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Baalbek, Lebanon

Roman structures at pre-Roman site of Baalbek

http://www.sacredsites.com/december2001photos/204.jpg

(Fine Art Print Available)

 

http://www.sacredsites.com/middle_east/lebanon/baalbek.htm

Approximately 86 kilometers northeast of the city of Beirut in

eastern Lebanon lies the great temple complex of Baalbek. Situated

atop a high point in the fertile Bekaa valley, the ruins are one of

the most extraordinary and enigmatic holy places of ancient times.

Long before the Romans conquered the site and built their enormous

temple of Jupiter, long even before the Phonecians constructed a

temple to the god Baal, there stood at Baalbek the largest stone

block construction found in all the world.

 

The origin of the name Baalbek is not precisely known and there is

some difference of opinion among scholars. The Phonecian term Baal

(as the Hebrew term Adon) simply means 'lord' or 'god' and was the

title given to the Semitic sky-deity worshipped throughout the

archaic Middle East. The word Baalbek may mean 'God of the Bekaa

valley' (the local area) or 'God of the Town', depending on

different interpretations of the word. Ancient legends assert that

Baalbek was the birthplace of Baal. Some scholars have suggested

that Baal (Assyrian Hadad) was only one of a triad of Phoenician

deities that were once venerated at this site - the others being his

son Aliyan, who presided over well-springs and fecundity, and his

daughter Anat (Assyrian Atargatis).

 

In the Seleucid (323-64 BC) and Roman (64 BC-312 AD) periods, the

town became known as Heliopolis, the 'City of the Sun.' The sky/sun

god Jupiter became the central deity of the shrine during this time.

Arguably the most important deity of the Romans and taking over the

role of Zeus in the Greek pantheon, Jupiter was probably chosen to

replace the much earlier worship of the Phonecian god Baal who had

many characteristics in common with the Greek Zeus. Many Roman

emperors were of Syrian birth, so it would not have been unusual for

them to have promoted the worship of the country's indigenous

deities under their adopted Roman names. Whatever the nature of the

pre-Roman worship at Baalbek, its veneration of Baal created a

hybrid form of the god Jupiter, generally referred to as Jupiter

Heliopolitan. The Romans also assimilated the worship of the goddess

Astarte with that of Aphrodite or Venus, and the god Adonis was

identified with Bacchus.

 

The origin and development of Baalbek may be considered from two

quite different paradigms of prehistory, one the conventional

approach that views civilization as having only begun in early

Neolithic times and the alternative approach which suggests that

highly developed civilizations existed well before the melting of

the last ice in what is archaeologically known as Paleolithic

period. Let us first examine the chronology of Baalbek from the

conventional interpretation, following which I will discuss some

amazing site anomalies that can only be explained by recourse to a

far older and now lost civilization.

 

According to theories stated by the mainstream archaeological

community, the history of Baalbek reaches back approximately 5000

years. Excavations beneath the Great Court of the Temple of Jupiter

have uncovered traces of settlements dating to the Middle Bronze Age

(1900-1600 BC) built on top of an older level of human habitation

dating to the Early Bronze Age (2900-2300 BC). Biblical passages (I

Kings, IX: 17-19) mention the name of King Solomon in connection

with a place that may be ancient Baalbek (And Solomon built Gezer

and Beth-Horon, the lower, and Baalath and Tadmor in the

wilderness), but most scholars are hesitant to equate this Baalath

with Baalbek and so deny any connection between Soloman and the

ruins. Because the great stones of Baalbek are similar, though far

larger, than the stones of the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem,

archaic myths had arisen that Solomon erected both structures. If

Solomon had really erected the site of Baalbek, however, it is

astonishing that the Old Testament has mentioned nothing of the

matter.

 

After the time of Solomon, the Phoenicians became masters of Syria

and chose the site of Baalbek for a temple to their Sun-god Baal-

Hadad. Little is known of Baalbek from this period. The late 11th

century BC witnessed the arrival of an Assyrian army on the

Mediterranean coast but because Baalbek is not mentioned alongside

the names of other Phonecian cities, it has been assumed that

Baalbek was only an obscure religious center with no political or

trading importance.

