1 m) following the 1759 earthquakes; a column of rough masonry was erected in the 1860s or '70s to support it.[160] The 1759 earthquakes also damaged the area around the soffit's famed inscription of an eagle,[95] which was entirely covered by the keystone's supporting column. The area around the inscription of the eagle was greatly damaged by the 1759 earthquake.[95] The interior of the temple is divided into a 98 ft (30 m) nave and a 36 ft (11 m) adytum or sanctuary[160] on a platform raised 5 ft (2 m) above it and fronted by 13 steps.[144] The screen between the two sections once held reliefs of Neptune, Triton, Arion and his dolphin, and other marine figures[104] but these have been lost.[144] The temple was used as a kind of donjon for the medieval Arab and Turkish fortifications,[93] although its eastern steps were lost sometime after 1688.[161] Much of the portico was incorporated into a huge wall directly before its gate, but this was demolished in July 1870 by Barker[who?] on orders from Syria's governor Rashid Pasha.[160] Two spiral staircases in columns on either side of the entrance lead to the roof.[95]

The Temple of Venus—also known as the Circular Temple or Nymphaeum[152]—was added under Septimius Severus in the early 3rd century[citation needed] but destroyed under Constantine, who raised a basilica in its place.[95] Jessup considered it the "gem of Baalbek".[152] It lies about 150 yd (140 m) from the southeast corner of the Temple of Bacchus.[152] It was known in the 19th century as El Barbara[152] or Barbarat el-Atikah (St Barbara's), having been used as a Greek Orthodox church into the 18th century.[95][o]

The ancient walls of Heliopolis had a circumference of a little less than 4 mi (6 km).[53] Much of the extant fortifications around the complex date to the 13th century[71] reconstruction undertaken by the Mamluk sultan Qalawun following the devastation of the earlier defenses by the Mongol army under Kitbuqa.[18] This includes the great southeast tower.[93] The earliest round of fortifications were two walls to the southwest of the Temples of Jupiter and Bacchus.[93] The original southern gateway with two small towers was filled in and replaced by a new large tower flanked by curtains,[clarification needed] probably under Buri or Zengi.[93] Bahramshah replaced that era's southwest tower with one of his own in 1213 and built another in the northwest in 1224; the west tower was probably strengthened around the same time.[93] An inscription dates the barbican-like strengthening of the southern entrance to around 1240.[93] Qalawun relocated the two western curtains[clarification needed] nearer to the western tower, which was rebuilt with great blocks of stone. The barbican was repaired and more turns added to its approach.[93] From around 1300, no alterations were made to the fortifications apart from repairs such as Sultan Barkuk's restoration of the moat in preparation for Timur's arrival.[93]

Material from the ruins is incorporated into a ruined mosque north of downtown[162] and probably also in the Qubbat Duris on the road to Damascus.[162] In the 19th century, a "shell-topped canopy" from the ruins was used nearby as a mihrab, propped up to show locals the direction of Mecca for their daily prayers.[162]

Tomb of Husayn's daughter

Under a white dome further towards town is the tomb of Khawla, daughter of Hussein and granddaughter of Ali, who died in Baalbek while Husayn's family was being transported as prisoners to Damascus.[163][164]

Ecclesiastical history

Heliopolis (in Phoenicia; not to be confused with the Egyptian bishopric Heliopolis in Augustamnica) was a bishopric under Roman and Byzantine rule, but it disappeared due to the Islamic rule.

In 1701, Eastern Catholics (Byzantine Rite) established anew an Eparchy of Baalbek, which in 1964 was promoted to the present Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Baalbek.

Titular see

In the Latin rite, the Ancient diocese was only nominally restored (no later than 1876) as Titular archbishopric of Heliopolis (Latin) / Eliopoli (Curiate Italian), demoted in 1925 to Episcopal Titular bishopric, promoted back in 1932, with its name changed (avoiding Egyptian confusion) in 1933 to (non-Metropolitan) Titular archbishopric of Heliopolis in Phoenicia.

The title has not been assigned since 1965. It was held by:[165]

  • Titular Archbishop: Luigi Poggi (1876.09.29 – death 1877.01.22) on emeritate (promoted) as former Bishop of Rimini (Italy) (1871.10.27 – 1876.09.29)
  • Titular Archbishop: Mario Mocenni (1877.07.24 – 1893.01.16) as papal diplomat : Apostolic Delegate to Colombia (1877.08.14 – 1882.03.28), Apostolic Delegate to Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras (1877.08.14 – 1882.03.28), Apostolic Delegate to Ecuador (1877.08.14 – 1882.03.28), Apostolic Delegate to Peru and Bolivia (1877.08.14 – 1882.03.28), Apostolic Delegate to Venezuela (1877.08.14 – 1882.03.28), Apostolic Internuncio to Brazil (1882.03.28 – 1882.10.18), created Cardinal-Priest of S. Bartolomeo all'Isola (1893.01.19 – 1894.05.18), promoted Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina (1894.05.18 – death 1904.11.14)
  • Titular Archbishop: Augustinus Accoramboni (1896.06.22 – death 1899.05.17), without prelature
  • Titular Archbishop: Robert John Seton (1903.06.22 – 1927.03.22), without prelature
  • Titular Bishop: Gerald O'Hara (1929.04.26 – 1935.11.26) as Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, USA) (1929.04.26 – 1935.11.26), later Bishop of Savannah (USA) (1935.11.26 – 1937.01.05), restyled (only) Bishop of Savannah–Atlanta (USA) (1937.01.05 – 1950.07.12), promoted Archbishop-Bishop of Savannah (1950.07.12 – 1959.11.12), also Apostolic Nuncio (papal ambassador) to Ireland (1951.11.27 – 1954.06.08), Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain (1954.06.08 – death 1963.07.16) and Titular Archbishop of Pessinus (1959.11.12 – 1963.07.16)
  • Titular Archbishop: Alcide Marina, C.M. (1936.03.07 – death 1950.09.18), mainly as papal diplomat : Apostolic Delegate to Iran (1936.03.07 – 1945), Apostolic Administrator of Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Constantinople (Turkey) (1945–1947) and Apostolic Delegate to Turkey (1945–1947), Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon (1947 – 1950.09.18)
  • Titular Archbishop: Daniel Rivero Rivero (1951 – death 1960.05.23) (born Bolivia) on emeritate, formerly Titular Bishop of Tlous (1922.05.17 – 1931.03.30) as Coadjutor Bishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia) (1922.05.17 – 1931.03.30) succeeding as Bishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (1931.03.30 – 1940.02.03), Metropolitan Archbishop of Sucre (Bolivia) (1940.02.03 – 1951)
  • Titular Archbishop: Raffaele Calabria (1960.07.12 – 1962.01.01) as Coadjutor Archbishop of Benevento (Italy) (1960.07.12 – 1962.01.01), succeeding as Metropolitan Archbishop of Benevento (1962.01.01 – 1982.05.24); previously Titular Archbishop of Soteropolis (1950.05.06 – 1952.07.10) as Coadjutor Archbishop of Otranto (Italy) (1950.05.06 – 1952.07.10), succeeding as Metropolitan Archbishop of Otranto (Italy) (1952.07.10 – 1960.07.12)
  • Titular Archbishop: Ottavio De Liva (1962.04.18 – death 1965.08.23) as papal diplomat : Apostolic Internuncio to Indonesia (1962.04.18 – 1965.08.23).

Climate

Baalbek has a mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa) with significant continental influences. It is located in one of the drier regions of the country, giving it an average of 450mm of precipitation (compared with 800-850mm in coastal areas) annually, overwhelmingly concentrated in the months from November to April. Baalbek has hot rainless summers with cool (and occasionally snowy) winters. Autumn and spring are mild and fairly rainy.

Climate data for Baalbek
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 9.0
(48.2) 		9.8
(49.6) 		13.7
(56.7) 		19.0
(66.2) 		24.4
(75.9) 		29.6
(85.3) 		32.5
(90.5) 		33.0
(91.4) 		29.0
(84.2) 		23.7
(74.7) 		16.3
(61.3) 		11.1
(52.0) 		20.9
(69.7)
Daily mean °C (°F) 4.4
(39.9) 		5.0
(41.0) 		8.2
(46.8) 		12.8
(55.0) 		17.2
(63.0) 		22.0
(71.6) 		24.3
(75.7) 		25.1
(77.2) 		21.0
(69.8) 		16.7
(62.1) 		10.7
(51.3) 		6.3
(43.3) 		14.5
(58.1)
Average low °C (°F) −0.1
(31.8) 		0.3
(32.5) 		2.8
(37.0) 		6.6
(43.9) 		10.1
(50.2) 		14.4
(57.9) 		16.2
(61.2) 		17.2
(63.0) 		13.1
(55.6) 		9.7
(49.5) 		5.2
(41.4) 		1.6
(34.9) 		8.1
(46.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 103
(4.1) 		86
(3.4) 		60
(2.4) 		31
(1.2) 		17
(0.7) 		1
(0.0) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		2
(0.1) 		16
(0.6) 		49
(1.9) 		79
(3.1) 		444
(17.5)
Source: [166]

Notable people

In popular culture

Twin towns

Baalbek is twinned with:

Gallery

  •  

    The Round Temple and the Temple of the Muses located outside the sanctuary complex

  •  

    Temple of Bacchus

  •  

    Remains of the Propylaeum, the eastern entrance to the site

  •  

    The Great Court of Temples Complex

  •  

    Temple of Venus

  •  

    Massive columns of the Temple of Jupiter

  •  

    An 1873 German map of Asia Minor & Syria, with relief illustrating the Beqaa (El Bekaa) valley

  •  

    Panorama, around 1870, by Félix Bonfils

  •  

    Baalbek in 1910, after the arrival of rail

  •  

    The ruins of Baalbek facing west from the hexagonal forecourt in the 19th century

  •  

    The "Stone of the Pregnant Woman" in the early 20th century, the Temple of Jupiter in the background

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Also spelled Ba'labek,[1] Balbec,[2] Baalbec[3] and Baalbeck.[4]
  2. ^ The name also appears in the Hellenized form Balanios and Baal Helion in records describing the acts of Theodosius's reign.[16]
  3. ^ The Egyptian priests' claims that Heliopolis represented a direct descendant of Ra's cult at Iunu, however, is almost certainly mistaken.[17]
  4. ^ Commonly mistaken by European visitors to have been the one described in the Biblical First Book of Kings.[42][43]
  5. ^ Daniel Lohmann wrote that, "due to the lack of remains of temple architecture, it can be assumed that the temple this terrace was built for was never completed or entirely destroyed before any new construction started..."[54][page needed] "The unfinished pre-Roman sanctuary construction was incorporated into a master plan of monumentalisation. Apparently challenged by the already huge pre-Roman construction, the early imperial Jupiter sanctuary shows both an architectural megalomaniac design and construction technique in the first half of the first century AD."[55]
  6. ^ "It is apparent from a graffito on one of the columns of the Temple of Jupiter that that building was nearing completion in 60 A.D."[56]
  7. ^ Coins of Septimius Severus bear the legend COL·HEL·I·O·M·H: Colonia Heliopolis Iovi Optimo Maximo Helipolitano.[3]
  8. ^ It is mentioned, inter alia, by Sozomen[67] and Theodoret.[68]
  9. ^ Notable visitors[95][35] included Baumgarten (1507),[96] Belon (1548),[97][98] Thévet (1550),[99] von Seydlitz (1557),[100] Radziwiłł (1583),[47] Quaresmio (1620),[101] Monconys (1647),[102] de la Roque (1688),[103] Maundrell (1699),[104] Pococke (1738),[105] Wood and Dawkins (1751),[2] Volney (1784),[106] Richardson (1818),[107] Chesney (1830),[108][109] Lamartine (1833),[110] Marmont (1834),[111] Addison (1835),[112] Lindsay (1837),[113] Robinson (1838[114] & 1852),[115] Wilson (1843),[116] De Saulcy (1851),[117] and Frauberger (19th c.).[118]
  10. ^ "Current survey and interpretation, show that a pre-Roman floor level about 5 m lower than the late Great Roman Courtyard floor existed underneath".[55]
  11. ^ The staircase is shown intact on a coin from the reign of the emperor Philip the Arab.[37]
  12. ^ The inscriptions were distinct in the 18th century[2] but becoming illegible by the end of the 19th:[152]

    [I. O.] M. DIIS HELIVPOL. PRO SAL.
    [ET] VICTORIIS D. N. ANTONINI PII FEL. AVG. ET IVLIÆ AVG. MATRIS D. N. CAST. SENAT. PATR., AVR. ANT. LONGINVS SPECVL. LEG. I.
    [ANT]ONINIANÆ CAPITA COLVMNARVM DVA ÆREA AVRO INLVMINATA SVA PECVNIA EX VOTO L. A. S.    [70]
    and
    [I. O.] M. PRO SAL[VTE] D. [N.] IMP. ANTONIN[I PII FELICIS...]
    [...SEP]TIMI[VS...] BAS AVG. LIB. CAPVT COLVMNÆ ÆNEUM AVRO INL[VMINAT]VM VOTVM SVA PECVNIA L. [A. S.]    [70]
  13. ^ It has also been misattributed to Apollo and Helios.[73] The locals once knew it as the Dar es-Sa'adeh or "Court of Happiness".[160]
  14. ^ The cornice of the exaedrum in the northwest corner remains partially sculpted and partially plain.[144]
  15. ^ In the 1870s and '80s, its Metawali caretaker Um Kasim would demand bakshish from visitors and for use of the olive oil lamps used to make vows to St Barbara.[152]

