Ancient Baalbek in Lebanon, the temples of which amaze with their size

The ancient city of Baalbek is located on the territory of modern Lebanon and is famous for its ancient temples and palaces, which are partially preserved to this day. But the enormous size of these structures haunt researchers, and some of the blocks at the base of the buildings have a weight exceeding the largest blocks of the Egyptian pyramids.

Baalbek is located 80 kilometers from the Lebanese capital - the city of Beirut. Once upon a time there was an ancient Phoenician settlement, but after the fall of Phenicia, the territory of this ancient state passed from one ruler to another and ultimately was annexed to the Roman Empire, becoming part of the province of Syria. The architectural masterpieces erected by ancient builders and preserved to this day belong to the period of the reign of the Romans.

Temple of jupiter

The most famous building of ancient Baalbek, perhaps, is the temple of Jupiter, which was built in the 1st century AD. From the grandiose temple, which was the largest in the Roman Empire, a stone base and six columns remained. Moreover, at the base of the temple there are incredible sizes of three stone blocks, which were called Baalbek trilithon. According to experts, the mass of these limestone blocks is 300-800 tons, which is much higher than the weight of the blocks that make up the Cheops pyramid in Egypt.

Grand blocks at the base of the temple of Jupiter

A number of researchers do not see anything unusual in this and believes that the ancient builders could well have moved these blocks from the quarry in this area to the location of the temple. Others believe that such huge blocks were mined and delivered to the site by representatives of the most ancient highly developed civilization, and the Romans only used a convenient site as the basis for the temple. Be that as it may, research in the area of the temple of Jupiter has not yet been completed.

On the territory of Baalbek, there is also the Temple of Bacchus (the temple of Bacchus), which was built in the 2nd century AD. It also has impressive dimensions, and its safety is better than that of the temple of Jupiter. This temple is dedicated to the ancient Roman god of wine - Bacchus, and the height of its columns is 3 times higher than the measurements of the famous Athenian Parthenon.

Temple of Venus

The Temple of Venus is another pearl of the ancient Baalbek, which dates back to the 3rd century AD. The temple dedicated to the goddess Venus was built on the site of the ancient Phoenician sanctuary and has a round shape, rare for that time. It is interesting that for some time in the temple of Venus there was a Christian church dedicated to St. Barbara.