 

The first-century AD Jewish historian Josephus tells of Alexander's

march through the Beqa'a on his way to Damascus, during which he

encountered the city of Baalbek. Following the death of Alexander in

323 BC, Phoenicia was ruled successively by the Ptolemaic kings of

Egypt and the Seleucid kings of Syria until the arrival of the

Romans. The name Heliopolis, by which Baalbek was known during Greco-

Roman times, derives from Greek association with the site beginning

in 331 BC. Meaning 'City of the Sun', the name was also used by the

Ptolemies of Egypt between 323 and 198 BC, in order to express the

importance this holy site held for the Egyptians. A sacred site with

this same name already existed in Egypt and the new Ptolomaic rulers

may have found it provident to link the ancient sky-god of Baalbek

with the Egyptian god Re and the Greek Helios in order to establish

closer religious and cultural ties between their newly established

Ptolomaic dynasty in Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean world. In

the historical writings of Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius, a Latin

grammarian who lived during the 5th century AD, the god of the holy

place was called Zeus Heliopolitanus (a Greek god) and the temple

was mentioned as a place of oracular divination, similar to such

sites as Delphi, Dodona and the oracle of Amun at Siwa.

 

The golden age of Roman building at Baalbek/Heliopolis began in 15BC

when Julius Caesar settled a legion there and began construction of

the great Temple of Jupiter. During the next three centuries, as

emperors succeeded one another in the imperial capital of Rome,

Heliopolis would be filled with the most massive religious buildings

ever constructed in the far reaching Roman empire. These monuments

functioned as places of worship until Christianity was declared the

official religion of the Roman Empire in 313 AD, following which the

Byzantine Christian emperors and their rapacious soldiers desecrated

thousands of pagan sanctuaries. At the end of the 4th century,

Emperor Theodosius destroyed many significant buildings and statues,

and constructed a basilica with stones from the Temple of Jupiter.

This signaled the end of Roman Heliopolis. The city of the sun

declined and lapsed into relative oblivion. In the year 634, Muslim

armies entered Syria and besieged Baalbek. A large mosque built

within the walls of the temple compound, which was converted into a

citadel. Over the next several centuries, the city and region of

Baalbek were controlled by various Islamic dynasties including the

Umayyads, Abbasids and Fatamids as well as the Seljuk and Ottoman

Turks. During these years, Baalbek was ravaged by the Tartars in

1260, Tamerlane in 1401 and was also shaken by numerous powerful

earthquakes.

 

In the 1700's, European explorers began to visit the ruins and in

1898 the German emperor, William II organized the first restoration

of the ancient temples. Following the lead established by the

Germans, extensive archaeological excavations were carried out by

the French government and later the Lebanese Department of

Antiquities. While a great deal of much needed restoration work was

performed by these archaeologists, the analysis of the ancient

origins and use of the site was limited by the prevailing academic

view of prehistory which does not recognize the possibility of

sophisticated civilizations in early Neolithic or pre-Neolithic

times. Particular structures at the Baalbek ruins can, however, only

be explained by recourse to such extremely ancient cultures.

 

The ruins of Baalbek, situated on a large hill (1150 meters) with an

expansive view over the adjoining plains, are bordered on two sides

by the town of Baalbek and on the other sides by agricultural land

belonging to local farmers. Within the sprawling complex are a great

profusion of temples and platforms filled with a stunning collection

of fallen columns and sculptures. The primary structures at the

ruins are the Great Court; the Temple of Baal/Jupiter situated upon

the massive pre-Roman stone blocks known as the Trilithon; the so-

called Temple of Bacchus; and the circular temple believed to be

associated with the goddess Venus. Let us briefly discuss the Roman

constructions first.