References

  1. ^ Cook's (1876).
  2. ^ a b c d e f Wood (1757).
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l EB (1878), p. 176.
  4. ^ إتحاد بلديات غربي بعلبك [West Baalbeck Municipalities Union] (in Arabic). 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  5. ^
    • Olausson, Lena (2 August 2006). "How to Say: Baalbek". London: BBC. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
    • "Baalbek". Merriam–Webster. 2020.
    • "Baalbek". American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. 2020.
  6. ^ "Mohafazah de Baalbek-Hermel". Localiban. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  7. ^ Wolfgang Gockel; Helga Bruns (1998). Syria – Lebanon (illustrated ed.). Hunter Publishing, Inc. p. 202. ISBN 9783886181056.
  8. ^ KTU 1.4 IV 21.
  9. ^ KTU 1.100.3.
  10. ^ a b c d Steiner (2009).
  11. ^ "Baalbek". UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
  12. ^ a b Lendering (2013).
  13. ^ a b Jidejian (1975), p. 5.
  14. ^ Amm. Marc., Hist., Bk XIV, Ch. 8, §6 1 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ^ Jidejian (1975), p. 57.
  16. ^ a b c Jessup (1881), p. 473.
  17. ^ a b c d e f Cook (1914), p. 550.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t EI (1913), p. 543.
  19. ^ Mishnah, Maaserot 5:8
  20. ^ Brit. Mus. Add. 12150.
  21. ^ Eusebius, Theophania, 2.14.
  22. ^ Burkitt (1904), p. 51.
  23. ^ Overbeck (1865), p. 196.
  24. ^ Arastu (2014), p. 616.
  25. ^ a b "Arabic" (PDF). ALA-LC Romanization Tables. Washington: Library of Congress. 2015.
  26. ^ EI (1913).
  27. ^ DGRG (1878).
  28. ^ Josh. 11:17.
  29. ^ 1 Kings 9:17–18.
  30. ^ a b c New Class. Dict. (1862).
  31. ^ Song of Songs 8:11.
  32. ^ Amos 1:5,
  33. ^ Jessup (1881), p. 468.
  34. ^ Jessup (1881), p. 453.
  35. ^ a b EB (1911).
  36. ^ . Berlin: German Archaeological Institute. 2004. Archived from the original on 11 October 2004. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  37. ^ a b c d e Jessup (1881), p. 456.
  38. ^ a b c DGRG (1878), p. 1036.
  39. ^ Hélène Sader.[where?]
  40. ^ Jidejian (1975), p. 47.
  41. ^ Jessup (1881), p. 470.
  42. ^ 1 Kings 7:2–7.
  43. ^ a b c d CT (2010).
  44. ^ a b Volney (1787), p. 224.
  45. ^ a b c d DGRG (1878), p. 1038.
  46. ^ Jessup (1881), p. 454.
  47. ^ a b Radziwiłł (1601).
  48. ^ a b EB (1911), p. 89.
  49. ^ Josephus, Ant., XIV.3–4.
  50. ^ Pliny, Nat. Hist., V.22.
  51. ^ Strabo, Geogr., Bk. 14, Ch. 2, §10. (in Greek)
  52. ^ a b Ptolemy, Geogr., Bk. V, Ch. 15, §22 29 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
  53. ^ a b c d e f g h DGRG (1878), p. 1037.
  54. ^ Lohmann (2010).
  55. ^ a b Lohmann (2010), p. 29.
  56. ^ Rowland (1956).
  57. ^ Kropp & al. (2011).
  58. ^ a b c Macrobius, Saturnalia, Vol. I, Ch. 23.
  59. ^ a b Cook (1914), p. 552.
  60. ^ Macrobius,[58] translated in Cook.[59]
  61. ^ a b Graves (1955), p. 40–41.
  62. ^ a b c Jessup (1881), p. 471.
  63. ^ a b c d e f Cook (1914), p. 554.
  64. ^ Cook (1914), p. 552–553.
  65. ^ Cook (1914), p. 553.
  66. ^ Ulpian, De Censibus, Bk. I.
  67. ^ Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., v.10.
  68. ^ Theodoret, Hist. Eccles., III.7 & IV.22.
  69. ^ Bar Hebraeus, Hist. Compend. Dynast., p. 85. (in Latin)
  70. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cook (1914), p. 556.
  71. ^ a b c d e f g h Cook (1914), p. 555.
  72. ^ Niebuhr, Barthold Georg; Dindorf, Ludwig, eds. (1832). "σπθʹ Ὀλυμπιάς" [CCLXXXIX]. Chronicon Paschale. Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae (in Greek and Latin). Vol. I. Bonn: Impensis ed. Weberi. p. 561.
  73. ^ a b c d e f g h i EB (1878), p. 177.
  74. ^ CMH (1966), p. 634.
  75. ^ a b Venning & al. (2015), p. 109.
  76. ^ EI (1936), p. 1225.
  77. ^ Venning & al. (2015), p. 138.
  78. ^ Venning & al. (2015), p. 141–142.
  79. ^ Jessup (1881), p. 475–476.
  80. ^ a b c Alouf (1944), p. 94.
  81. ^ a b c Humphreys (1977), p. 52.
  82. ^ Lock 2013, p. 63.
  83. ^ a b Runciman (1951), p. 410.
  84. ^ Sato (1997), p. 57.
  85. ^ a b Baldwin (1969), p. 572.
  86. ^ Köhler (2013), p. 226.
  87. ^ a b c Lyons & al. (1982), pp. 132–133.
  88. ^ Sato (1997), p. 58.
  89. ^ Venning & al. 2015, p. 299.
  90. ^ a b Jessup (1881), p. 476.
  91. ^ a b Alouf (1944), p. 96.
  92. ^ le Strange, 1890, p. xxiii.
  93. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n EI (1913), p. 544.
  94. ^ Stefan Winter (11 March 2010). The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule, 1516–1788. Cambridge University Press, Page 166.
  95. ^ a b c d e f g EB (1878), p. 178.
  96. ^ Baumgarten (1594).
  97. ^ Belon (1553).
  98. ^ Belon (1554).
  99. ^ a b Thevet (1554).
  100. ^ Sedlitz (1580).
  101. ^ Quaresmio (1639).
  102. ^ Monconys (1665).
  103. ^ de la Roque (1722).
  104. ^ a b Maundrell (1703).
  105. ^ a b Pococke (1745).
  106. ^ Volney (1787).
  107. ^ Richardson (1822).
  108. ^ Chesney (1850).
  109. ^ Chesney (1868).
  110. ^ Lamartine (1835).
  111. ^ Marmont (1837).
  112. ^ a b Addison (1838).
  113. ^ Lindsay (1838).
  114. ^ Robinson (1841).
  115. ^ Robinson (1856).
  116. ^ Wilson (1847).
  117. ^ De Saulcy (1853).
  118. ^ Frauberger (1892).
  119. ^ Coote, James. . Austin: Center for American Architecture & Design, University of Texas School of Architecture. Archived from the original on 2 September 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2009.}
  120. ^ . Archived from the original on 4 November 2007. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
  121. ^ a b Wiegand (1925).
  122. ^ Jidejian (1975), p. 15.
  123. ^ a b Adam & al. (1999), p. 35.
  124. ^ Adam (1977).
  125. ^ "Baalbek". New York: UNESCO World Heritage Centre. 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2015..
  126. ^ Genz (2010).
  127. ^ Kehrer (2014).
  128. ^ Ludvigsen, Børre (2008). "Lebanon: Railways: Background". Al Mashriq: The Levant. Halden: Østfold University. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  129. ^ a b c Ludvigsen, Børre (2008). "Lebanon: Railways: Riyaq–Homs". Al Mashriq: The Levant. Halden: Østfold University. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  130. ^ Hirst, David (2010) Beware of Small States. Lebanon, battleground of the Middle East. Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-23741-8 p.101
  131. ^ David Hirst pp.187-188
  132. ^ David Hirst p.190
  133. ^ David Hirst p.186
  134. ^ David Hirst p.235
  135. ^ a b c d e HRW (2007), p. 124.
  136. ^ a b c Butters, Andrew Lee (2 August 2006). . Time. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  137. ^ a b Nahla (2 August 2006). "Minute by Minute:: August 2". Lebanon Updates. Retrieved 2 August 2006.
  138. ^ HRW (2007), p. 127.
  139. ^ HRW (2007), p. 127–128.
  140. ^ HRW (2007), p. 137.
  141. ^ HRW (2007), p. 164–165.
  142. ^ a b c Karam, Zeina (4 October 2006). "Cleanup to Start at Old Sites in Lebanon". The Washington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  143. ^ a b EB (1911), p. 90.
  144. ^ a b c d e f Jessup (1881), p. 459.
  145. ^ a b c d Cook (1914), p. 560.
  146. ^ Adam (1977), p. 52.
  147. ^ Alouf (1944), p. 139.
  148. ^ Ruprechtsberger (1999), p. 15.
  149. ^ Ruprechtsberger (1999), p. 17.
  150. ^ Hastings (2004), p. 892.
  151. ^ Jessup (1881), p. 465.
  152. ^ a b c d e f g Jessup (1881), p. 466.
  153. ^ Cook (1914), p. 558–559.
  154. ^ a b c d e Cook (1914), p. 559.
  155. ^ Cook (1914), p. 565.
  156. ^ Jessup (1881), p. 460.
  157. ^ a b Jessup (1881), p. 462.
  158. ^ Coulton (1974), p. 16.
  159. ^ Cook (1914), p. 564.
  160. ^ a b c d e Jessup (1881), p. 458.
  161. ^ EB (1878).
  162. ^ a b c Jessup (1881), p. 467.
  163. ^ Michel M. Alouf -History of Baalbek 1922 "After the defeat and murder of Hossein by the Ommiads, his family was led captive to Damascus; but Kholat died at Baalbek on her way into exile."
  164. ^ Nelles Guide Syria – Lebanon -Wolfgang Gockel, Helga Bruns – 1998 – Page 202 3886181057 "Ensconced under a white dome further towards town are the mortal remains of Kholat, daughter of Hussein and granddaughter of."
  165. ^ "Titular See of Heliopolis in Phœnicia, Lebanon". www.gcatholic.org.
  166. ^ "Climate: Baalbek". Climate-Data.org. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  167. ^ Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1838). "picture". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839. Fisher, Son & Co.Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1838). "poetical illustration". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839. Fisher, Son & Co.
  168. ^ Syaifullah, M. (26 October 2008). . Tempo Interaktif. Archived from the original on 18 August 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2010.

Sources and external links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baalbek.
 
