Great Court, Temple of Jupiter, Baalbek, 1870s
The Great Court of the Temple of Jupiter is over 440 feet wide and 370 feet long. On three sides (north, east, and south) the Great Court is surrounded by porticoes. On the remaining side, in the west, was the majestic staircase leading to the shrine itself. On the quad between the porticoes were two basins, two tower-altars, and two free-standing columns. The Great Court is built on top of a very ancient hill, and it appears that the altar-towers were deliberately built on its summit. Archeologists have dug a sounding near the Great Court, and established that the hill top was already occupied during the 4th millennium BC. Baalbek is a town in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon situated east of the Litani River. After Alexander the Great conquered the Near East in 334 BC, the existing settlement was named Heliopolis. The city retained its religious function during Greco-Roman times, when the sanctuary of the Heliopolitan Jupiter-Baal was a pilgrimage site, and one of the largest sanctuaries in the empire. Starting in the last quarter of the 1st century BC (reign of Augustus) and over a period of two centuries (reign of Philip the Arab), the Romans had built a temple complex in Baalbek consisting of three temples: Jupiter, Bacchus and Venus. On a nearby hill, they built a fourth temple dedicated to Mercury. Photographed by FÌ©lix Bonfils, circa 1870-80.
Size: 4500px × 3531px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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