Baalbek

Baalbek ( Baalbeck , Baalback , Balbeck , Balback or بعلبك) is old Héliopolis of the Romans, i.e. the Ville of the sun , because of its exceptional sunning (more than 300 days per annum).

The ancient city, located at the Lebanon, in the north of the Lebanese plain of the Bekaa, is made up of ruins of the time gréco-Roman with older traces of the Semitic time. It contains the only Jupiter temple in the world. The visitor of the country of the Cedar should not miss this site being reproduced on the Liste by the world heritage of UNESCO.

The complex of three giant temples left by the Romans includes/understands:

the temple of Bacchus, one of the temples best preserved world gréco-Roman
the temple of Jupiter of which there remain six columns of Granite
the temple of Venus

However, even the people having the most fertile imagination can discover the true size of these monuments magnificiently preserved only after having visited them.

History

The phenician city

The history of Baalbek goes up at least at the end of the 3rd front millenium J. - C. Baalbek was flourishing a phenician city where the worship of Baal was celebrated, the solar god of the Syro-Phéniciens, then identified with the god cananéen Hadad . At that time, the worship was thus addressed to three Eastern divinities: Hadad, god of the lightning which gave also the beneficial rains, Atargatis, which ensured the moisture of the ground and the fruitfulness of the men and the animals, and Adonis, young god of the vegetation in which incarnated the revival and the vital force of the plants and the herds.

The hellenistic and Roman city

The city was then called Héliopolis, “City of the sun”. According to certain assumptions, this name was given to Baalbek of the hellenistic time, because the Greeks identified Hélios, god of the sun, in Hadad. Others affirm that the ancient city received this name at the time Roman, when Marc-Antoine conceded it with Cléopâtre. The visible vestiges go up especially at the time Roman.

The city was designed on a traditional level. The streets are organized there in checkerwork on the basis of two large artery, the Decumanus and the Cardo . The site comprises three principal sanctuaries: those of Jupiter, Bacchus and Venus.

It is to show all the power of the Roman Empire that Auguste decided the construction of a large sanctuary with Héliopolis. The work started under its reign, towards 14 av. J. - C., were however prolonged until the end of the 2nd century. The sanctuary was built in conformity with the principles characterizing the Roman religious architecture, and the elements of the decoration are borrowed from the decorative repertory gréco-Roman, but the organization takes account of the religious uses of the East. As example, the furnace bridges of Baalbek are much more important than those of the Roman sanctuaries. In the same way, the temples comprise staircases, beside their main entrance, which give access the roof. This was undoubtedly used for Eastern pertaining to worship activities. However, this kind of staircases do not exist in the Roman temples.

At the time Roman thus, the original Eastern worships were transformed into mystical worships intended to devote the rebirth after death. In this context, the sanctuary of Bacchus started to be a great success, in particular in the cities of the coast phenician. Then, the mysteries of Bacchus conquered Rome. This evolution thus made that Adonis was compared to Bacchus, and not to Hermes, and brought to dedicate a large temple to him whose interior decoration comprises many allusions to its divine personality.

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The celebrity of the sanctuaries of Baalbek and her divinities had an enormous influence on the whole of the Roman world. In addition to the sacrifices, the worships gave place to crowned practices, and Baalbek had a famous oracle. Baalbek was so important that the rites which dominated there were widespread in the worlds Western and Eastern of the time.

For this reason the pagan Rites of Héliopolis persisted until in 554, in spite of the prohibition of this worship by Théodose, towards the end of the 4th century at the beginning of the Christian era. It is in fact at that time that a basilica was built after the destruction of the symbols of this pagan worship.

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The city since the Middle Ages

Several earthquakes, destruction and other constructions medieval made lose in Baalbek part of its old splendor. The last great earthquake dates from the middle of the 18th century, and made crumble three of the nine columns of the Jupiter temple. The festival of summer of Baalbek, which started in 1955, however revived the City of the sun (see below).

The archeological site was transformed into Arab citadel. A Mosquée was built on the sites using stones found on the spot; the walls of the Jupiter temple were moved of a few meters to make a formidable wall of it.