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Baalbek.
  • Google Maps satellite view
  • Panoramas of the temples at and Discover Lebanon
  • from the German Archaeological Institute
  • GCatholic – Latin titular see
  • Baalbeck International Festival
  • Baalbek Railway Station (2006) at Al Mashriq
  • Hussey, J.M., ed. (1966). The Byzantine Empire. Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. IV. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Smith, William; Anthon, Charles, eds. (1862). "Heliopolis". A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology, and Geography. New York: Harper & Bros. p. 349.
  • K., T. (2010). "Baalbek". In Grafton, Anthony; Most, Glenn W.; Settis, Salvatore (eds.). The Classical Tradition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-674-03572-0.
  • "Ba'albek". Cook's Tourists' Handbook for Palestine and Syria. London: T. Cook & Son. 1876. pp. 359–365.
  • Donne, William Bodham (1878). "Helio′polis Syriae". In Smith, William (ed.). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, Vol. I. London: John Murray. pp. 1036–1038.
  • Baynes, T. S., ed. (1878), "Baalbec" , Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 176–178
  • Hogarth, David George (1911), "Baalbek" , in Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 89–90
  • Sobernheim, Moritz (1913). "Baalbek". Encyclopaedia of Islam: A Dictionary of the Geography, Ethnography, and Biography of the Muhammadan Peoples. Vol. I (1st ed.). Leiden: E.J. Brill. pp. 543–544. ISBN 9004082654.
  • Zettersteen, K.V. (1936). "Zengī". Encyclopaedia of Islam: A Dictionary of the Geography, Ethnography, and Biography of the Muhammadan Peoples. Vol. VIII (1st ed.). Leiden: E.J. Brill. pp. 1224–1225. ISBN 9004097961.
  • Adam, Jean-Pierre (1977). "À propos du trilithon de Baalbek: Le transport et la mise en oeuvre des mégalithes" [About the Baalbeck Trilithon: The Transport and Use of the Megaliths]. Syria (in French). 54 (1/2): 31–63. doi:10.3406/syria.1977.6623.
  • Adam, Jean-Pierre; Mathews, Anthony (1999). Roman Building: Materials and Techniques. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-20866-6.
  • Addison, Charles Greenstreet (1838). Damascus and Palmyra: A Journey to the East with a Sketch of the State and Prospects of Syria, under Ibrahim Pasha, Vol. II. Philadelphia: T.K. & P.G. Collins for E.L. Carey & A. Hart.
  • Alouf, Michel M. (1944). History of Baalbek. Beirut: American Press. ISBN 9781585090631.
  • Arastu, Rizwan (2014). God's Emissaries: Adam to Jesus. Dearborn: Imam Mahdi Association of Marjaeya. ISBN 978-0-692-21411-4.
  • Baldwin, Marshall W., ed. (1969). "The Rise of Saladin". A History of the Crusades, Vol. I: The First Hundred Years, 2nd ed.. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299048341.
  • Baumgarten, Martin von (Martinus à Baumgarten in Braitenbach) (1594). Peregrinatio in Aegyptum, Arabiam, Palaestinam, & Syriam [A Trip to Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, & Syria] (in Latin). Nürnberg (Noriberga).
  • Belon, Pierre (Petrus Bellonius Cenomanus) (1553). De Admirabili Operum Antiquorum et Rerum Suspiciendarum Praestantia [On the Admirableness of the Works of the Ancients and a Presentation of Suspected Things] (in Latin). Paris (Parisius): Guillaume Cavellat (Gulielmus Cavellat).
  • Belon, Pierre (1554). Les observations de plusieurs singularitez & choses memorables, trouvées en Grece, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie, & autres pays estranges [Observations on the Many Singularities & Memorable Things Found in Greece, Asia, Judea, Egypt, Arabia, & Other Strange Lands] (in French). Paris: Gilles Corrozet.
  • Bouckaert, Peter; Houry, Nadim (2007). Whitson, Sarah Leah; Ross, James; Saunders, Joseph; Roth, Kenneth (eds.). "Why They Died: Civilian Casualties in Lebanon during the 2006 War" (PDF). Human Rights Watch.
  • Burkitt, Francis Crawford (1904). Early Eastern Christianity: St Margaret's Lectures, 1904, on the Syriac-speaking Church. London: John Murray. ISBN 9781593331016.
  • Chesney, Francis Rawdon (1850). The Expedition for the Survey of the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by Order of the British Government, in the Years 1835, 1836, and 1837; Preceded by Geographical and Historical Notices of the Regions Situated between the Rivers Nile and Indus. London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans.
    • volume I
    • volume II
  • Chesney, Francis Rawdon (1868). Narrative of the Euphrates Expedition carried on by Order of the British Government during the Years 1835, 1836, and 1837. London: Spttiswoode & Co. for Longmans, Green, & Co.
  • Cook, Arthur Bernard (1914). Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion. Vol. I: Zeus God of the Bright Sky. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Coulton, J.J. (1974). "Lifting in Early Greek Architecture". Journal of Hellenic Studies. 94: 1–19. doi:10.2307/630416. JSTOR 630416. S2CID 162973494.
  • de la Roque, Jean (1722). Voyage de Syrie et du Mont-Leban [Travel to Syria and Mount Lebanon] (in French). Paris: André Cailleau.
  • De Saulcy, Louis Félicien Joseph Caignart (1853). Voyage Autour de la Mer Morte et dans les Terres Bibliques exécuté de Decembre 1850 a Avril 1851 [Travel around the Dead Sea and within the Biblical Lands undertaken from December 1850 to April 1851], Vol. II] (in French). Paris: J. Claye & Co. for Gide & J. Baudry.
  • Frauberger, Heinrich (1892). Die Akropolis von Baalbek [The Baalbek Acropolis] (in German). Frankfurt: H. Keller.
  • Genz, Hermann (2010). "Reflections on the Early Bronze Age IV in Lebanon". In Matthiae, Paolo; Pinnock, Frances; Marchetti, Nicolò; Nigro (eds.). Proceedings of the 6th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East: 5 May–10 May 2009, "Sapienza", Università di Roma. Vol. 2: Excavations, Surveys, and Restorations: Reports on Recent Field Archaeology in the Near East. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 205–218. ISBN 978-3-447-06216-9.
  • Graves, Robert (1955). The Greek Myths. Vol. I. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780141959658.
  • Hastings, James (2004) [1898]. A Dictionary of the Bible Dealing with Its Language, Literature, and Contents. Vol. IV, Pt. II. University Press of the Pacific in Honolulu. ISBN 978-1-4102-1729-5.
  • Humphreys, R. Stephen (1977). From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193–1260. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-87395-263-4.
  • Jessup, Samuel (1881). "Ba'albek". In Wilson, Charles William (ed.). Picturesque Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt, Div. II. New York: D. Appleton & Co., illustrated by Henry Fenn & J.D. Woodward. pp. 453–476.
  • Jidejian, Nina (1975). Baalbek: Heliopolis: "City of the Sun". Beirut: Dar el-Machreq Publishers. ISBN 978-2-7214-5884-1.
  • Kehrer, Nicole (21 November 2014). [Lebanese-German Research Team Discovers the World's Largest Ancient Stone Block in Baalbek] (in German). Berlin: German Archaeological Institute. Archived from the original on 12 December 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  • Köhler, Michael (2013). Hirschler, Konrad (ed.). Alliances and Treaties between Frankish and Muslim Rulers in the Middle East: Cross-Cultural Diplomacy in the Period of the Crusades. The Muslim World in the Age of the Crusades Studies and Texts. The Muslim World in the Age of the Crusades, Vol. I. Leiden: translated from the German by Peter M. Holt for Koninklijke Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-24857-1. ISSN 2213-1043.
  • Kropp, Andreas; Lohmann, Daniel (April 2011). "'Master, look at the size of those stones! Look at the size of those buildings!' Analogies in Construction Techniques Between the Temples at Heliopolis (Baalbek) and Jerusalem". pp. 38–50. Retrieved 13 March 2013.[dead link]
  • Lamartine, Alphonse de (1835). Souvenirs, Impressions, Pensées, et Paysages pendant un Voyage en Orient 1832–1833 ou Notes d'un Voyageur [Remembrances, Impressions, Thoughts, and Passages concerning Travel in the Orient 1832–1833 or Notes from a Voyager] (in French). Brussels (Bruxelles): L. Hauman.
  • Lendering, Jona (2013). . Livius. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  • le Strange, Guy (1890). Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
  • Lindsay, Alexander (1838). Letters from Egypt, Edom, and the Holy Land, Vol. II. London: Henry Colburn.
  • Lock, Peter (2013). The Routledge Companion to the Crusades. Routledge Companions to History. Routledge. ISBN 9781135131371.
  • Lohmann, Daniel (2010). "Giant Strides towards Monumentality: The architecture of the Jupiter Sanctuary in Baalbek/Heliopolis". Bolletino di Archaologia (Bulletin of Archaeology). Special: 29–30.
  • Lyons, Malcolm Cameron; Jackson, David Edward Pritchett (1982). Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War. Oriental Publications, No. 30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-31739-8.
  • Marmont, Auguste-Frédéric-Louis Viesse de (1837). Voyage du Maréchal Duc de Raguse en Hongrie, en Transylvanie, dans la Russie Méridionale, en Grimée, et sur les Bords de la Mer d'Azoff, a Constantinople, dans Quelques Parties de l'Asie-Mineure, en Syrie, en Palestine, et en Égypte. 1834.–1835 [Travel of Marshal Marmont, the Duke of Ragusa, in Hungary, in Transylvania, within Southern Russia, in the Crimea, and on the Shores of the Sea of Azov, to Constantinople, within Certain Parts of Asia Minor, in Syria, in Palestine, and in Egypt (1834–1835), Vol. III: Syrie [Syria]] (in French). Paris: Ladvocat.
  • Monconys, Balthasar de (1665). "Voyage de Syrie" [Syrian Travel]. Journal des Voyages de Monsieur de Monconys (in French). Lyon: Horace Boissat & George Remeus. I: 296 ff.
  • Maundrell, Henry (1703). A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter A.D. 1697. Oxford.
  • Overbeck, J. Josephus, ed. (1865). "Rabulae Vita". S. Ephraemi Syri Rabulae Episcopi Edesseni Balaei Aliorumque Opera Selecta e Codicibus Syriacis Manuscriptis in Museo Britannico et Bibliotheca Bodleiana Asservatis Primus Edidit (in Latin). Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 159–209. & (in Classical Syriac)
  • Pococke, Richard (1745). "Of Baalbeck, the antient Heliopolis". A Description of the East, and Some other Countries, Vol. II, Pt. I Observations on Palæstine or the Holy Land, Syria, Mesopotamia, Cyprus, and Candia. London: W. Bowyer. pp. 106–113.
  • Quaresmio, Francisco (Franciscus Quaresmius) (1639). Historica, Theologica, et Moralis Terrae Sanctae Elucidatio [A Historical, Theological, and Moral Elucidation of the Holy Land] (in Latin). Antwerp (Antuerpia): Balthasar Moretus.
  • Radziwiłł, Mikołaj Krzystof (Nicolaus Christophorus Radzivilus) (1601). Hierosolymitana Peregrinatio [A Jerusalem Trip] (in Latin). Braniewo (Brunsberga): Georg Schönfels (Georgius Schonfels).
  • Richardson, Robert (1822). Travels along the Mediterranean, and Parts Adjacent; in Company with the Earl of Belmore, during the Years 1816–17–18: Extending as far as the Second Cataract of the Nile, Jerusalem, Damascus, Balbec, &c. &c. Illustrated by Plans and other Engravings, Vol. II. London: T. Cadell.
  • Robinson, Edward (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai, and Arabia Petraea. A Journal of Travels in the Year 1838 by E. Robinson and E. Smith, Vol. III. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
  • Robinson, Edward (1856). Later Biblical Researches in Palestine, and in the Adjacent Regions. A Journal of Travels in the Year 1852 by E. Robinson, E. Smith, and Others. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
  • Rowland, Benjamin Jr. (1956). "The Vine-Scroll in Gandhāra". Artibus Asiae. Vol. 19. pp. 353–361.
  • Runciman, Steven (1951). A History of the Crusades, Vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100–run1187. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-34771-8.
  • Ruprechtsberger, Erwin M. (1999). "Vom Steinbruch zum Jupitertempel von Heliopolis/Baalbek (Libanon) [From the Quarry to the Temple of Jupiter of Heliopolis (Baalbek, Lebanon)]". Linzer Archäologische Forschungen (Linz Archaeological Research) (in German). 30: 7–56.
  • Sato, Tsugitaka (1997). State and Rural Society in Medieval Islam: Sultans, Muqtaʿs, and Fallahun. Islamic History and Civilization Studies and Texts. Islamic History and Civilization, Vol. 17. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-10649-9. ISSN 0929-2403.
  • Sedlitz, Melchior von (1580). Gründtliche Beschreibung: Der Wallfart nach dem heyligen Lande [A Thorough Description: The Places of Pilgrimage in the Holy Land] (in German). Fritsch. Reprinted at Görlitz in 1591.
  • Steiner, Richard C. (Fall 2009). "On the Rise and Fall of Canaanite Religion at Baalbek: A Tale of Five Toponyms". Journal of Biblical Literature. 128 (3): 507–525. doi:10.2307/25610200. JSTOR 25610200.
  • Thevet, André (1554). Cosmographie de Levant [A Cosmography of the Levant] (in French). Lyons: Jean de Tournes (Ian de Tournes) & Guillaume Gazeau (Guil. Gazeav).
  • Venning, Timothy; Frankopan, Peter (2015). A Chronology of the Crusades. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-80269-8.
  • Volney, Constantin François de Chasseboeuf, comte de (1787). Voyage en Syrie et en Égypte, Pendant les anneés 1783, 1784, & 1785, avec deux Cartes Géographiques & deux Planches gravées, représentant les ruines du Temple du Soleil à Balbek, & celles de la ville de Palmyre dans le Désert de Syrie [Travel in Syria and Egypt, during the Years 1783, 1784, & 1785, with two maps & two engravings, showing the ruins of the Temple of the Sun at Baalbek & those of the city of Palmyra in the Syrian Desert] (in French). Paris: Volland; Desenne.
  • Wiegand, Theodor (1925). Baalbek: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen in den Jahren 1898 bis 1905 [Baalbek: Results of the Excavations and Surveys from the Years 1898 to 1905] (in German). Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-002370-1.
  • Wilson, John (1847). The Lands of the Bible Visited and Described in an Extensive Journey Undertaken with Special Reference to the Promotion of Biblical Research and the Advancement of the Cause of Philanthropy, Vol. II. Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co.
  • Winter, Stefan Helmut (2002). The Shiite Emirates of Ottoman Syria (Mid-17th–Mid-18th Century). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Wood, Robert (1757). The Ruins of Balbec, otherwise Heliopolis in Cœlosyria. London.

Further reading

  • The Entrance to the Temple of Jupiter. World Digital Library. Washington: Library of Congress. 29 May 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  • . New York: UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 12 September 2007.


