General View, Baalbek, Lebanon
Baalbek is a town in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about 85 km northeast of Beirut and about 75 km north of Damascus. Baalbek has a population of approximately 82,608,[citation needed] mostly Shia Muslims, followed by Sunni Muslims and a minority of Christians.
The Tell Baalbek temple complex, fortified as the town's citadel during the Middle Ages, was constructed from local stone, mostly white granite and a rough white marble. Over the years, it has suffered from the region's numerous earthquakes, the iconoclasm of Christian and Muslim lords,and the reuse of the temples' stone for fortification and other construction.
The complex is located on a raised plaza erected 5 m (16 ft) over an earlier T-shaped base consisting of a podium, staircase, and foundation walls. The temple complex was entered from the east through the Propylaeum, or Portico, consisting of a broad staircase rising 20 feet to an arcade of 12 columns flanked by 2 towers. Most of the columns have been toppled and the stairs were entirely dismantled for use in the nearby later wall, 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.
Immediately behind the Propylaeum is a hexagonal forecourt reached through a threefold entrance that was added in the mid-3rd century by the emperor Philip the Arab. Traces remain of the two series of columns which once encircled it, but its original function remains uncertain.
The rectangular Great Court to its west covers around 3 or 4 acres and included the main altar for burnt offerings. 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. The entablature was richly decorated but now mostly ruined. 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.
The Temple of Jupiter—once wrongly credited to Helios—lay at the western end of the Great Court. 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. The temple was ruined by earthquakes, destroyed and pillaged for stone under Theodosius, and 8 columns were taken to Constantinople (Istanbul) under Justinian for incorporation into the Hagia Sophia. Six columns, however, remain standing along its south side with their entablature.
The Temple of Bacchus—once wrongly credited to Jupiter—may have been completed under Septimius Severus in the 190s, as his coins are the first to show it beside the Temple of Jupiter. It is the best preserved of the sanctuary's structures, as the other rubble from its ruins may have protected it.
The Temple of Venus—also known as the Circular Temple or Nymphasum—was added under Septimius Severus in the early 3rd century but destroyed under Constantine, who raised a basilica in its place. Jessup considered it the "gem of Baalbek".
The ancient walls of Heliopolis had a circumference of a little less than 4 miles. Much of the extant fortifications around the complex date to the 13th century reconstruction undertaken by the Mamluk sultan Qalawun following the devastation of the earlier defenses by the Mongol army under Kitbuqa.
General View, Baalbek, Lebanon
Baalbek is a town in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about 85 km northeast of Beirut and about 75 km north of Damascus. Baalbek has a population of approximately 82,608,[citation needed] mostly Shia Muslims, followed by Sunni Muslims and a minority of Christians.
The Tell Baalbek temple complex, fortified as the town's citadel during the Middle Ages, was constructed from local stone, mostly white granite and a rough white marble. Over the years, it has suffered from the region's numerous earthquakes, the iconoclasm of Christian and Muslim lords,and the reuse of the temples' stone for fortification and other construction.
The complex is located on a raised plaza erected 5 m (16 ft) over an earlier T-shaped base consisting of a podium, staircase, and foundation walls. The temple complex was entered from the east through the Propylaeum, or Portico, consisting of a broad staircase rising 20 feet to an arcade of 12 columns flanked by 2 towers. Most of the columns have been toppled and the stairs were entirely dismantled for use in the nearby later wall, 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.
Immediately behind the Propylaeum is a hexagonal forecourt reached through a threefold entrance that was added in the mid-3rd century by the emperor Philip the Arab. Traces remain of the two series of columns which once encircled it, but its original function remains uncertain.
The rectangular Great Court to its west covers around 3 or 4 acres and included the main altar for burnt offerings. 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. The entablature was richly decorated but now mostly ruined. 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.
The Temple of Jupiter—once wrongly credited to Helios—lay at the western end of the Great Court. 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. The temple was ruined by earthquakes, destroyed and pillaged for stone under Theodosius, and 8 columns were taken to Constantinople (Istanbul) under Justinian for incorporation into the Hagia Sophia. Six columns, however, remain standing along its south side with their entablature.
The Temple of Bacchus—once wrongly credited to Jupiter—may have been completed under Septimius Severus in the 190s, as his coins are the first to show it beside the Temple of Jupiter. It is the best preserved of the sanctuary's structures, as the other rubble from its ruins may have protected it.
The Temple of Venus—also known as the Circular Temple or Nymphasum—was added under Septimius Severus in the early 3rd century but destroyed under Constantine, who raised a basilica in its place. Jessup considered it the "gem of Baalbek".
The ancient walls of Heliopolis had a circumference of a little less than 4 miles. Much of the extant fortifications around the complex date to the 13th century reconstruction undertaken by the Mamluk sultan Qalawun following the devastation of the earlier defenses by the Mongol army under Kitbuqa.