 

The Great Court, begun during the reign of Trajan (98-117), measured

135 meters by 113 meters, contained various religious buildings and

altars, and was surrounded by a splendid colonnade of 128 rose

granite columns. These magnificent columns, 20 meters tall and of

enormous weight, are known to have been quarried in Aswan, Egypt but

how they were actually transported by land and sea to Baalbek

remains an engineering mystery. Today, only six columns remain

standing, the rest having been destroyed by earthquakes or taken to

other sites (for example, Justinian appropriated eight of them for

the basilica of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople).

 

The Temple of Baal/Jupiter was begun during the reign of Emperor

Augustus in the late first century BC and completed soon after 60

AD. The single largest religious edifice ever erected by the Romans,

the immense sanctuary of Jupiter Heliopolitanus was lined by 104

massive granite columns imported from Aswan and held a temple

surrounded by 50 additional columns, almost 19m (62ft) high. The

Temple is believed to have been consecrated to a triad of deities:

Hadad (Baal/Jupiter), the god of Heaven; Atargates (Astarte/Hera),

the wife of Hadad; and Mercury, their son.

 

As the vast temple complex expanded throughout Roman times, the so-

called Temple of Bacchus was constructed in the middle of the 2nd

century BC. It is called the Temple of Bacchus (the god of fertility

and good cheer) mainly because a number of sculptured reliefs have

been interpreted by archaeologists as scenes from the childhood of

this god (although some scholars argue this temple was dedicated to

Mercury, the winged god of communication). The best-preserved Roman

temple in the world, it is sixty-nine meters long by thirty-six

meters wide and has forty-two columns nineteen meters in height

surrounding.

 

At the beginning of the 3rd century a lovely circular temple was

added to the Baalbek complex. While early European visitors assumed

it was a Venus temple due to its ornamentation of seashells, doves

and other artistic motifs associated with the cult of this goddess,

it is not known for certain which deity the shrine was actually

dedicated to. During Byzantine Christian times the temple was used

as a church by Greek Catholics and dedicated to the early Christian

martyr Saint Barbara.

 

The great mystery of the ruins of Baalbek, and indeed one of the

greatest mysteries of the ancient world, concerns the massive

foundation stones beneath the Roman Temple of Jupiter. The courtyard

of the Jupiter temple is situated upon a platform, called the Grand

Terrace, that consists of a huge outer wall and a filling of massive

stones. The lower courses of this great outer wall are formed of

huge, finely crafted and precisely positioned blocks. They range in

size from thirty to thirty three feet in length, fourteen feet in

height and ten feet in depth, and weigh approximately 450 tons each.

Nine of these blocks are visible on the north side of the temple,

nine on the south and six on the west (others may exist but

archaeological excavations have thus far not dug beneath all the

sections of the Grand Terrace). Above the six blocks on the western

side are three even larger stones, called the Trilithon, whose

weight exceeds 1000 tons each. These great stones vary in size

between sixty-three and sixty-five feet in length, with a height of

fourteen feet six inches and a depth of twelve feet.

 

Another even larger stone lies in a limestone quarry a quarter of a

mile from the Baalbek complex. Weighing an estimated 1200 tons, it

is sixty-nine feet by sixteen feet by thirteen feet ten inches,

making it the single largest piece of stonework ever crafted in the

world. Called the Hajar el Gouble, the Stone of the South, or the

Hajar el Hibla, the Stone of the Pregnant Woman, it lays at a raised

angle with the lowest part of its base still attached to the quarry

rock as though it were almost ready to be cut free and transported

to its presumed location next to the other stones of the Trilithon.

 

Why these stones are such an enigma to contemporary scientists, both

engineers and archaeologists alike, is that their method of

quarrying, transportation and precision placement is beyond the

technological ability of any ancient or modern builders.

Various 'scholars', uncomfortable with the notion that ancient

cultures might have developed knowledge superior to modern science,

have decided that the great Baalbek stones were laboriously dragged

from the nearby quarries to the temple site. While carved images in

the temples of Egypt and Mesopotamia do indeed give evidence of this

method of block transportation - using ropes, wooden rollers and

thousands of laborers - the dragged blocks are known to have been

only 1/10th the size and weight of the Baalbek stones and to have

been moved along flat surfaces with wide movement paths. The route

to the site of Baalbek, however, is up hill, over rough and winding

terrain, and there is no evidence whatsoever of a flat hauling

surface having been created in ancient times.