January 09, 2023
baalbek, confused, with, balbec, indiana, united, states, ɑː, arabic, romanized, baʿlabakk, syriac, aramaic, ܒܥܠܒܟ, city, located, east, litani, river, lebanon, beqaa, valley, about, northeast, beirut, capital, hermel, governorate, greek, roman, times, also, k. Not to be confused with Balbec Indiana in the United States Baalbek a ˈ b ɑː l b ɛ k ˈ b eɪ e l b ɛ k 5 Arabic ب ع ل ب ك romanized Baʿlabakk Syriac Aramaic ܒܥܠܒܟ is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon s Beqaa Valley about 67 km 42 mi northeast of Beirut It is the capital of Baalbek Hermel Governorate 6 In Greek and Roman times Baalbek was also known as Heliopolis Ἡlioypolis Greek for Sun City In 1998 Baalbek had a population of 82 608 mostly Shia Muslims followed by Sunni Muslims and Christians 7 Baalbek ب ع ل ب ك CityBaalbekLocation in LebanonCoordinates 34 0 22 81 N 36 12 26 36 E 34 0063361 N 36 2073222 E 34 0063361 36 2073222 Coordinates 34 0 22 81 N 36 12 26 36 E 34 0063361 N 36 2073222 E 34 0063361 36 2073222Country LebanonGovernorateBaalbek HermelDistrictBaalbekArea City7 km2 3 sq mi Metro16 km2 6 sq mi Elevation1 170 m 3 840 ft Population citation needed City82 608 Metro105 000Time zoneUTC 2 EET Summer DST 3UNESCO World Heritage SiteCriteriaCultural i ivReference294Inscription1984 8th Session It is home to the Baalbek temple complex which includes two of the largest and grandest Roman temple ruins the Temple of Bacchus and the Temple of Jupiter It was inscribed in 1984 as an UNESCO World Heritage site Contents 1 Name 2 History 2 1 Prehistory 2 2 Antiquity 2 3 Middle Ages 2 4 Early modernity 2 5 Excavations 2 6 20th century 2 7 2006 Lebanon War 3 Ruins 3 1 Tomb of Husayn s daughter 4 Ecclesiastical history 4 1 Titular see 5 Climate 6 Notable people 7 In popular culture 8 Twin towns 9 Gallery 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Sources and external links 13 1 Further readingName EditA few miles from the swamp from which the Litani the classical Leontes and the Asi the upper Orontes flow Baalbek may be the same as the manbaa al nahrayn Source of the Two Rivers the abode of El in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle 8 discovered in the 1920s and a separate serpent incantation 9 10 Baalbek was called Heliopolis during the Roman Empire a latinisation of the Greek Helioupolis Ἡlioypolis used during the Hellenistic Period 11 meaning Sun City 12 in reference to the solar cult there The name is attested under the Seleucids and Ptolemies 13 However Ammianus Marcellinus notes that earlier Assyrian names of Levantine towns continued to be used alongside the official Greek ones imposed by the Diadochi who were successors of Alexander the Great 14 In Greek religion Helios was both the sun in the sky and its personification as a god The local Semitic god Baʿal Haddu was more often equated with Zeus or Jupiter or simply called the Great God of Heliopolis 15 b but the name may refer to the Egyptians association of Baʿal with their great god Ra 13 c It was sometimes described as Heliopolis in Syria or Coelesyria Latin Heliopolis Syriaca or Syriae to distinguish it from its namesake in Egypt In Catholicism its titular see is distinguished as Heliopolis in Phoenicia from its former Roman province Phoenice The importance of the solar cult is also attested in the name Biḳaʿ al ʿAziz borne by the plateau surrounding Baalbek as it references an earlier solar deity and not later men named Aziz In Greek and Roman antiquity it was known as Heliopolis It still possesses some of the best preserved Roman ruins in Lebanon including one of the largest temples of the empire The gods that were worshipped there Jupiter Venus and Bacchus were equivalents of the Canaanite deities Hadad Atargatis Local influences are seen in the planning and layout of the temples as they vary from the classic Roman design 18 The name BʿLBK is first attested in the Mishnah a second century rabbinic text as a geographic epithet for a kind of garlic shum ba albeki שום בעלבכי 19 Two early 5th century Syriac manuscripts a c 411 17 translation of Eusebius s Theophania 20 21 and a c 435 22 life of Rabbula bishop of Edessa 23 17 It was pronounced as Baʿlabakk Arabic ب ع ل ب ك in Classical Arabic 24 10 In Modern Standard Arabic its vowels are marked as Baʿlabak ب ع ل ب ك 25 or Baʿlabekk 26 It is Bʿalbik ب ع ل ب ك is ˈbʕalbik in Lebanese Arabic 25 The etymology of Baalbek has been debated indecisively 18 since the 18th century 10 Cook took it to mean Baʿal Lord of the Beka 17 and Donne as City of the Sun 27 Lendering asserts that it is probably a contraction of Baʿal Nebeq Lord of the Source of the Litani River 12 Steiner proposes a Semitic adaption of Lord Bacchus from the classical temple complex 10 On the basis of its similar name several 19th century Biblical archaeologists attempted to connect Baalbek to the Baalgad mentioned in the Hebrew Scripture s Book of Joshua 28 the Baalath listed among Solomon s cities in the First Book of Kings 29 30 the Baal hamon where he had a vineyard 31 3 and the Plain of Aven in Amos 32 33 History EditPrehistory Edit The hilltop of Tell Baalbek part of a valley to the east of the northern Beqaa Valley 34 Latin Coelesyria 35 shows signs of almost continual habitation over the last 8 9000 years 36 It was well watered both from a stream running from the Ras el ʿAin spring SE of the citadel 37 and during the spring from numerous rills formed by meltwater from the Anti Lebanons 38 Macrobius later credited the site s foundation to a colony of Egyptian or Assyrian priests 38 The settlement s religious commercial and strategic importance was minor enough however that it is never mentioned in any known Assyrian or Egyptian record 39 unless under another name 3 Its enviable position in a fertile valley major watershed and along the route from Tyre to Palmyra should have made it a wealthy and splendid site from an early age 3 30 During the Canaanite period the local temples were largely devoted to the Heliopolitan Triad a male god Baʿal his consort Astarte and their son Adon 40 The site of the present Temple of Jupiter was probably the focus of earlier worship as its altar was located at the hill s precise summit and the rest of the sanctuary raised to its level In Islamic mythology the temple complex was said to have been a palace of Solomon s 41 d which was put together by djinn 44 45 46 and given as a wedding gift to the Queen of Sheba 18 its actual Roman origin remained obscured by the citadel s medieval fortifications as late as the 16th century visit of the Polish prince Radziwill 43 47 Antiquity Edit Reconstruction of Temple of Jupiter Baalbek Roman Heliopolis and its surroundings in the 2nd and the 3rd century After Alexander the Great s conquest of Persia in the 330s BC Baalbek under its Hellenic name Heliopolis formed part of the Diadochi kingdoms of Egypt amp Syria It was annexed by the Romans during their eastern wars The settlers of the Roman colony Colonia Julia Augusta Felix Heliopolitana may have arrived as early as the time of Caesar 3 38 but were more probably the veterans of the 5th and 8th Legions under Augustus 30 48 17 during which time it hosted a Roman garrison 3 From 15 BC to AD 193 it formed part of the territory of Berytus It is mentioned in Josephus 49 Pliny 50 Strabo 51 and Ptolemy 52 and on coins of nearly every emperor from Nerva to Gallienus 3 The 1st century Pliny did not number it among the Decapolis the Ten Cities of Coelesyria while the 2nd century Ptolemy did 52 The population likely varied seasonally with market fairs and the schedules of the Indian monsoon and caravans to the coast and interior 53 Corinthian capitals ornamenting the columns of the Temple of Bacchus During Classical Antiquity the city s temple to Baʿal Haddu was conflated first with the worship of the Greek sun god Helios 17 and then with the Greek and Roman sky god under the name Heliopolitan Zeus or Jupiter The present Temple of Jupiter presumably replaced an earlier one using the same foundation e it was constructed during the mid 1st century and probably completed around AD 60 f 57 His idol was a beardless golden god in the pose of a charioteer with a whip raised in his right hand and a thunderbolt and stalks of grain in his left 60 its image appeared on local coinage and it was borne through the streets during several festivals throughout the year 58 Macrobius compared the rituals to those for Diva Fortuna at Antium and says the bearers were the principal citizens of the town who prepared for their role with abstinence chastity and shaved heads 58 In bronze statuary attested from Byblos in Phoenicia and Tortosa in Spain he was encased in a pillarlike term and surrounded like the Greco Persian Mithras by busts representing the sun moon and five known planets 61 In these statues the bust of Mercury is made particularly prominent a marble stela at Massilia in Transalpine Gaul shows a similar arrangement but enlarges Mercury into a full figure 61 Local cults also revered the Baetylia black conical stones considered sacred to Baʿal 53 One of these was taken to Rome by the emperor Elagabalus a former priest of the sun at nearby Emesa 62 who erected a temple for it on the Palatine Hill 53 Heliopolis was a noted oracle and pilgrimage site whence the cult spread far afield with inscriptions to the Heliopolitan god discovered in Athens Rome Pannonia Venetia Gaul and near the Wall in Britain 59 The Roman temple complex grew up from the early part of the reign of Augustus in the late 1st century BC until the rise of Christianity in the 4th century The 6th century chronicles of John Malalas of Antioch which claimed Baalbek as a wonder of the world 62 credited most of the complex to the 2nd century Antoninus Pius but it is uncertain how reliable his account is on the point 43 By that time the complex housed three temples on Tell Baalbek one to Jupiter Heliopolitanus Baʿal one to Venus Heliopolitana Ashtart and a third to Bacchus On a nearby hill a fourth temple was dedicated to the third figure of the Heliopolitan Triad Mercury Adon or Seimios 63 Ultimately the site vied with Praeneste in Italy as the two largest sanctuaries in the Western world The emperor Trajan consulted the site s oracle twice The first time he requested a written reply to his sealed and unopened question he was favorably impressed by the god s blank reply as his own paper had been empty 64 He then inquired whether he would return alive from his wars against Parthia and received in reply a centurion s vine staff broken to pieces 65 In AD 193 Septimius Severus granted the city ius Italicum rights 66 g His wife Julia Domna and son Caracalla toured Egypt and Syria in AD 215 inscriptions in their honour at the site may date from that occasion Julia was a Syrian native whose father had been an Emesan priest of the sun like Elagabalus 62 The town became a battleground upon the rise of Christianity 63 h Early Christian writers such as Eusebius from nearby Caesarea repeatedly execrated the practices of the local pagans in their worship of the Heliopolitan Venus In AD 297 the actor Gelasinus converted in the middle of a scene mocking baptism his public profession of faith provoked the audience to drag him from the theater and stone him to death 63 3 In the early 4th century the deacon Cyril defaced many of the idols in Heliopolis he was killed and allegedly cannibalised 63 Around the same time Constantine though not yet a Christian demolished the goddess temple raised a basilica in its place and outlawed the locals ancient custom of prostituting women before marriage 63 Bar Hebraeus also credited him with ending the locals continued practice of polygamy 69 The enraged locals responded by raping and torturing Christian virgins 63 They reacted violently again under the freedom permitted to them by Julian the Apostate 3 The city was so noted for its hostility to the Christians that Alexandrians were banished to it as a special punishment 3 The Temple of Jupiter already greatly damaged by earthquakes 70 was demolished under Theodosius in 379 and replaced by another basilica now lost using stones scavenged from the pagan complex 71 The Easter Chronicle states he was also responsible for destroying all the lesser temples and shrines of the city 72 Around the year 400 Rabbula the future bishop of Edessa attempted to have himself martyred by disrupting the pagans of Baalbek but was only thrown down the temple stairs along with his companion 71 It became the seat of its own bishop as well 3 Under the reign of Justinian eight of the complex s Corinthian columns were disassembled and shipped to Constantinople for incorporation in the rebuilt Hagia Sophia sometime between 532 and 537 citation needed Michael the Syrian claimed the golden idol of Heliopolitan Jupiter was still to be seen during the reign of Justin II 560s amp 570s 71 and up to the time of its conquest by the Muslims it was renowned for its palaces monuments and gardens 73 Middle Ages Edit The ruins of a Baalbek mosque c 1900 The probable remains of a medieval mosque in front of some of the Mamluk fortifications Baalbek was occupied by the Muslim army in AD 634 AH 13 71 in 636 16 or under Abu ʿUbaidah following the Byzantine defeat at Yarmouk in 637 AH 16 citation needed either peacefully and by agreement 18 or following a heroic defense and yielding 2 000 oz 57 kg of gold 4 000 oz 110 kg of silver 2000 silk vests and 1000 swords 73 The ruined temple complex was fortified under the name al Qala lit The Fortress 71 but was sacked with great violence by the Damascene caliph Marwan II in 748 at which time it was dismantled and largely depopulated 73 It formed part of the district of Damascus under the Umayyads and Abbasids before being conquered by Fatimid Egypt in 942 18 In the mid 10th century it was said to have gates of palaces sculptured in