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Ba'albek:
Beqaa Valley, Lebanon. |
Grid Reference:
34° 10' N, 36° 10' E |
(Heliopolis, The City of the Sun).
 The
temple at Ba'albek is famous for its extraordinarily large foundation stones ( The
largest in the world).
These stones also qualify as the largest cut-stones in the history of mankind.
There is no contemporary
testimony for the construction, which dates back at least to Phoenician times.
Quick Links:
.
Gallery of images.
(Scroll down for more)
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Ba'albek: Heliopolis.
The origin of the Name
'Ba'al-bek'
-
'The
first syllable 'Baal' corresponds to the Sun of the ancient Phoenicians. The Syriac
termination 'Bak' means town; the Phoenician ending 'Beka' means 'country'.
However, in a recently discovered Phoenician inscription, the word 'Beka'
has the meaning of town. In Egyptian, the word 'Bak' also means town'.
(1)
We
can conclude that the name Baalbek means
'The city/town of the Sun'.
 Description
of the site:
The Beqqa valley sits at 1150m above sea
level and was recently occupied by armed forces (2004).
While Lebanon is mentioned in the bible for
its cedar-wood, it is perhaps curious that the Ba'albek temple was not also
mentioned. (except perhaps as Solomon's temple in Lebanon). The stones used for the construction of the temple platform at
Baalbek stand on record as the largest known quarried, cut-stones in history
(Three of which are estimated at 800 - 1,200 tons each). The existing foundations of the temple were built over by the Greeks, who
dedicated it the temple to Jupiter.
Chronology -
The origins of the site and the first
builders are lost to us. However, it is often generally accepted that the foundations
of the temple were constructed by the Phoenicians
(1)(2).
Weaver
(3), mentions the temple of Ba'albek and the Phoenicians in the same
passage:
" ... turn our thoughts to the temple of Solomon - to his own house, to
his house of the forest of Lebanon - the former of which, even the second
temple, we know from Josephus, was made of stones immensely large; and as to
the latter, the sacred historian tells us, that " the foundation was of
costly stones; even great stones; stones of ten cubits and stones of
eight cubits." And if we take into account that Huran, a Phoenician, and his
servants, who were Phoenicians, assisted in building Solomons temple..."
The
Temple - (The Temple of
Jupiter)
 The photo (left) of the western wall of the 'Temple of
Jupiter', shows the layers of foundation stones which were brought to light when the
Arabs dug out moats around the edifice. The basement of the terrace is seen
to be supported by six stones measuring 33 ft long each and 14ft high (right
of the person in photo). These stones hold the weight of the three
giant stones (The so called - Trilithon), which were intended to support the
last row, that should have been the higher edge of the terrace, but was never
built.
The
similarity between the 'cyclopean'
masonry in the foundations of the temple and the unfinished block (in the
quarry) suggests that the stone in the quarry (see below), was cut in the earliest stages of the temples
development (at the same time as those used in the foundations of the temple).
The photo above illustrates how the
three large stones (trilithon), rest upon six other smaller stones (each of
which has an estimated weight of around 400 tons).
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Estimate for
the total weight of all nine stones in western wall.
3 x 800 tons = 2,400 tons
6 x 400 tons = 2,400 tons
Total for all 9
stones = 4,800 tons. |
More large stones are visible along the
Northern wall...
Archaeo-Astronomy
-
The temple is cardinally aligned and
opens to face the east, which Lockyer concluded to be a result of deliberate
orientation to the equinoctial sunrise
(2). This information conforms to the
fact that the temple was originally named 'The
city of the Sun' by the
Phoenicians in dedication to the sun-god Ba'al, and again later by the
Greeks, who dedicated the temple to Apollo (Their sun god), and called it
Heliopolis.
Alignments
-
The proximity of the granite quarry to the
temple appears at first glance to explain the location of the temple,
however, other ancient sites such as Ghiza or
Stonehenge (etc, etc),
were located up to 500 Km distant from the nearest source of granite, and it
has been shown that the temple at Baalbek is aligned with other prominent
ancient sites, which opens the possibility that the
determination of the site may also have been realised according to geodetic principles.
The temple was called 'Heliopolis'
by the Greeks. The Egyptian Heliopolis near Cairo is located almost exactly
in Egypt .
As well as being cardinally aligned and composed of immense blocks,
Ba'albek shares a geometric relationship with
Giza, Egypt.
(It is located almost
exactly
5° East and 4°
North of Giza).
As well as signifying the knowledge of a globe, (separated by 360°). This very specific separation has a secondary significance in that the
angle created is
(also
almost exactly)
51° 51',
which is the same angle as that of the exterior faces of the great pyramid
at Giza, a site invested with numerous geometric and astronomical
proportions. (Click
here
for more on this subject).
