It is not hard to imagine that the wreaths and sacrifices carried out for Astarte the goddess of fertility and war were then shifted to Venus during the Roman colonization. That is up until AD when Islamic rule led to the use of the site as a reinforced fortress and a Mosque was added. The decline of these ruins began when the temple passed to the Ottoman Empire , it was abandoned and left in ruins. In addition, earthquakes, storms and natural forces continued to tear the site apart until That year marked a visit from the German Emperor Wilhelm II, who pioneered the attempt of restoring Baalbek and preserving it.
In terms of architecture the greatest temples at the site are the Temples of Jupiter, Bacchus and Venus. The sheer magnitude of these have created something of a puzzle for archaeologists as they continuously theorize as to how rocks of this grandeur could have been carved and assembled.
For example, the temple of Jupiter is surrounded by 54 columns which stand at nearly 23 meters high and are considered some of the largest in the world. Margarete van Ess, a professor from the German Archaeological Institute, told me that the purpose of the investigation that turned up the new stone block was precisely to ascertain how the three temple blocks were transported, and why two others like them were left in the quarry.
One of these previously discovered megaliths, known as the Hajjar al-Hibla, or Stone of the Pregnant Woman, turned out to have a crack that would have impeded its transport. Van Ess added that the blocks were probably cut in much the same way as the masonry used in the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct in southern France, with each piece split from a larger expanse of limestone along natural fissures between the rock strata.
Too heavy to lift, the blocks would then have been dragged from the quarry, probably using a capstan, a kind of human-driven winch—though the possibility of a sledge is also under discussion. According to van Ess, the temple of Jupiter was definitely built by the Romans, in at least four phases. Construction began around 15 B. But perhaps the biggest mystery is the question of size. In fact, Baalbek is one of a series of ancient projects that are under rigorous study by the Germans for being unnecessarily large.
I decided not to ask van Ess about an alternative theory that was proposed by the late author Zechariah Sitchin : that the podium at Baalbek had to be big enough to serve as an intergalactic landing pad , as documented in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The plan must also treat the question of improved coordination methods between the different bodies involved in the property. Another master plan for the city, under consideration, is aimed at protecting the surrounds of the site and controlling urban development that threatens the archaeological site, the urban zone located within the Arab walls, as well as the south-west quarter extra-muros located between Boustan el Khan and the Roman quarry Hajjar el Hubla. About us. Special themes.
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Country Region Year Name of the property. Without With. Baalbek This Phoenician city, where a triad of deities was worshipped, was known as Heliopolis during the Hellenistic period. C otton et al. Cambridge, p. Fani Z. Feix S. Fick S. Ruprechtsberger ed. Flamant J. Fleischer R. Symposion Friesinger and F. Krinzinger ed.
Fontan E. Freyberger K. Gatier P. Gawlikowski M. Gese H. Gubel E. Sources for the cultural history of the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Uehlinger ed. Jahrtausend v. Symposion Munich Wiesbaden, p. Haider P. Formen des Kontakts zwischen Orient und Okzident. Hartmann , A. Luther and M. Schuol ed. Hajjar Y. Herman D. Hitzl K. Hoftijzer J. Jongeling Dictionary of the North-West Semitic inscriptions.
Honigmann E. Stuttgart cols, p. Isaac B. Cotton et al. Jidejian N. Kindler A. Louvain, p. Klengel-Brandt E. Hrouda et al. Munich, p. Kropp A. In press « Tetrarches kai archiereus. Gods and cults of the tetrarchs of Chalkis and their role in Ituraean Heliopolis Baalbek », in Contextualising the sacred in the Hellenistic and Roman Near East: Religious identities in local, regional and imperial settings. Aarhus, September Raja ed. Revisiting some questions of iconography », BAAL.
Krumeich R. Leventopoulou M. Liebeschuetz W. Athanassiadi and M. Frede ed. Oxford, p. Lightfoot J. On the Syrian goddess. Linant de Bellefonds P. Millar F. Solin and M. Kajava ed. Helsinki, p. Myth and Majesty Myth and Majesty. Deities and dignitaries in the ancient world. Naster P. Nilsson M. Nordiguian L. Norris F. Ploug G. Puchstein O. Winnefeld « Kunstformen », in Baalbek. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen in den Jahren Wiegand ed.
Berlin, p. Rey-Coquais J. Actes du Colloque Strasbourg, p. Criscuolo and G. Geraci ed. Bologna, p. Rheidt K. Ronzevalle S. Sader H. Sader , T. Scheffler and A. Neuwirth ed. Image and Monument Stuttgart, p. Sartre M. Sawaya Z. Schlumberger D.
Schulz B. Winnefeld Baalbek. Schwentzel C. Servais-Soyez B. Colloquium Bonnet , E. Lipinski and P. Leuven, p. Seyrig H. Starcky J. Lausanne, p. Thiersch H. Gottesbild und Priesterkleid im alten Vorderasien. Tran Tam Tinh V. Trianti I. Athens during the Roman period. Recent discoveries, new evidence. Vlizos ed. Athens, p. Turcan R. Van Ess M. Van Ess, M. Results of archaeological and architectural research Colloquium Berlin Weber ed.
Waetzold H. Weber T. Winnefeld H. Yon J. Aliquot Forthc. Identification of Zeus in detail: K ropp , p. A thanassiadi , no. An inscription from Cilicia also attests hypatos , ibid.
The tenth specimen has appeared on the New York antiquities market, see Myth and Majesty , no. My thanks to K. Mahler for pointing it out to me.
Two in Beirut, National Museum: Hajjar only has one, , no. The other one is depicted in J idejian , fig. One in Venice, Hajjar , no.
One was found in Athens at the excavation of the Makrygianni lot, the site of the new Akropolis museum, in , T rianti , p. My thanks to A. Lichtenberger for pointing it out to me. S eyrig a, p.
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