While sauntering in the city

The sanctuary of Bacchus

The sanctuary of Bacchus, built at the 2nd century, is best preserved. One penetrates there by a staircase with three flights, as in the Jupiter temple. The temple itself is peripteral. Although of size lower than those of the Jupiter temple (69 meters length on 36 broad with some 22 meters high columns), it appears, him also, among the largest temples of the Roman world. It was composed of a Pronaos preceded by eight columns and of a concealed, surrounded by semi-columns, comprising at the bottom a driving staircase with a Adyton where the statue of the god trônait. Its 42 8 meters high columns support an entablature connected to the wall of the concealed by enormous flagstones. On one of them which is with ground, one sees a snake biting Cléopâtre. This very fine gate is classified among most beautiful of the Roman world. With the south-eastern angle of the temple, draws up a tower Mamelouk E dating from the 15th century. It was used as residence to the governor of the citadel. Behind the strengthened wall and the temple, still a mosque is going back to the time of the Ayyoubides.

Large court

The large court or the court of the sacrifices, with remarkable dimensions (134 and 112 meters), was surrounded by an elegant gantry in which four opened exèdres semicircular and eight rectangular. In the center of this vast space, a furnace bridge for the sacrifices and a flanked tower of two red and gray granite columns rose of which it remains only of rare vestiges. The tower was probably used as place used by the pilgrims to follow the ceremonies. It was destroyed towards the end of the 4th century to give place to a Christian Basilique which has, it also, destroyed at one later time. There remains basilica only some pieces of the furnace bridge, in particular of the parts out of wood which sheltered the faithful ones as well as most of the gantry and of its decorative elements.

Hexagonal court

Starting from the court of the sacrifices, one can pass to the hexagonal court built in first half of the 3rd century. This court with open sky, 50 meters length was surrounded in the beginning of a gantry of 30 columns and four exèdres rectangular richly decorated.

This court also was transformed into church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin between the end of the IV {{E}} and the beginning of the 5th century. The city is old évêché.

The sanctuary of Zeus

The sanctuary of Zeus, oldest, was built in several stages. The temple was already quite advanced under Néron, but the unit was completed and inaugurated only at the 3rd century. One reaches it by a Propylée: a monumental staircase led to a gantry with twelve columns framed of two turns. According to a Latin inscription, a legionary would have made cover with gold one of the two capitals of the columns. By a monumental staircase with three flights, the priests reached the Jupiter temple whose only 6 columns remain, high twenty-two meters, with a base of 2 meters 20 of diameter. This temple is largest (88 meters out of 48) of everyone Roman. It was probably peripteral, with ten columns in frontage and nineteen on the long sides. If its internal plan were similar to that of the temple of Bacchus, it comprised a pronaos preceded by eight columns and of one concealed.

The Venus temple

The Venus temple is characterized by the originality of its circular plan like by the harmony of its forms, in a city whose other sanctuaries are marked by gigantism. In a career located close to the city, one can discover besides the largest stone cut in the world: 21 m of length, 4,5 m in height and width for a mass of approximately 1.200 tons.

The city today

The green zone of Baalbek is known under the name of Ras El Ayn (رأسالعين); it is about a great formed green zone of a boulevard oval.

The International festival of Baalbek

The International festival of Baalbek, organized in summer, is the cultural event oldest and most prestigious of the Middle East.

Since 1955, cultural activities are organized within the Roman ruins. In 1956, managed by the voluntary ones, association takes the official name of “International festival of Baalbek”. This institution, supported by the president of the Republic of the time, Camille Chamoun, then becomes one of the official institutions of the government whose mission is to promote the cultural life and tourist country. In 1966, the festival founds a school of dramatic art with an aim of promoting the Lebanese theater.

In twenty years, the International festival of Baalbek acquired an international repute and the artists of the whole world come to occur on its boards.

The activities of the International festival of Baalbek are stopped in 1975, during the civil war. In 1997, the festival finds its glory.

From now on, each summer, it accommodates large artists of the world (Sting, Johnny Hallyday, etc) attracting more 40 000 spectators. The festival proceeds each year during August and July. In 2005, it was held from July 7th to August 6th. In 2006, this festival was stopped on July 12th following the Israeli attack. It should begin again in 2007.

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