marble and lofty columns also of marble and that it was the most stupendous and considerable location in the whole of Syria 16 It was sacked and razed by the Byzantines under John I in 974 18 raided by Basil II in 1000 74 and occupied by Salih ibn Mirdas emir of Aleppo in 1025 18 In 1075 it was finally lost to the Fatimids on its conquest by Tutush I Seljuk emir of Damascus 18 It was briefly held by Muslim ibn Quraysh emir of Aleppo in 1083 after its recovery it was ruled in the Seljuks name by the eunuch Gumushtegin until he was deposed for conspiring against the usurper Toghtekin in 1110 18 Toghtekin then gave the town to his son Buri Upon Buri s succession to Damascus on his father s death in 1128 he granted the area to his son Muhammad 18 After Buri s murder Muhammad successfully defended himself against the attacks of his brothers Ismaʿil and Mahmud and gave Baalbek to his vizier Unur 18 In July 1139 Zengi atabeg of Aleppo and stepfather of Mahmud besieged Baalbek with 14 catapults The outer city held until 10 October and the citadel until the 21st 75 when Unur surrendered upon a promise of safe passage 76 In December Zengi negotiated with Muhammad offering to trade Baalbek or Homs for Damascus but Unur convinced the atabeg to refuse 75 Zengi strengthened its fortifications and bestowed the territory on his lieutenant Ayyub father of Saladin Upon Zengi s assassination in 1146 Ayyub surrendered the territory to Unur who was acting as regent for Muhammad s son Abaq It was granted to the eunuch Ata al Khadim 18 who also served as viceroy of Damascus In December 1151 it was raided by the garrison of Banyas as a reprisal for its role in a Turcoman raid on Banyas 77 Following Ata s murder his nephew Dahhak emir of the Wadi al Taym ruled Baalbek He was forced to relinquish it to Nur ad Din in 1154 18 after Ayyub had successfully intrigued against Abaq from his estates near Baalbek Ayyub then administered the area from Damascus on Nur ad Din s behalf 78 In the mid 12th century Idrisi mentioned Baalbek s two temples and the legend of their origin under Solomon 79 it was visited by the Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela in 1170 43 Baalbek s citadel served as a jail for Crusaders taken by the Zengids as prisoners of war 80 In 1171 these captives successfully overpowered their guards and took possession of the castle from its garrison Muslims from the surrounding area gathered however and entered the castle through a secret passageway shown to them by a local The Crusaders were then massacred 80 Three major earthquakes occurred in the 12th century in 1139 1157 and 1170 73 The one in 1170 ruined Baalbek s walls and though Nur ad Din repaired them his young heir Ismaʿil was made to yield it to Saladin by a 4 month siege in 1174 18 Having taken control of Damascus on the invitation of its governor Ibn al Muqaddam Saladin rewarded him with the emirate of Baalbek following the Ayyubid victory at the Horns of Hama in 1175 81 Baldwin the young leper king of Jerusalem came of age the next year ending the Crusaders treaty with Saladin 82 His former regent Raymond of Tripoli raided the Beqaa Valley from the west in the summer suffering a slight defeat at Ibn al Muqaddam s hands 83 He was then joined by the main army riding north under Baldwin and Humphrey of Toron 83 they defeated Saladin s elder brother Turan Shah in August at Ayn al Jarr and plundered Baalbek 80 Upon the deposition of Turan Shah for neglecting his duties in Damascus however he demanded his childhood home 84 of Baalbek as compensation Ibn al Muqaddam did not consent and Saladin opted to invest the city in late 1178 to maintain peace within his own family 85 An attempt to pledge fealty to the Christians at Jerusalem was ignored on behalf of an existing treaty with Saladin 86 The siege was maintained peacefully through the snows of winter with Saladin waiting for the foolish commander and his garrison of ignorant scum to come to terms 87 Sometime in spring Ibn al Muqaddam yielded and Saladin accepted his terms granting him Baʿrin Kafr Tab and al Maʿarra 87 88 The generosity quieted unrest among Saladin s vassals through the rest of his reign 85 but led his enemies to attempt to take advantage of his presumed weakness 87 He did not permit Turan Shah to retain Baalbek very long though instructing him to lead the Egyptian troops returning home in 1179 and appointing him to a sinecure in Alexandria 81 Baalbek was then granted to his nephew Farrukh Shah whose family ruled it for the next half century 81 When Farrukh Shah died three years later his son Bahram Shah was only a child but he was permitted his inheritance and ruled til 1230 18 He was followed by al Ashraf Musa who was succeeded by his brother as Salih Ismail 18 who received it in 1237 as compensation for being deprived of Damascus by their brother al Kamil 89 It was seized in 1246 after a year of assaults by as Salih Ayyub who bestowed it upon Saʿd al Din al Humaidi 18 When as Salih Ayyub s successor Turan Shah was murdered in 1250 al Nasir Yusuf the sultan of Aleppo seized Damascus and demanded Baalbek s surrender Instead its emir did homage and agreed to regular payments of tribute 18 The Mongolian general Kitbuqa took Baalbek in 1260 and dismantled its fortifications Later in the same year however Qutuz the sultan of Egypt defeated the Mongols and placed Baalbek under the rule of their emir in Damascus 18 Most of the city s still extant fine mosque and fortress architecture dates to the reign of the sultan Qalawun in the 1280s citation needed By the early 14th century Abulfeda the Hamathite was describing the city s large and strong fortress 90 The revived settlement was again destroyed by a flood on 10 May 1318 when water from the east and northeast made holes 30 m 98 ft wide in walls 4 m 13 ft thick 91 194 people were killed and 1500 houses 131 shops 44 orchards 17 ovens 11 mills and 4 aqueducts were ruined along with the town s mosque and 13 other religious and educational buildings 91 In 1400 Timur pillaged the town 92 and there was further destruction from a 1459 earthquake 93 Early modernity Edit Baalbek amp environs c 1856In 1516 Baalbek was conquered with the rest of Syria by the Ottoman sultan Selim the Grim 93 In recognition of their prominence among the Shiites of the Beqaa Valley the Ottomans awarded the sanjak of Homs and local iltizam concessions to Baalbek s Harfush family Like the Hamadas the Harfush emirs were involved on more than one occasion in the selection of Church officials and the running of local monasteries Tradition holds that many Christians quit the Baalbek region in the eighteenth century for the newer more secure town of Zahle on account of the Harfushes oppression and rapacity but more critical studies have questioned this interpretation pointing out that the Harfushes were closely allied to the Orthodox Ma luf family of Zahle where indeed Mustafa Harfush took refuge some years later and showing that depredations from various quarters as well as Zahle s growing commercial attractiveness accounted for Baalbek s decline in the eighteenth century What repression there was did not always target the Christian community per se The Shiite Usayran family for example is also said to have left Baalbek in this period to avoid expropriation by the Harfushes establishing itself as one of the premier commercial households of Sidon and later even serving as consuls of Iran 94 From the 16th century European tourists began to visit the colossal and picturesque ruins 70 95 i Donne hyperbolised No ruins of antiquity have attracted more attention than those of Heliopolis or been more frequently or accurately measured and described 53 Misunderstanding the temple of Bacchus as the Temple of the Sun they considered it the best preserved Roman temple in the world citation needed The Englishman Robert Wood s 1757 Ruins of Balbec 2 included carefully measured engravings that proved influential on British and Continental Neoclassical architects For example details of the Temple of Bacchus s ceiling inspired a bed 119 and ceiling by Robert Adam and its portico inspired that of St George s in Bloomsbury 120 During the 18th century the western approaches were covered with attractive groves of walnut trees 44 but the town itself suffered badly during the 1759 earthquakes after which it was held by the Metawali who again feuded with other Lebanese tribes citation needed Their power was broken by Jezzar Pasha the rebel governor of Acre in the last half of the 18th century citation needed All the same Baalbek remained no destination for a traveller unaccompanied by an armed guard citation needed Upon the pasha s death in 1804 chaos ensued until Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt occupied the area in 1831 after which it again passed into the hands of the Harfushes 93 In 1835 the town s population was barely 200 people 112 In 1850 the Ottomans finally began direct administration of the area making Baalbek a kaza under the Damascus Eyalet and its governor a kaymakam 93 Excavations Edit The largest stone at Baalbek uncovered in 2014 Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany and his wife passed through Baalbek on 1 November 1898 70 on their way to Jerusalem He noted both the magnificence of the Roman remains and the drab condition of the modern settlement 70 It was expected at the time that natural disasters winter frosts and the raiding of building materials by the city s residents would shortly ruin the remaining ruins 90 The archaeological team he dispatched began work within a month Despite finding nothing they could date prior to Baalbek s Roman occupation 121 Otto Puchstein and his associates worked until 1904 70 and produced a meticulously researched and thoroughly illustrated series of volumes 121 Later excavations under the Roman flagstones in the Great Court unearthed three skeletons and a fragment of Persian pottery dated to the 6th 4th centuries BC The sherd featured cuneiform letters 122 In 1977 Jean Pierre Adam made a brief study suggesting most of the large blocks could have been moved on rollers with machines using capstans and pulley blocks a process which he theorised could use 512 workers to move a 557 tonnes 614 tons block 123 124 Baalbek with its colossal structures is one of the finest examples of Imperial Roman architecture at its apogee UNESCO reported in making Baalbek a World Heritage Site in 1984 125 When the committee inscribed the site it expressed the wish that the protected area include the entire town within the Arab walls as well as the southwestern extramural quarter between Bastan al Khan the Roman site and the Mameluk mosque of Ras al Ain Lebanon s representative gave assurances that the committee s wish would be honoured Recent cleaning operations at the Temple of Jupiter discovered the deep trench at its edge whose study pushed back the date of Tell Baalbek s settlement to the PPNB Neolithic Finds included pottery sherds including a spout dating to the early Bronze Age 126 In the summer of 2014 a team from the German Archaeological Institute led by Jeanine Abdul Massih of the Lebanese University discovered a sixth much larger stone suggested to be the world s largest ancient block The stone was found underneath and next to the Stone of the Pregnant Woman Hajjar al Hibla and measures around 19 6 m 6 m 5 5 m 64 ft 20 ft 18 ft It is estimated to weigh 1 650 tonnes 1 820 tons 127 20th century Edit A detail from a 1911 map of Turkey in Asia showing Baalbek s former rail connections Baalbek was connected to the DHP the French owned railway concession in Ottoman Syria on 19 June 1902 128 It formed a station on the standard gauge line between Riyaq to its south and Aleppo now in Syria to its north 129 This Aleppo Railway connected to the Beirut Damascus Railway but because that line was built to a 1 05 meter gauge all traffic had to be unloaded and reloaded at Riyaq 129 Just before the First World War the population was still around 5000 about 2000 each of Sunnis and Shia Mutawalis 93 and 1000 Orthodox and Maronites 48 The French general Georges Catroux proclaimed the independence of Lebanon in 1941 but colonial rule continued until 1943 Baalbek still has its railway station 129 but service has been discontinued since the 1970s originally owing to the Lebanese Civil War The Roman ruins have been the setting for the long running Baalbek International Festival In March 1974 Musa al Sadr announced the launching of the Movement of the Deprived in front of a large rally in Baalbek Its objective was to stand up for Lebanon s neglected Shia community He also announced the setting up of military training camps to train villagers in southern Lebanon to protect their homes from Israeli attacks These camps led to the creation of the Amal Militia 130 In 1982 at the height of the Israeli invasion Amal split into two factions over Nabih Berri s acceptance of the American plan to evacuate Palestinians from West Beirut A large number of dissidents led by Amal s military commander Hussein Musawi moved to Baalbek 131 Once established in the town the group which was to evolve into Hizbollah began to work with Iranian Revolutionary Guards veterans of the Iran Iraq War The following year the Iranians established their headquarters in the Sheikh Abdullah barracks in Baalbek 132 Ultimately there were between 1 500 to 2 000 Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon 133 with outposts further south in the Shia villages such as Jebchit 134 A map of Israeli bombing during the Second Lebanon War Baalbek was a major target with more than 70 bombs dropped 2006 Lebanon War Edit Main article Operation Sharp and Smooth On the evening of 1 August 2006 135 hundreds of Israeli Defense Forces IDF soldiers raided Baalbek and the Dar al Hikma 136 or Hikmeh Hospital 137 in Jamaliyeh 135 