When most people think about visiting Roman and Greek archaeological sites, Lebanon is probably not the first place that comes to mind. Yet, sitting in the Beqaa Valley is one of the world’s most stunning and impressive ruins, rarely visited due to its proximity to the Syrian border.
During my visit to Beirut, I was determined to see the temples and ruins of Baalbek firsthand, even if it meant convincing someone to drive my family and me into the valley. As someone with Lebanese heritage, I was excited to see more of the landscape beyond the city and experience the hills, villages, and famed cedar forests that my ancestors knew.
When the morning came to venture out to Baalbek, there was a sense of tension in the air. While many visitors came to Lebanon during that time, not many made it this far, as the area was known to be controlled by the group Hezbollah. Yet, taking our chances for the sake of experiencing this magical place, we hopped into the car. On the way, we saw the landscape slowly change, driving from the lush green forests along the coast through the cedar forest mountains and down to the Beqaa Valley, with the arid Syrian hills in the distance. As we got close, Syrian refugee camps dotted the farmland, a reminder of the war that was raging on across the border.
Arriving at Baalbek
As we approached the site, I could already see why this place is famed in the archaeology world for its size and magnitude.
As an ancient city that has been here for thousands of years, with many overlapping empires, this site was once an important trade hub across the Middle East. It sat almost completely untouched, with the ruins scattered around, without fences or designated pathways.
The Temple of Jupiter – One of the Largest Roman Temples in the world
Walking up a large staircase of ancient stone and onto a platform, I looked around to realize that I was standing on the base of one of the largest temples in the world. The temple of Jupiter, constructed in the first century BC, rose over 100 ft into the air and was built on a base of numerous monoliths weighing up to 800 tonnes each. Measuring 88 m by 48 m (289 ft by 157 ft), it is the second-largest Roman temple in the world. While much of it has fallen into ruin, it was mind-blowing to see its scale first-hand, imagining what it must have felt like to stand at its base when it was first constructed. With only 6 of the 54 original columns standing (under construction in the image below), it is almost difficult imagine what this temple would have been like, standing tall as a symbol of Roman power at the edge of its extensive empire.
The Temple of Bacchus
With my worn leather journal in hand, I strolled through the site, drawing carvings and figures that I could find, with megalithic columns and capitals scattered throughout the walkways. It felt as though time had frozen here completely, with many of the pieces of the buildings sitting exactly where they first fell. Turning a corner, another temple appeared before me, this time almost completely intact.
It is rare today to see such a sight, with even monumental ruins such as the Acropolis in Athens constantly under renovation to make it appear more complete. The Temple of Bacchus still contained its inner room and walls, showing that temples from ancient Greece and Rome did not have rows of columns you could see through. At 66m (217ft) long, 35 m (115 ft) wide, and 31m (102 ft) high, it is an incredible feat of architecture that has stood for 2 millennia.
Continuing through the maze of buildings, temples, and public spaces that would have been the center of the city, it was fascinating to see how much still stayed intact.
Detailed carvings of gods and myths, rooms used for unknown purposes, and even latrines and public restrooms sat exactly as they once were. While in other destinations it can be difficult to comprehend what the ancient cities would have felt like, this place was the complete opposite. With so much still standing or lying around, it didn’t feel like that much time had passed.
The Monolithic Stones in the Quarry
Behind the main temple platform of the temple of Jupiter, we stumbled upon the quarry used to create the monoliths. Here, a stone nicknamed the “Stone of the Pregnant Woman” still sat, partially carved directly from the bedrock.
Weighing 1,000 tons and measuring roughly 20 meters long, this monolith showcased the complex system the Roman engineers used to build such huge structures. The process involved creating channels in the bedrock to shape the block, slowly wedging in to separate the rock without breaking it. Without the tools and cranes we have today, it is incredible to imagine how long each stone would have taken to extract.
Unlike my visits to the Colosseum in Rome or Petra in Jordan, Baalbek only had a few other visitors, with no tour groups in sight. I believe that the absence of crowds made the scale of the place feel even more overwhelming, as though I were walking into a place yet to be discovered. The lack of signs, organized pathways, or guides made the focus only on the place itself, so quiet yet with endless secrets and stories to share.
Baalbek, like many other ruins in regions of the world that remain unstable, is waiting for its time in the historical limelight and for recognition beyond the confines of the archaeological field. I hope that, with stabilization in the region and ongoing reconstruction and renovation, more visitors can come to marvel at this wonderful feat of architecture and engineering.
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