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The largest cut-stone in the World.
(The stone of the South-Hadjar el
Gouble, The Stone of the Pregnant Woman-Hadjar el Hibla)
 Dimensions
- There are several varying sources regarding the dimensions of this
stone. As such, they have all been compiled in the following chart.
69 ft long, 16 ft wide and
10 ft high = 11040 ft³ or
20.9m x 4.8m x 3m = 300 m³.
Estimated weight - 1,500
(1) - 2,000 Tons (Fix).
The same is true of the three foundation blocks 'The trilithon', in
the nearby Baalbek temple, which have the following dimensions: The largest
is 65 feet in length, the second 64 ft 10
inches; and the third 63ft 2 inches. They are all 14 ft and 6 inches in
height, and 12 feet in thickness. Each block is therefore 350 cubic yards
and they are estimated to weigh 750 - 1,000 tons each (1).
However, one stone remains still at the quarry, larger than the others,
regularly estimated at 1,500 tons (1). It was left unfinished.
 How was the stone moved
- The ancient manipulation of such large stones
is still a largely debated phenomena. Common to other similar ancient construction feats, there are no records to testify the means
or date of this extraordinary achievement. However, the similarity to other
extremely early middle-eastern masonry achievements, such as those seen at
Ghiza or
Abydoss, in Egypt and the
foundations of the 'Temple of the mount' in
Jerusalem, have not gone un-noticed.
Likewise, there appears to be a connection in the type of stone used, which
was invariably quartzite (Red granite in the case of Baalbek).
In the past such achievements were
accredited to 'The hand of God', 'Giants' and more recently 'Alien life'.
However, we must be careful not to lose ourselves in disbelief. There is no
doubt that these stones were moved, and as with most such unexplainable
events, there is likely to be a rational answer if we look for it. For
example, the
Colossi of Memnon,
in Egypt are both estimated to weigh 1000 tons each, and their movement is
clearly depicted in hieroglyphs.
Why was the stone moved
- Just as important as understanding how they were moved, is the question of
why such immense stones were moved. (Any increase in advantage gained by
using large stones is balanced against the increased difficulties of moving
them). In Egypt, for example, we can see numerous 85-ton stones that were
moved over 500 km to their resting places in and around the great pyramid.
The foundation stones for the Ba'albek temple were moved
uphill to their resting place.
The proximity of the quarry to the temple
is close enough that it could be argued that the stones did not need
to be moved, at least in terms of laying a foundation, as it would have been
more effective to build the temple directly into the bedrock. This raises
the question, why bother at all?
While large stones are clearly
structurally advantageous to a temple foundation, the extra-ordinary size of
these suggest that another factor may have been involved in this choice of
design.
The idea that the temple was solar
reasonably justifies the moving of the stones uphill, as placing the temple
on top of the hill enabled it to capture the rays of the sun at the
appropriate times of the year (the equinoxes). The choice of such large
stones however, as with many ancient structures, might be better explained
through the idea of a form of worship of the stone itself.
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Ba'albek - An Update..
The largest
stone at Ba'albek, which remains in-situ at the quarry was
recently reported by us recently as having been defaced (Having
apparently had two large chunks cut from it). The picture
(right) was sent to us and we displayed it in good faith.
Thankfully,
it was a hoax.. and the stone remains unmolested as the photo
below from a recent trip to the stone (K. Daher. 2008), clearly
demonstrates.
Thanks to Mr
Daher for the update, the photo below and for the link to a
great article about the self-appointed guardian of the stone,
a certain Abul Nabi al-Afi, who has devoted himself to
the maintenance and upkeep of the site. His efforts are an
inspiration.
(Link to the article
here: Ba'albek - The Daily Star. April 12, 2001) |
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Gallery of Images.
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| The
Ba'albek temple complex from above. |
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| The
western wall (left, right), the northern wall (centre) |
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The stone of the South-Hadjar el
Gouble. Also called.... |
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...The Stone of the Pregnant Woman-Hadjar el Hibla |
The following photographs
are from the S. Yeoman collection, Halifax, NS, Canada. (
Many thanks Sheila).
The 'stone temple' in the
photos were from an album dating c.1943 with adjacent photos of
Baalbek, Lebanon. As yet the site remains unidentified, and it
is possible that it may no longer exists (It appears to have
already been greatly disturbed when these photos were taken).
If anyone
has any further information regarding this site, we would
greatly appreciate your input on this matter. Please feel
free to
Contact-Us.
Photo Credit: Sheila Angus
MTC (Great aunt of the contributor). |
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