to its north Operation Sharp and Smooth Their mission was to rescue two captured soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev who were abducted by Hezbollah on 12 July 2006 They were transported by helicopter 135 and supported by Apache helicopters and unmanned drones 136 135 The IDF was acting on information that Goldwasser and Regev were at the hospital al Jazeera and other sources claimed the IDF was attempting to capture senior Hezbollah officials particularly Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek 137 The hospital had been empty for four days the most unwell patients having been transferred and the rest sent home 136 No Israelis were killed 135 Five civilians were abducted and interrogated by the Israelis presumably because one shared his name with Hassan Nasrallah the secretary general of Hezbollah 138 they were released on August 21 139 Another 9 civilians were killed on 7 August by a strike in the middle of Brital just south of Baalbek and by the subsequent attack on the car leaving the scene for the hospital 140 On 14 August just before the ceasefire took effect two Lebanese police and five Lebanese soldiers were killed by a drone strike while driving their van around the still damaged road through Jamaliyeh 141 Conservation work at Lebanon s historic sites began in October 142 The ruins at Baalbek were not directly hit but the effects of blasts during the conflict toppled a block of stones at the Roman ruins and existing cracks in the temples of Jupiter and Bacchus were feared to have widened 142 Frederique Husseini director general of Lebanon s Department of Antiquities requested 550 000 from Europeans to restore Baalbek s souk and another 900 000 for repairs to other damaged structures 142 Ruins Edit 1911 diagram of the ruins after the Puchstein excavations 143 Facing SW with the Temple of Jupiter labelled Temple of the Sun See also Temple of Jupiter Baalbek Temple of Bacchus Stone of the Pregnant Woman Temples of the Beqaa Valley List of Roman monoliths List of ancient architectural records Monoliths and List of largest monoliths in the world The Tell Baalbek temple complex fortified as the town s citadel during the Middle Ages 93 was constructed from local stone mostly white granite and a rough white marble 45 Over the years it has suffered from the region s numerous earthquakes the iconoclasm of Christian and Muslim lords 53 and the reuse of the temples stone for fortification and other construction The nearby Qubbat Duris a 13th century Muslim shrine on the old road to Damascus is built out of granite columns apparently removed from Baalbek 45 Further the jointed columns were once banded together with iron many were gouged open 144 or toppled by the emirs of Damascus to get at the metal 45 As late as the 16th century the Temple of Jupiter still held 27 standing columns 99 out of an original 58 145 there were only nine before the 1759 earthquakes 2 and six today when The complex is located on an immense vague raised plaza erected 5 m 16 ft over an earlier T shaped base consisting of a podium staircase and foundation walls j These walls were built from about 24 monoliths at their lowest level weighing approximately 300 tonnes 330 tons each The tallest retaining wall on the west has a second course of monoliths containing the famous Three Stones Greek Trili8on Trilithon 37 a row of three stones each over 19 m 62 ft long 4 3 m 14 ft high and 3 6 m 12 ft broad cut from limestone They weigh approximately 800 tonnes 880 tons each 146 A fourth still larger stone is called the Stone of the Pregnant Woman it lies unused in a nearby quarry 800 m 2 600 ft from the town 147 Its weight often exaggerated is estimated at 1 000 tonnes 1 100 tons 148 A fifth still larger stone weighing approximately 1 200 tonnes 1 300 tons 149 lies in the same quarry This quarry was slightly higher than the temple complex 123 150 so no lifting was required to move the stones Through the foundation there run three enormous passages the size of railway tunnels 37 The temple complex was entered from the east through the Propylaea propylaion propylaion or Portico 53 consisting of a broad staircase rising 20 feet 6 1 m 151 to an arcade of 12 columns flanked by 2 towers 70 Most of the columns have been toppled and the stairs were entirely dismantled for use in the nearby later wall 37 k but a Latin inscription remains on several of their bases stating that Longinus a lifeguard of the 1st Parthian Legion and Septimius a freedman gilded their capitals with bronze in gratitude for the safety of Septimius Severus s son Antoninus Caracalla and empress Julia Domna 152 l Immediately behind the Propylaeum is a hexagonal forecourt 70 reached through a threefold entrance 73 that was added in the mid 3rd century by the emperor Philip the Arab citation needed Traces remain of the two series of columns which once encircled it but its original function remains uncertain 70 Donne reckoned it as the town s forum 53 Badly preserved coins of the era led some to believe this was a sacred cypress grove but better specimens show that the coins displayed a single stalk of grain instead 153 The rectangular Great Court to its west covers around 3 or 4 acres 1 2 or 1 6 ha 73 and included the main altar for burnt offering with mosaic floored lustration basins to its north and south a subterranean chamber 154 and three underground passageways 17 ft 5 2 m wide by 30 ft 9 1 m high two of which run east and west and the third connecting them north and south all bearing inscriptions suggesting their occupation by Roman soldiers 73 These were surrounded by Corinthian porticoes one of which was never completed 154 The columns bases and capitals were of limestone the shafts were monoliths of highly polished red Egyptian granite 7 08 m 23 2 ft high 154 Six remain standing out of an original 128 citation needed Inscriptions attest that the court was once adorned by portraits of Marcus Aurelius s daughter Sabina Septimius Severus Gordian and Velius Rufus dedicated by the city s Roman colonists 154 The entablature was richly decorated but is now mostly ruined 154 A westward facing basilica was constructed over the altar during the reign of Theodosius it was later altered to make it eastward facing like most Christian churches 71 The Great Court of ancient Heliopolis s temple complex The Temple of Jupiter once wrongly credited to Helios 155 lay at the western end of the Great Court raised another 7 m 23 ft on a 47 7 m 87 75 m 156 5 ft 287 9 ft platform reached by a wide staircase 145 Under the Byzantines it was also known as the Trilithon from the three massive stones in its foundation and when taken together with the forecourt and Great Court it is also known as the Great Temple 143 The Temple of Jupiter proper was circled by a peristyle of 54 unfluted Corinthian columns 156 10 in front and back and 19 along each side 145 The temple was ruined by earthquakes 70 destroyed and pillaged for stone under Theodosius 71 and 8 columns were taken to Constantinople Istanbul under Justinian for incorporation into the Hagia Sophia citation needed Three fell during the late 18th century 73 6 columns however remain standing along its south side with their entablature 145 Their capitals remain nearly perfect on the south side while the Beqaa s winter winds have worn the northern faces almost bare 157 The architrave and frieze blocks weigh up to 60 tonnes 66 tons each and one corner block over 100 tonnes 110 tons all of them raised to a height of 19 m 62 34 ft above the ground 158 Individual Roman cranes were not capable of lifting stones this heavy They may have simply been rolled into position along temporary earthen banks from the quarry 157 or multiple cranes may have been used in combination citation needed They may also have alternated sides a little at a time filling in supports underneath each time citation needed The Julio Claudian emperors enriched its sanctuary in turn In the mid 1st century Nero built the tower altar opposite the temple In the early 2nd century Trajan added the temple s forecourt with porticos of pink granite shipped from Aswan at the southern end of Egypt citation needed The Temple of Bacchus once wrongly credited to Jupiter 159 m may have been completed under Septimius Severus in the 190s as his coins are the first to show it beside the Temple of Jupiter citation needed It is the best preserved of the sanctuary s structures as the other rubble from its ruins protected it citation needed It is enriched by some of the most refined reliefs and sculpture to survive from antiquity 144 The temple is surrounded by forty two columns 8 along each end and 15 along each side 160 nearly 20 m 66 ft in height citation needed These were probably erected in a rough state and then rounded polished and decorated in position 144 n The entrance was preserved as late as Pococke 105 and Wood 2 but the keystone of the lintel had slid 2 ft 1 m following the 1759 earthquakes a column of rough masonry was erected in the 1860s or 70s to support it 160 The 1759 earthquakes also damaged the area around the soffit s famed inscription of an eagle 95 which was entirely covered by the keystone s supporting column The area around the inscription of the eagle was greatly damaged by the 1759 earthquake 95 The interior of the temple is divided into a 98 ft 30 m nave and a 36 ft 11 m adytum or sanctuary 160 on a platform raised 5 ft 2 m above it and fronted by 13 steps 144 The screen between the two sections once held reliefs of Neptune Triton Arion and his dolphin and other marine figures 104 but these have been lost 144 The temple was used as a kind of donjon for the medieval Arab and Turkish fortifications 93 although its eastern steps were lost sometime after 1688 161 Much of the portico was incorporated into a huge wall directly before its gate but this was demolished in July 1870 by Barker who on orders from Syria s governor Rashid Pasha 160 Two spiral staircases in columns on either side of the entrance lead to the roof 95 The Temple of Venus also known as the Circular Temple or Nymphaeum 152 was added under Septimius Severus in the early 3rd century citation needed but destroyed under Constantine who raised a basilica in its place 95 Jessup considered it the gem of Baalbek 152 It lies about 150 yd 140 m from the southeast corner of the Temple of Bacchus 152 It was known in the 19th century as El Barbara 152 or Barbarat el Atikah St Barbara s having been used as a Greek Orthodox church into the 18th century 95 o The ancient walls of Heliopolis had a circumference of a little less than 4 mi 6 km 53 Much of the extant fortifications around the complex date to the 13th century 71 reconstruction undertaken by the Mamluk sultan Qalawun following the devastation of the earlier defenses by the Mongol army under Kitbuqa 18 This includes the great southeast tower 93 The earliest round of fortifications were two walls to the southwest of the Temples of Jupiter and Bacchus 93 The original southern gateway with two small towers was filled in and replaced by a new large tower flanked by curtains clarification needed probably under Buri or Zengi 93 Bahramshah replaced that era s southwest tower with one of his own in 1213 and built another in the northwest in 1224 the west tower was probably strengthened around the same time 93 An inscription dates the barbican like strengthening of the southern entrance to around 1240 93 Qalawun relocated the two western curtains clarification needed nearer to the western tower which was rebuilt with great blocks of stone The barbican was repaired and more turns added to its approach 93 From around 1300 no alterations were made to the fortifications apart from repairs such as Sultan Barkuk s restoration of the moat in preparation for Timur s arrival 93 Material from the ruins is incorporated into a ruined mosque north of downtown 162 and probably also in the Qubbat Duris on the road to Damascus 162 In the 19th century a shell topped canopy from the ruins was used nearby as a mihrab propped up to show locals the direction of Mecca for their daily prayers 162 Tomb of Husayn s daughter Edit Under a white dome further towards town is the tomb of Khawla daughter of Hussein and granddaughter of Ali who died in Baalbek while Husayn s family was being transported as prisoners to Damascus 163 164 Ecclesiastical history EditHeliopolis in Phoenicia not to be confused with the Egyptian bishopric Heliopolis in Augustamnica was a bishopric under Roman and Byzantine rule but it disappeared due to the Islamic rule In 1701 Eastern Catholics Byzantine Rite established anew an Eparchy of Baalbek which in 1964 was promoted to the present Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Baalbek Titular see Edit In the Latin rite the Ancient diocese was only nominally restored no later than 1876 as Titular archbishopric of Heliopolis Latin Eliopoli Curiate Italian demoted in 1925 to Episcopal Titular bishopric promoted back in 1932 with its name changed avoiding Egyptian confusion in 1933 to non Metropolitan Titular archbishopric of Heliopolis in Phoenicia The title has not been assigned since 1965 It was held by 165 Titular Archbishop Luigi Poggi 1876 09 29 death 1877 01 22 on emeritate promoted as former Bishop of Rimini Italy 1871 10 27 1876 09 29 Titular Archbishop Mario Mocenni 1877 07 24 1893 01 16 as papal diplomat Apostolic Delegate to Colombia 1877 08 14 1882 03 28 Apostolic Delegate to Costa Rica Nicaragua and Honduras 1877 08 14 1882 03 28 Apostolic Delegate to Ecuador 1877 08 14 1882 03 28 Apostolic Delegate to Peru and Bolivia 1877 08 14 1882 03 28 Apostolic Delegate to Venezuela 1877 08 14 1882 03 28 Apostolic Internuncio to Brazil 1882 03 28 1882 10 18 created Cardinal Priest of S Bartolomeo all Isola 1893 01 19 1894 05 18 promoted Cardinal Bishop of Sabina 1894 05 18 death 