"Baalbek - Heliopolis" a Baalbeck Travel Page by MM212

At the edge of the fertile Beqaa Valley and the foothills of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains lies the Acropolis of Baalbek, the most magnificent temple complex ever built by Rome. Known as Heliopolis in the Graeco-Roman world, Baalbek quickly became a centre of Roman religion in the Levant and was used to lure the newly conquered people into the sphere of Roman politics and religion. The unparallelled grandeur and unmatched extravagance were a testament to the importance of this region to the Roman Empire.

The site chosen for this lavish construction had been of importance to paganism since at least the 1st millennium BC. It was used in the worship of Semitic gods, particularly Baal (also known as Haddad) who gave the city its name. After the arrival of Alexander the Great and the Hellenisation of the region, the city was renamed Heliopolis – City of the Sun. During this time, foundations were laid for the construction of a great Greek temple dedicated to Zeus, the Greek god equated with Baal, but the Romans conquered the Eastern Mediterranean before it was erected and instead built their largest temple dedicated to Jupiter. The construction of other temples, dedicated to Bacchus, Mercury and Venus, soon followed making Heliopolis a major pilgrimage site in the Levant. As Christianity later swept the empire, Roman attempts to extinguish paganism resulted in the first of many waves of destructions to befall the temples of Baalbek. The arrival of Islam, earthquakes and many foreign invasions led to further destructions, but somewhere along the passage of time the Moslems, who restored the city's Semitic name, turned the Acropolis into a fortified castle and, thus, inadvertently preserved significant sections of the Acropolis. It was not until 1898 that Baalbek regained international attention and the focus of archeologists who worked hard to restore the ancient ruins of Baalbek.

The size of the Acropolis, its temples, and their state of preservation make Baalbek one of the best Roman cities around.

Nowadays, Baalbek is a thriving town with a majority Shiite population. Its association with Hizbollah has tainted the city with a darker repution, yet it remains an important tourist destination and home to celebrated international summer festivals. From a tourist perspective, the Acropolis is the most important monument to visit, though there are numerous other notable historic monuments of interest.

I have been to Baalbek twice and would go back any day! A visit to Lebanon without a stop in Baalbek is considered incomplete...

Lebanon itinerary in March 2005:

Beirut - Beqaa Valley - Baalbek - Aanjar - Liban Nord (northern Lebanon) - El Arz - Tripoli - Mont Liban - Byblos - Tyre - Sidon

Lebanon itinerary in November 2005:

Beirut - Liban Nord (northern Lebanon) - Tripoli - Beqaa Valley - Baalbek - Aanjar - Mont Liban - Byblos