Location: Beqaa Valley Map
Baalbek (Arabic بعلبك, DMG Baʿlabakk) is a provincial capital in Lebanon with around 80,000 inhabitants and an important center of the Bekaa Valley. The place has been around since the 8th millennium BC. Settled in the 1st century BC, in Roman times its name was Colonia Heliopolis. Baalbek is famous for its massive temple complexes, including the imposing ruins of the Jupiter sanctuary, one of the largest sacral complexes in the Roman Empire, as well as other Roman temples. The six still standing pillars of the Temple of Jupiter are the symbol of Baalbek and - along with the cedar - of the entire Lebanon. The temple complex and the old town of Baalbek have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.
The settlement of Baalbek can be traced back to the Pre-Pottery
Neolithic (PPNB). The settlement mound (Tell), which is surrounded by
the altar courtyard of the Roman Jupiter sanctuary, contains evidence,
primarily stone tools, but also organic remains that date back to the
8th millennium BC. can be dated. Continuous settlement can be observed
from the ceramics.
Baalbek is the preclassic name of the place,
it is translated as “Lord of the Springs” (“Baal of the Bekaa”, the
plain as a place of “groundwater, standing water”). However, the name
cannot be found in any preclassical text; it first appears in the early
5th century AD in a Syrian copy of the Theophany of Bishop Eusebius of
Caesarea and then again on coins from the Ummayad period. Heliopolis
means “city of the sun” and is most likely taken from the Egyptian
Heliopolis. Since it is a Greek word, it is believed that this name
dates back to the Hellenistic period, probably the 3rd century BC dates
back to when the landscape of Koilesyria, “hollow Syria”, was under the
rule of the Ptolemies.
In 63 B.C. the Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus passed
through Heliopolis on his way from Apamea to Damascus. The account
of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus records the first
historical event that can be linked to Baalbek. The first mention,
however, can be found around the turn of the century in Strabo. His
report shows that Baalbek was still part of the territory of the
Roman Empire in 15 BC. Colonia Iulia Augusta Felix Berytus, today's
Beirut, was established in the 1st century BC. A little later, the
name Colonia Iulia Augusta Felix Heliopolis is attested for Baalbek
on coins and inscriptions, analogous to Beirut. Veterans from Legio
VIII Augusta and Legio V Macedonia were settled. Neither Strabo or
Flavius Josephus nor Pliny or Claudius Ptolemy, who also mention
Heliopolis, name the city as an independent colonia, nor is there
anything reported about the city, its history or its buildings. The
place was probably still rather insignificant back then.
According to the testimony of the late antique author Macrobius
Ambrosius Theodosius, Emperor Trajan had an oracle given to him by
Jupiter Optimus Maximus Heliopolitanus, the main god of Baalbek,
before his Parthian campaign, i.e. probably in 114 AD. In order to
test the god first, he allegedly sent an empty, sealed letter to
Baalbek. When the emperor received a letter back, which was also
empty, he was, as it is said, convinced of the god's power and asked
again in writing about the success of his campaign against the
Parthians. In response, he received back a Roman centurion's broken
vine, a votive offering. According to Macrobius, this mysterious
answer was interpreted to mean that only Trajan's bones would
return, and the emperor actually died on the way back from the
campaign in 117 AD. However, most historians consider the story to
be a fabrication - Macrobius lived for almost three centuries after
the alleged events. The story therefore proves above all that the
oracle of Baalbek still enjoyed a good reputation among
non-Christians in the 4th century.
The city probably only
became really important around the year 200. The Roman lawyer Ulpian
reports at the beginning of the 3rd century AD that after the
victory of the Emperor Septimius Severus over his rival Pescennius
Niger in 194/5, Baalbek was awarded the ius italicum, which was
tantamount to a tax exemption for the city, which was now like a
Place in Italy was treated. At the same time, coinage began in
Baalbek under Severus and continued with interruptions until the
reign of Emperor Gallienus. These honors show that Baalbek was on
Severus' side in the civil war and was richly rewarded for it. Now
it took a rapid upswing. The coins of the 3rd century often show
prize crowns with the inscription Certamen Sacrum Capitolinum
Oecomenicum Iselasticum Heliopolitanum (“holy and empire-wide games
according to Capitoline rules”); These were competitions whose
winners had the right to a ceremonial entry into their hometown.
The first church was probably built in Baalbek under Emperor
Constantine I, the location of which is unknown; it is possible that
it was destroyed again during the pagan reaction under Emperor
Julian Apostate. But it was only the edict of Emperor Theodosius I
that allowed the Christians to build a basilica in the altar
courtyard. For this purpose, parts of the Jupiter Temple and the two
tower altars were built in. The temple was already partially
damaged, including through violent destruction. The remains of this
church stood until 1935. After a long period without cult activity,
the round temple was converted into a church in honor of St.
Barbara.
Nevertheless, the temples remained active; It was
not until 554 that the sanctuary of Sol Invictus Mithras was said to
have been burned out and abandoned after a lightning strike. In
general, paganism was very long-lasting in Baalbek; there are a
whole series of reports that mention martyrs and repeated missionary
attempts. For a very long time, non-Christians were the majority
here, similar to Harran. Bishops from Baalbek are attested from the
5th century onwards; a Nonnos is uncertain, a Joseph and a Peter are
certainly attested at synods in Antioch in 445 and 451. But there is
still talk of fighting against pagans in Baalbek in the fifth and
sixth centuries. In 579, Emperor Tiberius I bloodily suppressed an
uprising by the Old Believers, who were said to have oppressed the
Christian minority in Baalbek.
