Baalbek — Where History

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Baalbek

📷 Alexander Popovkin · Pexels

Where in the world

Lebanon

The site

Baalbek is an ancient city in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley with roots stretching back thousands of years, renamed Heliopolis, or "Sun City," after Alexander the Great's conquest in 334 BCE. The site flourished under Roman rule, when its monumental temples and sanctuaries were raised, drawing on Phoenician foundations. Later sacked by the Mongols and battered by earthquakes, Baalbek endures today as a celebrated ruin and tourist destination.

Field notes

civilizations: Roman Phoenician-Punic
types: City
built: 15 BCE — 250 CE
occupied: 1,200 BCE — 400 CE
country: Lebanon
elevation: 1,170 m above sea level

See it in 3D

3D capture Baalbek Complex - LEBANON Arqueomodel3D ↗

Notable finds

Renowned pieces unearthed at Baalbek — and where they are today

Sursock bronzebronze · 200 CE▸Louvre Museum

Figures of this place

Laid to rest, born or died at Baalbek

Eudokia of Heliopolis

†

Eudokia of Heliopolisdied hereSamarian martyr

Pictured through the ages

Artworks that portray Baalbek

Baalbek: Ruins of the Temple of Jupiter and the Temple of the Sun — Baalbek: Ruins of the Temple of Jupiter and the Temple of the SunVasily Polenov · 1,882 CE

Baalbek — BaalbekVasily Polenov · 1,882 CE

View of Baalbek — View of BaalbekJean-Léon Gérôme · 1,870 CE

Ruins in Baalbek — Ruins in BaalbekJules Coignet · 1,846 CE

The Entrance to the Golden Temple in Baalbeck — The Entrance to the Golden Temple in BaalbeckDavid Roberts · 1,841 CE

Baalbek — BaalbekAnna Lynker · 1,870 CE

5 Syrian Banknote Piastres (1920)

5 Syrian Piastres (1919)

Nearby sites

Byblos

Sidon

Tyre

Tel Hazor

Tel Hazor Israel