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Tourists come to Baalbek to see the spectacular Roman ruins but the small town itself is worth a visit if you are at all curious about what life can be like in a traditional town of the Bekaa valey. Abdel Halim Haggas street, the main drag of this small place, was very quiet as there were no tourists when I was there a few days before the American invasion of Irak.
I stayed at the Jupiter hotel where I had a room with bath for 10 $US. Just down the street was this friendly butcher, proud to show off the carcass of a fat tailed awassi sheep. These sheep store fat in a huge tail weighing several kilos just like camels store fat in their hump to survive hard times.
I found the local people friendly and helpful. This merchant of sweet pastry even took time to explain some of his favourite recepies.
This forlorn camel, unemployed for there were no tourists, looked at me hopefully but I hardened my heart to his plight and rushed off to see the ruins.
This artist's reconstitution will help you visualise what the temple complex looked like in Roman times.
And this plan will allow you locate what you see in the photos that follow.
There is evidence of human occupation of this site going back to 2000 years BC. The small round Temple of Venus shown here was probably amongst the last additions in the mid third century along with the propylae of the main complex accross the street.
The Baalbek complex comprises a large 1st century Temple of Jupiter of which only six columns remain standing, before which was erected a huge court in the 2nd century, to which were added a smaller hexagonal forecourt and impressive propylae in the 3rd century. Close by is a smaller well preserved 2nd century Temple of Bacchus.
This is the outside wall of the Great Court.
The entrance to the temple compound through towering Propylae at the top of these stairs was obviously designed to impress the visitor.
Thirty granite columns supported an hexagonal entablature in the center of the 3rd century hexagonal forecourt which was later covered with a dome and converted into a church in the 5th century.
Even today, the huge 134 x 112 meter great court is an impressive sight seen from the platform on which the temple of Jupiter once stood.
The Temple of Jupiter, measuring 88 by 48 meters, was erected on a 13 meter high podium that stands 7 meters above the great courtyard. These six 22 meter high columns are all that remains of it today.
The first course of this platform contains some of the largest stone blocks ever transported anywhere in the world. Each of the first three blocks in this picture weighs an estimated 800 tons. They came from a local quarry where still sits the largest stone block ever hewn measuring 21.5 x 4.8 x 4.2 meters and weighing an estimated 1000 tons.
Although smaller, the Temple of Bacchus, built just next to the gigantic Jupiter complex, is also impressive by its size and beauty.
Carvings of grapes, poppies and Bacchic scenes suggest that wine and drugs may have been used by the worshippers in initiatic rituals related to regeneration and eternal life.
This is the western or back end of the temple.
The complex was transformed into a fortress after the Arab conquest of 636. Baalbek was then occupied by the Omayyad, the Abbasid, the Toulounid and Ayyoubid dynasties before being sacked by the Mongols in 1260. Over time, the colonades that stood at the front end of the temple were destroyed and a square Mameluk tower was added to the fortifications. In this picture, the 15th century tower is on the left and the front of the 2nd century temple is on the right
Below left, the entrance to the temple of Bacchus
Below right, detail of the colonade on the north side of the temple.
Finally, here is the inside the temple of Bacchus where the Romans and their subjects held their equivalent of what we now call rave parties.
My next stop was Damascus in Syria. It is important to keep in mind that the distinctions between Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Palestine have been created only in the last century by foreign colonial powers . All these people share a much older common culture and history. In spite of their superficial differences, the Lebanese, the Syrian and the Iraqi know that the Palestinians are their cousins...