1904 11 14 Titular Archbishop Augustinus Accoramboni 1896 06 22 death 1899 05 17 without prelature Titular Archbishop Robert John Seton 1903 06 22 1927 03 22 without prelature Titular Bishop Gerald O Hara 1929 04 26 1935 11 26 as Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia Pennsylvania USA 1929 04 26 1935 11 26 later Bishop of Savannah USA 1935 11 26 1937 01 05 restyled only Bishop of Savannah Atlanta USA 1937 01 05 1950 07 12 promoted Archbishop Bishop of Savannah 1950 07 12 1959 11 12 also Apostolic Nuncio papal ambassador to Ireland 1951 11 27 1954 06 08 Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain 1954 06 08 death 1963 07 16 and Titular Archbishop of Pessinus 1959 11 12 1963 07 16 Titular Archbishop Alcide Marina C M 1936 03 07 death 1950 09 18 mainly as papal diplomat Apostolic Delegate to Iran 1936 03 07 1945 Apostolic Administrator of Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Constantinople Turkey 1945 1947 and Apostolic Delegate to Turkey 1945 1947 Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon 1947 1950 09 18 Titular Archbishop Daniel Rivero Rivero 1951 death 1960 05 23 born Bolivia on emeritate formerly Titular Bishop of Tlous 1922 05 17 1931 03 30 as Coadjutor Bishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra Bolivia 1922 05 17 1931 03 30 succeeding as Bishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra 1931 03 30 1940 02 03 Metropolitan Archbishop of Sucre Bolivia 1940 02 03 1951 Titular Archbishop Raffaele Calabria 1960 07 12 1962 01 01 as Coadjutor Archbishop of Benevento Italy 1960 07 12 1962 01 01 succeeding as Metropolitan Archbishop of Benevento 1962 01 01 1982 05 24 previously Titular Archbishop of Soteropolis 1950 05 06 1952 07 10 as Coadjutor Archbishop of Otranto Italy 1950 05 06 1952 07 10 succeeding as Metropolitan Archbishop of Otranto Italy 1952 07 10 1960 07 12 Titular Archbishop Ottavio De Liva 1962 04 18 death 1965 08 23 as papal diplomat Apostolic Internuncio to Indonesia 1962 04 18 1965 08 23 Climate EditBaalbek has a mediterranean climate Koppen climate classification Csa with significant continental influences It is located in one of the drier regions of the country giving it an average of 450mm of precipitation compared with 800 850mm in coastal areas annually overwhelmingly concentrated in the months from November to April Baalbek has hot rainless summers with cool and occasionally snowy winters Autumn and spring are mild and fairly rainy Climate data for BaalbekMonth Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearAverage high C F 9 0 48 2 9 8 49 6 13 7 56 7 19 0 66 2 24 4 75 9 29 6 85 3 32 5 90 5 33 0 91 4 29 0 84 2 23 7 74 7 16 3 61 3 11 1 52 0 20 9 69 7 Daily mean C F 4 4 39 9 5 0 41 0 8 2 46 8 12 8 55 0 17 2 63 0 22 0 71 6 24 3 75 7 25 1 77 2 21 0 69 8 16 7 62 1 10 7 51 3 6 3 43 3 14 5 58 1 Average low C F 0 1 31 8 0 3 32 5 2 8 37 0 6 6 43 9 10 1 50 2 14 4 57 9 16 2 61 2 17 2 63 0 13 1 55 6 9 7 49 5 5 2 41 4 1 6 34 9 8 1 46 6 Average precipitation mm inches 103 4 1 86 3 4 60 2 4 31 1 2 17 0 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 16 0 6 49 1 9 79 3 1 444 17 5 Source 166 Notable people EditSaint Barbara 273 306 Callinicus of Heliopolis c 600 c 680 chemist and inventor Abd al Rahman al Awza i 707 774 Qusta ibn Luqa 820 912 mathematician and translator Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir 1070s 1162 Bahaʾ al din al ʿAmili 1547 1621 Lebanese Iranian scholar philosopher architect mathematician astronomer Rahme Haider born 1886 American lecturer from Baalbek Khalil Mutran 1872 1949 poet and journalist Juliana Awada former First Lady of Argentina Harfush dynastyIn popular culture EditLetitia Elizabeth Landon s poetical illustration Ruins at Balbec is on a painting by William Henry Bartlett entitled Six detached pillars of the Great Temple at Balbec and was published in Fisher s Drawing Room Scrap Book 1839 167 Ameen Rihani s The Book of Khalid 1911 the first English novel by an Arab American is set in Baalbek The events of the 1984 novel Les fous de Baalbek SAS 74 by Gerard de Villiers take place in Baalbek Twin towns EditBaalbek is twinned with Bari Italy L Aquila Italy Thrace Greece Yogyakarta Indonesia 168 Gallery Edit The Round Temple and the Temple of the Muses located outside the sanctuary complex Temple of Bacchus Remains of the Propylaeum the eastern entrance to the site The Great Court of Temples Complex Temple of Venus Massive columns of the Temple of Jupiter An 1873 German map of Asia Minor amp Syria with relief illustrating the Beqaa El Bekaa valley Panorama around 1870 by Felix Bonfils Baalbek in 1910 after the arrival of rail The ruins of Baalbek facing west from the hexagonal forecourt in the 19th century The Stone of the Pregnant Woman in the early 20th century the Temple of Jupiter in the backgroundSee also EditCities of the ancient Near East List of Catholic dioceses in Lebanon List of colossal sculpture in situ List of megalithic sitesNotes Edit Also spelled Ba labek 1 Balbec 2 Baalbec 3 and Baalbeck 4 The name also appears in the Hellenized form Balanios and Baal Helion in records describing the acts of Theodosius s reign 16 The Egyptian priests claims that Heliopolis represented a direct descendant of Ra s cult at Iunu however is almost certainly mistaken 17 Commonly mistaken by European visitors to have been the one described in the Biblical First Book of Kings 42 43 Daniel Lohmann wrote that due to the lack of remains of temple architecture it can be assumed that the temple this terrace was built for was never completed or entirely destroyed before any new construction started 54 page needed The unfinished pre Roman sanctuary construction was incorporated into a master plan of monumentalisation Apparently challenged by the already huge pre Roman construction the early imperial Jupiter sanctuary shows both an architectural megalomaniac design and construction technique in the first half of the first century AD 55 It is apparent from a graffito on one of the columns of the Temple of Jupiter that that building was nearing completion in 60 A D 56 Coins of Septimius Severus bear the legend COL HEL I O M H Colonia Heliopolis Iovi Optimo Maximo Helipolitano 3 It is mentioned inter alia by Sozomen 67 and Theodoret 68 Notable visitors 95 35 included Baumgarten 1507 96 Belon 1548 97 98 Thevet 1550 99 von Seydlitz 1557 100 Radziwill 1583 47 Quaresmio 1620 101 Monconys 1647 102 de la Roque 1688 103 Maundrell 1699 104 Pococke 1738 105 Wood and Dawkins 1751 2 Volney 1784 106 Richardson 1818 107 Chesney 1830 108 109 Lamartine 1833 110 Marmont 1834 111 Addison 1835 112 Lindsay 1837 113 Robinson 1838 114 amp 1852 115 Wilson 1843 116 De Saulcy 1851 117 and Frauberger 19th c 118 Current survey and interpretation show that a pre Roman floor level about 5 m lower than the late Great Roman Courtyard floor existed underneath 55 The staircase is shown intact on a coin from the reign of the emperor Philip the Arab 37 The inscriptions were distinct in the 18th century 2 but becoming illegible by the end of the 19th 152 I O M DIIS HELIVPOL PRO SAL ET VICTORIIS D N ANTONINI PII FEL AVG ET IVLIAE AVG MATRIS D N CAST SENAT PATR AVR ANT LONGINVS SPECVL LEG I ANT ONINIANAE CAPITA COLVMNARVM DVA AEREA AVRO INLVMINATA SVA PECVNIA EX VOTO L A S 70 and I O M PRO SAL VTE D N IMP ANTONIN I PII FELICIS SEP TIMI VS BAS AVG LIB CAPVT COLVMNAE AENEUM AVRO INL VMINAT VM VOTVM SVA PECVNIA L A S 70 It has also been misattributed to Apollo and Helios 73 The locals once knew it as the Dar es Sa adeh or Court of Happiness 160 The cornice of the exaedrum in the northwest corner remains partially sculpted and partially plain 144 In the 1870s and 80s its Metawali caretaker Um Kasim would demand bakshish from visitors and for use of the olive oil lamps used to make vows to St Barbara 152 References Edit Cook s 1876 a b c d e f Wood 1757 a b c d e f g h i j k l EB 1878 p 176 إتحاد بلديات غربي بعلبك West Baalbeck Municipalities Union in Arabic 2013 Retrieved 8 September 2015 Olausson Lena 2 August 2006 How to Say Baalbek London BBC Retrieved 8 September 2015 Baalbek Merriam Webster 2020 Baalbek American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 2020 Mohafazah de Baalbek Hermel Localiban Retrieved 20 February 2017 Wolfgang Gockel Helga Bruns 1998 Syria Lebanon illustrated ed Hunter Publishing Inc p 202 ISBN 9783886181056 KTU 1 4 IV 21 KTU 1 100 3 a b c d Steiner 2009 Baalbek UNESCO World Heritage Centre a b Lendering 2013 a b Jidejian 1975 p 5 Amm Marc Hist Bk XIV Ch 8 6 Archived 1 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine Jidejian 1975 p 57 a b c Jessup 1881 p 473 a b c d e f Cook 1914 p 550 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t EI 1913 p 543 Mishnah Maaserot 5 8 Brit Mus Add 12150 Eusebius Theophania 2 14 Burkitt 1904 p 51 Overbeck 1865 p 196 Arastu 2014 p 616 a b Arabic PDF ALA LC Romanization Tables Washington Library of Congress 2015 EI 1913 DGRG 1878 Josh 11 17 1 Kings 9 17 18 a b c New Class Dict 1862 Song of Songs 8 11 Amos 1 5 Jessup 1881 p 468 Jessup 1881 p 453 a b EB 1911 Lebanon Baalbek Berlin German Archaeological Institute 2004 Archived from the original on 11 October 2004 Retrieved 8 September 2015 a b c d e Jessup 1881 p 456 a b c DGRG 1878 p 1036 Helene Sader where Jidejian 1975 p 47 Jessup 1881 p 470 1 Kings 7 2 7 a b c d CT 2010 a b Volney 1787 p 224 a b c d DGRG 1878 p 1038 Jessup 1881 p 454 a b Radziwill 1601 a b EB 1911 p 89 Josephus Ant XIV 3 4 Pliny Nat Hist V 22 Strabo Geogr Bk 14 Ch 2 10 in Greek a b Ptolemy Geogr Bk V Ch 15 22 Archived 29 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine a b c d e f g h DGRG 1878 p 1037 Lohmann 2010 a b Lohmann 2010 p 29 Rowland 1956 Kropp amp al 2011 a b c Macrobius Saturnalia Vol I Ch 23 a b Cook 1914 p 552 Macrobius 58 translated in Cook 59 a b Graves 1955 p 40 41 a b c Jessup 1881 p 471 a b c d e f Cook 1914 p 554 Cook 1914 p 552 553 Cook 1914 p 553 Ulpian De Censibus Bk I Sozomen Hist Eccles v 10 Theodoret Hist Eccles III 7 amp IV 22 Bar Hebraeus Hist Compend Dynast p 85 in Latin a b c d e f g h i j k Cook 1914 p 556 a b c d e f g h Cook 1914 p 555 Niebuhr Barthold Georg Dindorf Ludwig eds 1832 sp8ʹ Ὀlympias CCLXXXIX Chronicon Paschale Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae in Greek and Latin Vol I Bonn Impensis ed Weberi p 561 a b c d e f g h i EB 1878 p 177 CMH 1966 p 634 a b Venning amp al 2015 p 109 EI 1936 p 1225 Venning amp al 2015 p 138 Venning amp al 2015 p 141 142 Jessup 1881 p 475 476 a b c Alouf 1944 p 94 a b c Humphreys 1977 p 52 Lock 2013 p 63 a b Runciman 1951 p 410 Sato 1997 p 57 a b Baldwin 1969 p 572 Kohler 2013 p 226 a b c Lyons amp al 1982 pp 132 133 Sato 1997 p 58 Venning amp al 2015 p 299 a b Jessup 1881 p 476 a b Alouf 1944 p 96 le Strange 1890 p xxiii a b c d e f g h i j k l m n EI 1913 p 544 Stefan Winter 11 March 2010 The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule 1516 1788 Cambridge University Press Page 166 a b c d e f g EB 1878 p 178 Baumgarten 1594 Belon 1553 Belon 1554 a b Thevet 1554 Sedlitz 1580 Quaresmio 1639 Monconys 1665 de la Roque 1722 a b Maundrell 1703 a b Pococke 1745 Volney 1787 Richardson 1822 Chesney 1850 Chesney 1868 Lamartine 1835 Marmont 1837 a b Addison 1838 Lindsay 1838 Robinson 1841 Robinson 1856 Wilson 1847 De Saulcy 1853 Frauberger 1892 Coote James Adam s Bed 16 Varieties of Im propriety Austin Center for American Architecture amp Design University of Texas School of Architecture Archived from the original on 2 September 2010 Retrieved 5 May 2009 St George s Church Bloomsbury Archived from the original on 4 November 2007 Retrieved 25 July 2009 a b Wiegand 1925 Jidejian 1975 p 15 a b Adam amp al 1999 p 35 Adam 1977 Baalbek New York UNESCO World Heritage Centre 2015 Retrieved 8 September 2015 Genz 2010 Kehrer 2014 Ludvigsen Borre 2008 Lebanon Railways Background Al Mashriq The Levant Halden Ostfold University Retrieved 16 September 2015 a b c Ludvigsen Borre 2008 Lebanon Railways Riyaq Homs Al Mashriq The Levant Halden Ostfold University Retrieved 16 September 2015 Hirst David 2010 Beware of Small States Lebanon battleground of the Middle East Faber and Faber ISBN 978 0 571 23741 8 p 101 David Hirst pp 187 188 David Hirst p 190 David Hirst p 186 David Hirst p 235 a b c d e HRW 2007 p 124 a b c Butters Andrew Lee 2 August 2006 Behind the Battle for Baalbek Time Archived from the original on 24 October 2012 Retrieved 8 September 2015 a b Nahla 2 August 2006 Minute by Minute August 2 Lebanon Updates Retrieved 2 August 2006 HRW 2007 p 127 HRW 2007 p 127 128 HRW 2007 p 137 HRW 2007 p 164 165 a b c Karam Zeina 4 October 2006 Cleanup to Start at Old Sites in Lebanon The Washington Post Associated Press Retrieved 8 September 2015 a b EB 1911 p 90 a b c d e f Jessup 1881 p 459 a b c d Cook 1914 p 560 Adam 1977 p 52 Alouf 1944 p 139 Ruprechtsberger 1999 p 15 Ruprechtsberger 1999 p 17 Hastings 2004 p 892 Jessup 1881 p 465 a b c d e f g Jessup 1881 p 466 Cook 1914 p 558 559 a b c d e Cook 1914 p 559 Cook 1914 p 565 Jessup 1881 p 460 a b Jessup 1881 p 462 Coulton 1974 p 16 Cook 1914 p 564 a b c d e Jessup 1881 p 458 EB 1878 a b c Jessup 1881 p 467 Michel M Alouf History of Baalbek 1922 After the defeat and murder of Hossein by the Ommiads his family was led captive to Damascus but Kholat died at Baalbek on her way into exile Nelles Guide Syria Lebanon Wolfgang Gockel Helga Bruns 1998 Page 202 3886181057 Ensconced under a white dome further towards town are the mortal remains of Kholat daughter of Hussein and granddaughter of Titular See of Heliopolis in Phœnicia Lebanon www gcatholic org Climate Baalbek Climate Data org Retrieved 25 August 2018 Landon Letitia Elizabeth 1838 picture Fisher s Drawing Room Scrap Book 1839 Fisher Son amp Co Landon Letitia Elizabeth 1838 poetical illustration Fisher s Drawing Room Scrap Book 1839 Fisher Son amp Co Syaifullah M 26 October 2008 