History of Baalbek

History of Baalbek

Author: Michel M. Alouf

Excerpts:

The fame of the ruins at Baalbek in Lebanon once drew many tourists. The Romans eventually built magnificent temples over a massive multi-level platform considered to be one of the only prediluvial sites that survived the flood. Here we find the amazing 1,000-plus ton stones as part of the original temple platform. The largest cranes in the world would have difficulty lifting, let alone moving, these massive limestone blocks. These stones and other aspects of this important site are described in this handy reference guide.

Presently, a trip to Baalbek is extremely difficult and considerably dangerous. Luckily, the former curator of the site, Michel M. Alouf, made his years of research available in this heavily illustrated work.

The massive platform found at Baalbek is believed by some scientists to be the one and only rediluvial sites that survived the flood. At a much later time, it became very well known to the Romans, who desecrated the site to build their magnificent temples. In fact, the largest Roman temples ever built were not in Rome, but were found at Baalbek.

A recent visit to the site allowed inspection of these large stones, and of the one at the quarry, where new measurements were taken which revealed the largest and most precisely cut stone at the Trilithon may weigh in at over 1500 tons.