Baalbek
The number of Wikipedia languages with an article is our measure of how widely known a site is. Counts of visitors and wishes will appear once enough people use the app.
How it came to be
Tell Baalbek is thought to have been inhabited for 8,000 to 9,000 years. Known as Heliopolis in the Hellenistic period, the town fell within the territory of the Roman colony of Berytus from 15 BC.
The Temple of Jupiter rose in the mid-1st century AD and was probably finished around AD 60. Its columns stand about 20 m high, and its platform includes stones of over 800 tonnes. Theodosius replaced it with a basilica in 379.
Travellers who came here
- 1867-09
The party reached the ruins at 11 a.m. on 13 September and spent three or four hours among the temples and quarries before riding seven hours on to camp.
Data: Wikidata (CC0). Photos: Wikimedia Commons, under each photo’s license. Prototype; may contain errors. We measure usage anonymously to improve the app (PostHog, EU).