Yogyakarta dan Libanon Bentuk Kota Kembar Tempo Interaktif Archived from the original on 18 August 2009 Retrieved 25 January 2010 Sources and external links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baalbek Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Baalbek Google Maps satellite view Panoramas of the temples at Lebanon 360 and Discover Lebanon Archaeological research in Baalbek from the German Archaeological Institute GCatholic Latin titular see Baalbeck International Festival Baalbek Railway Station 2006 at Al Mashriq Hussey J M ed 1966 The Byzantine Empire Cambridge Medieval History Vol IV Cambridge Cambridge University Press Smith William Anthon Charles eds 1862 Heliopolis A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography Mythology and Geography New York Harper amp Bros p 349 K T 2010 Baalbek In Grafton Anthony Most Glenn W Settis Salvatore eds The Classical Tradition Cambridge Harvard University Press p 115 ISBN 978 0 674 03572 0 Ba albek Cook s Tourists Handbook for Palestine and Syria London T Cook amp Son 1876 pp 359 365 Donne William Bodham 1878 Helio polis Syriae In Smith William ed A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Vol I London John Murray pp 1036 1038 Baynes T S ed 1878 Baalbec Encyclopaedia Britannica vol 3 9th ed New York Charles Scribner s Sons pp 176 178 Hogarth David George 1911 Baalbek in Chisholm Hugh ed Encyclopaedia Britannica vol 3 11th ed Cambridge University Press pp 89 90 Sobernheim Moritz 1913 Baalbek Encyclopaedia of Islam A Dictionary of the Geography Ethnography and Biography of the Muhammadan Peoples Vol I 1st ed Leiden E J Brill pp 543 544 ISBN 9004082654 Zettersteen K V 1936 Zengi Encyclopaedia of Islam A Dictionary of the Geography Ethnography and Biography of the Muhammadan Peoples Vol VIII 1st ed Leiden E J Brill pp 1224 1225 ISBN 9004097961 Adam Jean Pierre 1977 A propos du trilithon de Baalbek Le transport et la mise en oeuvre des megalithes About the Baalbeck Trilithon The Transport and Use of the Megaliths Syria in French 54 1 2 31 63 doi 10 3406 syria 1977 6623 Adam Jean Pierre Mathews Anthony 1999 Roman Building Materials and Techniques Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 20866 6 Addison Charles Greenstreet 1838 Damascus and Palmyra A Journey to the East with a Sketch of the State and Prospects of Syria under Ibrahim Pasha Vol II Philadelphia T K amp P G Collins for E L Carey amp A Hart Alouf Michel M 1944 History of Baalbek Beirut American Press ISBN 9781585090631 Arastu Rizwan 2014 God s Emissaries Adam to Jesus Dearborn Imam Mahdi Association of Marjaeya ISBN 978 0 692 21411 4 Baldwin Marshall W ed 1969 The Rise of Saladin A History of the Crusades Vol I The First Hundred Years 2nd ed Madison University of Wisconsin Press ISBN 9780299048341 Baumgarten Martin von Martinus a Baumgarten in Braitenbach 1594 Peregrinatio in Aegyptum Arabiam Palaestinam amp Syriam A Trip to Egypt Arabia Palestine amp Syria in Latin Nurnberg Noriberga Belon Pierre Petrus Bellonius Cenomanus 1553 De Admirabili Operum Antiquorum et Rerum Suspiciendarum Praestantia On the Admirableness of the Works of the Ancients and a Presentation of Suspected Things in Latin Paris Parisius Guillaume Cavellat Gulielmus Cavellat Belon Pierre 1554 Les observations de plusieurs singularitez amp choses memorables trouvees en Grece Asie Judee Egypte Arabie amp autres pays estranges Observations on the Many Singularities amp Memorable Things Found in Greece Asia Judea Egypt Arabia amp Other Strange Lands in French Paris Gilles Corrozet Bouckaert Peter Houry Nadim 2007 Whitson Sarah Leah Ross James Saunders Joseph Roth Kenneth eds Why They Died Civilian Casualties in Lebanon during the 2006 War PDF Human Rights Watch Burkitt Francis Crawford 1904 Early Eastern Christianity St Margaret s Lectures 1904 on the Syriac speaking Church London John Murray ISBN 9781593331016 Chesney Francis Rawdon 1850 The Expedition for the Survey of the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris carried on by Order of the British Government in the Years 1835 1836 and 1837 Preceded by Geographical and Historical Notices of the Regions Situated between the Rivers Nile and Indus London Longman Brown Green amp Longmans volume I volume II Chesney Francis Rawdon 1868 Narrative of the Euphrates Expedition carried on by Order of the British Government during the Years 1835 1836 and 1837 London Spttiswoode amp Co for Longmans Green amp Co Cook Arthur Bernard 1914 Zeus A Study in Ancient Religion Vol I Zeus God of the Bright Sky Cambridge Cambridge University Press Coulton J J 1974 Lifting in Early Greek Architecture Journal of Hellenic Studies 94 1 19 doi 10 2307 630416 JSTOR 630416 S2CID 162973494 de la Roque Jean 1722 Voyage de Syrie et du Mont Leban Travel to Syria and Mount Lebanon in French Paris Andre Cailleau De Saulcy Louis Felicien Joseph Caignart 1853 Voyage Autour de la Mer Morte et dans les Terres Bibliques execute de Decembre 1850 a Avril 1851 Travel around the Dead Sea and within the Biblical Lands undertaken from December 1850 to April 1851 Vol II in French Paris J Claye amp Co for Gide amp J Baudry Frauberger Heinrich 1892 Die Akropolis von Baalbek The Baalbek Acropolis in German Frankfurt H Keller Genz Hermann 2010 Reflections on the Early Bronze Age IV in Lebanon In Matthiae Paolo Pinnock Frances Marchetti Nicolo Nigro eds Proceedings of the 6th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East 5 May 10 May 2009 Sapienza Universita di Roma Vol 2 Excavations Surveys and Restorations Reports on Recent Field Archaeology in the Near East Wiesbaden Harrassowitz Verlag pp 205 218 ISBN 978 3 447 06216 9 Graves Robert 1955 The Greek Myths Vol I London Penguin Books ISBN 9780141959658 Hastings James 2004 1898 A Dictionary of the Bible Dealing with Its Language Literature and Contents Vol IV Pt II University Press of the Pacific in Honolulu ISBN 978 1 4102 1729 5 Humphreys R Stephen 1977 From Saladin to the Mongols The Ayyubids of Damascus 1193 1260 Albany State University of New York Press ISBN 0 87395 263 4 Jessup Samuel 1881 Ba albek In Wilson Charles William ed Picturesque Palestine Sinai and Egypt Div II New York D Appleton amp Co illustrated by Henry Fenn amp J D Woodward pp 453 476 Jidejian Nina 1975 Baalbek Heliopolis City of the Sun Beirut Dar el Machreq Publishers ISBN 978 2 7214 5884 1 Kehrer Nicole 21 November 2014 Libanesisch deutsches Forscherteam entdeckt weltweit grossten antiken Steinblock in Baalbek Lebanese German Research Team Discovers the World s Largest Ancient Stone Block in Baalbek in German Berlin German Archaeological Institute Archived from the original on 12 December 2014 Retrieved 30 November 2014 Kohler Michael 2013 Hirschler Konrad ed Alliances and Treaties between Frankish and Muslim Rulers in the Middle East Cross Cultural Diplomacy in the Period of the Crusades The Muslim World in the Age of the Crusades Studies and Texts The Muslim World in the Age of the Crusades Vol I Leiden translated from the German by Peter M Holt for Koninklijke Brill ISBN 978 90 04 24857 1 ISSN 2213 1043 Kropp Andreas Lohmann Daniel April 2011 Master look at the size of those stones Look at the size of those buildings Analogies in Construction Techniques Between the Temples at Heliopolis Baalbek and Jerusalem pp 38 50 Retrieved 13 March 2013 dead link Lamartine Alphonse de 1835 Souvenirs Impressions Pensees et Paysages pendant un Voyage en Orient 1832 1833 ou Notes d un Voyageur Remembrances Impressions Thoughts and Passages concerning Travel in the Orient 1832 1833 or Notes from a Voyager in French Brussels Bruxelles L Hauman Lendering Jona 2013 Baalbek Heliopolis Livius Archived from the original on 2 July 2015 Retrieved 8 September 2015 le Strange Guy 1890 Palestine Under the Moslems A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A D 650 to 1500 Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund Lindsay Alexander 1838 Letters from Egypt Edom and the Holy Land Vol II London Henry Colburn Lock Peter 2013 The Routledge Companion to the Crusades Routledge Companions to History Routledge ISBN 9781135131371 Lohmann Daniel 2010 Giant Strides towards Monumentality The architecture of the Jupiter Sanctuary in Baalbek Heliopolis Bolletino di Archaologia Bulletin of Archaeology Special 29 30 Lyons Malcolm Cameron Jackson David Edward Pritchett 1982 Saladin The Politics of the Holy War Oriental Publications No 30 Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 31739 8 Marmont Auguste Frederic Louis Viesse de 1837 Voyage du Marechal Duc de Raguse en Hongrie en Transylvanie dans la Russie Meridionale en Grimee et sur les Bords de la Mer d Azoff a Constantinople dans Quelques Parties de l Asie Mineure en Syrie en Palestine et en Egypte 1834 1835 Travel of Marshal Marmont the Duke of Ragusa in Hungary in Transylvania within Southern Russia in the Crimea and on the Shores of the Sea of Azov to Constantinople within Certain Parts of Asia Minor in Syria in Palestine and in Egypt 1834 1835 Vol III Syrie Syria in French Paris Ladvocat Monconys Balthasar de 1665 Voyage de Syrie Syrian Travel Journal des Voyages de Monsieur de Monconys in French Lyon Horace Boissat amp George Remeus I 296 ff Maundrell Henry 1703 A Journey fromAleppotoJerusalemat EasterA D 1697 Oxford Overbeck J Josephus ed 1865 Rabulae Vita S Ephraemi Syri Rabulae Episcopi Edesseni Balaei Aliorumque Opera Selecta e Codicibus Syriacis Manuscriptis in Museo Britannico et Bibliotheca Bodleiana Asservatis Primus Edidit in Latin Oxford Clarendon Press pp 159 209 amp in Classical Syriac Pococke Richard 1745 Of Baalbeck the antient Heliopolis A Description of the East and Some other Countries Vol II Pt IObservations on Palaestine or the Holy Land Syria Mesopotamia Cyprus and Candia London W Bowyer pp 106 113 Quaresmio Francisco Franciscus Quaresmius 1639 Historica Theologica et Moralis Terrae Sanctae Elucidatio A Historical Theological and Moral Elucidation of the Holy Land in Latin Antwerp Antuerpia Balthasar Moretus Radziwill Mikolaj Krzystof Nicolaus Christophorus Radzivilus 1601 Hierosolymitana Peregrinatio A Jerusalem Trip in Latin Braniewo Brunsberga Georg Schonfels Georgius Schonfels Richardson Robert 1822 Travels along the Mediterranean and Parts Adjacent in Company with the Earl of Belmore during the Years 1816 17 18 Extending as far as the Second Cataract of the Nile Jerusalem Damascus Balbec amp c amp c Illustrated by Plans and other Engravings Vol II London T Cadell Robinson Edward 1841 Biblical Researches in Palestine Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea A Journal of Travels in the Year 1838 by E Robinson and E Smith Vol III Boston Crocker amp Brewster Robinson Edward 1856 Later Biblical Researches in Palestine and in the Adjacent Regions A Journal of Travels in the Year 1852 by E Robinson E Smith and Others Boston Crocker amp Brewster Rowland Benjamin Jr 1956 The Vine Scroll in Gandhara Artibus Asiae Vol 19 pp 353 361 Runciman Steven 1951 A History of the Crusades Vol II The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East 1100 run1187 Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 34771 8 Ruprechtsberger Erwin M 1999 Vom Steinbruch zum Jupitertempel von Heliopolis Baalbek Libanon From the Quarry to the Temple of Jupiter of Heliopolis Baalbek Lebanon Linzer Archaologische Forschungen Linz Archaeological Research in German 30 7 56 Sato Tsugitaka 1997 State and Rural Society in Medieval Islam Sultans Muqtaʿs and Fallahun Islamic History and Civilization Studies and Texts Islamic History and Civilization Vol 17 Leiden Brill ISBN 90 04 10649 9 ISSN 0929 2403 Sedlitz Melchior von 1580 Grundtliche Beschreibung Der Wallfart nach dem heyligen Lande A Thorough Description The Places of Pilgrimage in the Holy Land in German Fritsch Reprinted at Gorlitz in 1591 Steiner Richard C Fall 2009 On the Rise and Fall of Canaanite Religion at Baalbek A Tale of Five Toponyms Journal of Biblical Literature 128 3 507 525 doi 10 2307 25610200 JSTOR 25610200 Thevet Andre 1554 Cosmographie de Levant A Cosmography of the Levant in French Lyons Jean de Tournes Ian de Tournes amp Guillaume Gazeau Guil Gazeav Venning Timothy Frankopan Peter 2015 A Chronology of the Crusades Abingdon Routledge ISBN 978 1 138 80269 8 Volney Constantin Francois de Chasseboeuf comte de 1787 Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte Pendant les annees 1783 1784 amp 1785 avec deux Cartes Geographiques amp deux Planches gravees representant les ruines du Temple du Soleil a Balbek amp celles de la ville de Palmyre dans le Desert de Syrie Travel in Syria and Egypt during the Years 1783 1784 amp 1785 with two maps amp two engravings showing the ruins of the Temple of the Sun at Baalbek amp those of the city of Palmyra in the Syrian Desert in French Paris Volland Desenne Wiegand Theodor 1925 Baalbek Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen in den Jahren 1898 bis 1905 Baalbek Results of the Excavations and Surveys from the Years 1898 to 1905 in German Walter de Gruyter ISBN 978 3 11 002370 1 Wilson John 1847 The Lands of the Bible Visited and Described in an Extensive Journey Undertaken with Special Reference to the Promotion of Biblical Research and the Advancement of the Cause of Philanthropy Vol II Edinburgh William Whyte amp Co Winter Stefan Helmut 2002 The Shiite Emirates of Ottoman Syria Mid 17th Mid 18th Century Chicago University of Chicago Press Wood Robert 1757 The Ruins of Balbec otherwise Heliopolis in Cœlosyria London Further reading Edit The Entrance to the Temple of Jupiter World Digital Library Washington Library of Congress 29 May 2013 Retrieved 8 September 2015 Baalbek New York UNESCO World Heritage Centre Archived from the original on 12 September 2007 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Baalbek amp oldid 1130264595, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.