 

Next there is the problem of how the mammoth blocks, once they were

brought to the site, were lifted and precisely placed in position.

It has been theorized that the stones were raised using a complex

array of scaffolding, ramps and pulleys that was powered by large

numbers of humans and animals working in unison. An historical

example of this method has been suggested as the solution for the

Baalbek enigma. The Renaissance architect Domenico Fontana, when

erecting a 327-ton Egyptian obelisk in front of St Peter's Basilica

in Rome, used 40 huge pulleys, which necessitated a combined force

of 800 men and 140 horses. The area where this obelisk was erected,

however, was a great open space that could easily accommodate all

the lifting apparatus and the men and horses pulling on the ropes.

No such space is available in the spatial context of how the Baalbek

stones were placed. Hills slope away from where lifting apparatus

would need to have been placed and no evidence has been found of a

flat and structurally firm surface having been constructed (and then

mysteriously removed after the lifting was done). Furthermore, not

just one obelisk was erected but rather a series of giant stones

were precisely put in place side-by-side. Due to the positioning of

these stones, there is simply no conceivable place where a huge

pulley apparatus could have been stationed.

 

Archaeologists, unable to resolve the mysteries of the

transportation and lifting of the great blocks, rarely have the

intellectual honesty to admit their ignorance of the matter and

therefore focus their attention solely on redundant measurements and

discussions regarding the verifiable Roman-era temples at the site.

Architects and construction engineers, however, not having any

preconceived ideas of ancient history to uphold, will frankly state

that there are no known lifting technologies even in current times

that could raise and position the Baalbek stones given the amount of

working space. The massive stones of the Grand Terrace of Baalbek

are simply beyond the engineering abilities of any recognized

ancient or contemporary builders.

 

There are several other matters about the Baalbek stones that

further confound archaeologists and the conventional theories of

prehistoric civilization. There are no legends or folk tales from

Roman times that link the Romans with the mammoth stones. There are

absolutely no records in any Roman or other literary sources

concerning the construction methods or the dates and names of the

benefactors, designers, architects, engineers and builders of the

Grand Terrace. The megalithic stones of the Trilithon bear no

structural or ornamental resemblance to any of the Roman-era

constructions above them, such as the previously described Temples

of Jupiter, Bacchus or Venus. The limestone rocks of the Trilithon

show extensive evidence of wind and sand erosion that is absent from

the Roman temples, indicating that the megalithic construction dates

from a far earlier age. Finally, the great stones of Baalbek show

stylistic similarities to other cyclopean stone walls at verifiably

pre-Roman sites such as the Acropolis foundation in Athens, the

foundations of Myceneae, Tiryns, Delphi and even megalithic

constructions in the 'new world' such as Ollyantaytambo in Peru and

Tiahuanaco in Bolivia.

 

Other sacred sites near the Baalbek ruins include the Muslim shrine

(Khanqah) of Shaykh al-Badawi, the founder of an Egyptian Sufi order

and the sacred spring at the shrine of the Phonecian goddess

Atargatis.

 

 

 

 

 

Roman structures at pre-Roman site of Baalbek

 

 

(Fine Art Print Available)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roman structures atop massive pre-Roman stones of Baalbek

 

 

(Fine Art Print Available)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the base of the far wall, the great stones of Baalbek

 

 

(Fine Art Print Available)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Massive foundation stones of Baalbek

 

 

(Fine Art Print Available)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The greatest of the Baalbek stones, perhaps 1200 tons

 

(Fine Art Print Available)

©COPYRIGHT 1987-2004 MARTIN GRAY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO WORDS OR

IMAGES FROM SACREDSITES.COM

MAY BE REPRODUCED OR TRANSMITTED THROUGH ANY OTHER MEDIUM WITHOUT

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