The temples
The monumental sanctuary of Jupiter Optimus
Maximus Heliopolitanus, the so-called Temple of Bacchus and the
small round temple are characteristic of Baalbek. To this day, an
attraction for tourism and an important example of Roman
architecture for antiquity research, the buildings and the medieval
castle formed from them dominated the city for 2,000 years. Another
temple dedicated to Mercury has been completely destroyed. A
pseudoperipterus was excavated directly in front of the round temple
in the 1960s.
The thermal baths
To the southwest of the
Jupiter sanctuary is the site of the so-called Bustan al-Khan
(Garden of the Caravanserai). Extensive excavation and restoration
work by the Lebanese Antiquities Administration took place there in
the 1960s and 1970s. Parts of a large thermal bath complex from the
2nd century AD were uncovered, the portico of which was re-erected.
Right next to it there was a large peristyle courtyard, which is
interpreted as a podium hall, a large banquet facility.
More
buildings
There are a number of other ancient buildings in
Baalbek. There are remains of the Roman theater beneath the Hotel
Palmyra. In the spring basin of Ras al-Ain there is the substructure
of another small temple. A Roman gate building is integrated into
the wall of a former barracks northeast of the Jupiter sanctuary.
Remains of mosaics were repeatedly found during construction work in
the urban area, indicating residential development.
In September 636, the Arab general Abu Ubaida conquered Baalbek
without encountering any significant resistance. He issued the
population of Baalbek a letter of protection, so that there were
initially no significant changes for the city and the population. A
Christian population in Baalbek can be documented in bishop lists
from the 11th century onwards.
In the 10th century, Baalbek
initially belonged to the Uqail Bedouins. In 975, Zalim ibn Mauhub,
the Uqail chief, had to cede the city to the Turkish military leader
Alp-Tigin, who eventually lost it to the Fatimids of Egypt. They had
to defend Baalbek against the Byzantines and appointed, among
others, Anush-Tigin ad-Duzbiri as commander of the city before
Baalbek temporarily fell to the Mirdasids (Banu Kilab) in the early
11th century. In 1075 the city came under Seljuk control. In 1139,
the Turkish Atabeg Zengi conquered Baalbek and appointed the Kurd
Najmuddin Ayyub governor of the city and its surrounding area. His
son Saladin grew up there. In the twelfth and 13th centuries, the
Jupiter sanctuary and the temple of Bacchus were combined and
expanded into a citadel. The Propylaea, the former entrance to the
sanctuary, was closed.
The Arabic sources usually describe
Baalbek as a rich, beautiful and, above all, fertile city. In the
tales of the Arabian Nights, sweets from Baalbek are praised. In
1260 Baalbek was conquered by the Mongols; In the course of the
Mamluk counterattack, the city came under their rule.
In 1517 Baalbek was conquered by the Ottomans. From the beginning of the 17th century until 1851, it was primarily the Shiite Harfusch family that ruled Baalbek. During this period the town's size and importance declined rapidly, and by the 19th century Baalbek was little more than a village. The ruins of Baalbek have been a popular travel destination for the European upper class since the 17th century. Some visitors to Baalbek made drawings and engravings, so knowledge of the site spread quickly. Until 1759, nine columns of the Temple of Jupiter still stood, as drawn by Robert Wood. Then a great earthquake knocked three of them down. On November 10th and 11th, 1898, the German Emperor Wilhelm II visited the ruins of Baalbek during his trip to the Orient. He was so impressed that he immediately commissioned an excavation. After approval from the Turkish authorities, Robert Koldewey was on site at Christmas 1898 to prepare an initial assessment of the goals and effort of the planned excavation. Between 1900 and 1905, under the direction of Otto Puchstein, the sanctuary was finally cleared of the spills and archaeologically examined.
Baalbek as a Hezbollah stronghold
Baalbek's population today
is Muslim and largely Shiite. The “Hezbollah” organization was
founded here by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard stationed in the
Sheikh Abdullah Barracks and initially had its headquarters in the
city. Since the late 1980s it has been relocated to Beirut. In 1997
there was an internal split in Baalbek when its former general
secretary Subhi at-Tufeili declared a “hunger revolt” in the city
and called for a tax boycott. He accused the Hariri government of
investing the development funds in prestigious buildings in Beirut,
while in Baalbek even the street lighting did not work. Hezbollah
operates a hospital in Baalbek. An Islamic college has been empty
since the unrest around Tufeili. According to Hezbollah, the team
that kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in July 2006 had trained in
Baalbek's area. In 2004 there was a martial “exhibition on the
resistance movement of Lebanon” organized by Hezbollah at the
entrance to the Roman temple district. Baalbek was Lebanon's drug
capital, particularly during the civil war (1975-1990), where there
were dozens of drug laboratories. The hemp fields thrived in the
fertile soils of the Bekaa Valley.
Baalbek International
Festival
In 1955, a cultural festival took place for the first
time in the temple ruins of Baalbek, which was organized in 1956 by
Lebanese President Camille Chamoun as a state cultural institution
and has since taken place every year (with a war-related
interruption from 1975 to 1996) in July and August under the name
International Festival of Baalbeck. Theater and ballet performances
as well as concerts in the fields of classical music, world music,
jazz, pop and rock take place in front of an audience of up to
40,000 visitors every year. It is the most important cultural
festival in the Middle East. Previous highlights have included
performances by Plácido Domingo, Hasmik Papian, Ella Fitzgerald,
Miles Davis, Johnny Hallyday, Sting, the New York Philharmonic, the
Royal Ballet from London, the Comédie-Française and regular
appearances by the Lebanese singer Fairuz. The picturesquely
illuminated, imposing ruins offer various venues for 700 spectators
(inside the Bacchus Temple) or 2,000 to 4,500 spectators (on the
steps of the Jupiter Temple and the Bacchus Temple and between the
Jupiter and Bacchus Temples).