BAALBEK

Arabic Ba'labakk, Greek Heliopolis (City of the Sun), principal town and agricultural centre of al-Biqa' muhafazah (governorate), Lebanon, and site of the ruins of the Roman town. Nothing is known of Baalbek earlier than the Greek conquest of Syria (332 BC). After the death of Alexander the Great (323), the region fell to the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, under which the town was called Heliopolis, probably after its Egyptian namesake. In 200 it was conquered by the Seleucid Antiochus the Great and remained a Seleucid possession until the fall of that dynasty (64 BC), at which time it came under Roman control. Baalbek passed under Arab domination in AD 637. From then until the 20th century, it was administered by the various Muslim rulers of Syria. After World War I the French mandatory authorities included Baalbek in Lebanon. European attention was first directed to the ruins at Baalbek in the 16th century, but it was not until 18981903 that a German expedition excavated the two huge Roman temples there. Extensive clearings and repairs were accomplished under the French mandate, and the Lebanese government has undertaken considerable restoration work, but in the mid-1970s it became a stronghold of Palestinian and Syrian forces in Lebanon. One of the principal remains is the Temple of Jupiter. It is entered by a propylaea, or entranceway, leading to a hexagonal forecourt and then to a rectangular main court (343 ft by 338 ft [104.5 m by 103 m]), which was surrounded by elaborately decorated exedrae (semicircular benches) and opened onto a portico whose 84 granite columns were brought from Aswan in Upper Egypt. On a high terrace at the western end of the court stood the sanctuary, a Corinthian building with 10 columns on each front and 19 on each flank, each 62 ft high and 7.5 ft in diameter. The temple was dedicated to three deities: the Syrian thunder god Hadad, equated with Jupiter; the Syrian nature goddess Atargatis, equated with Venus; and a youthful god, probably a vegetation spirit, equated by the Greeks with Hermes the shepherd, hence by the Romans with Mercury. Originally a purely agricultural cult was practiced there; later it seemed to have developed aspects of a personalistic mystery religion, worship of the youthful god apparently having acquired orgiastic features. The Temple of Bacchus, almost entirely preserved, is also Corinthian with 8 columns on each front and 15 on each flank. Its symbolic decoration shows that it was dedicated to the same agricultural gods as the great temple, but the prevalence of bacchic symbols in the interior probably indicates instead the practice of a salvational mystery religion. Other ruins include a round Temple of Venus, remains of the town walls, traces of a temple dedicated to Hermes, important Roman mosaics from private homes, a ruined mosque with reemployed antique material, and extensive Arab fortifications. Pop. (1982 est.) 14,000.