pepandtim posted a photo:
The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale published by Lévy et Neurdein, 44 Rue Letellier, Paris.
The photography was by Bonins, successeur, A. Guiragossian of Beyrouth.
Baalbek
Baalbek is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, about 85 km (53 mi) northeast of Beirut. In Greek and Roman times Baalbek was also known as Heliopolis. In 1998 Baalbek had a population of 82,608, mostly Shia Muslims, followed by Sunni Muslims and Christians.
It is home to the Baalbek temple complex which includes two of the largest and grandest Roman temple ruins: the Temple of Bacchus and the Temple of Jupiter. It was inscribed in 1984 as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Temple of Bacchus
The Temple of Bacchus is one of the best preserved and grandest Roman temple ruins; its age is unknown, but its fine ornamentation can be dated to the second century CE.
History
The temple was probably commissioned by Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius (r. AD 138-161). No information was recorded about the site until a 4th-century Greek conquest, by which point the temple would likely have been closed due to the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.
When the complex fell into disrepair, the Temple of Bacchus was possibly protected by the rubble of the rest of the site’s ruins.
It was not until 1898-1903 that a German Expedition excavated two of the large temples and began reconstructions on the site. In 1920 repairs of the site were mandated by the Lebanese government.
In the mid-1970s the Lebanese civil war broke out and protections of the site ceased as Al-Biqā became a stronghold for Palestinian, Hezbollah and Syrian forces. In 1984 the ruins at Baalbek were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Preservation of the site began in the 1990’s following the end of the war.
Architecture
The temple is 66 m long, 35 m wide and 31 m high, making it only slightly smaller than the Temple of Jupiter. The podium on which the temple sits is on an East-West axis. The peripheral wall is adorned by a colonnade of forty-two unfluted Corinthian columns with Ionic bases, nineteen of which remain upright.
There are eight columns along each end, and fifteen along each side —nearly 20 m (66 ft) in height. These were probably erected in a rough state and then rounded, polished, and decorated in position. The columns support a richly carved entablature, which includes an architrave with a three-banded frieze that is decorated with alternating bulls and lions and cornice ornamented with geometric and floral patterns.
Inside, the cella is decorated with Corinthian pilasters flanking two levels of niches on each side. The parapets are decorated with dancing Maenads, supporting the attribution of the temple to Bacchus.
The interior of the temple is divided into a 98 ft (30 m) nave and a 36 ft (11 m) sanctuary on a platform raised 5 ft (2 m) above it and fronted by 13 steps.
The entrance was preserved as late as the 16th century, but the keystone of the lintel had slid 2 ft (1 m) following the 1759 earthquakes; a column of rough masonry was erected in the 1860’s or 70’s to support it.
The earthquakes also damaged the area around the soffit’s famed inscription of an eagle, which was entirely covered by the keystone’s supporting column. Some historic Roman coins depict the structure of this temple along with Temple of Jupiter.
The Temple is enriched by some of the most refined reliefs and sculpture to survive from antiquity. There are four sculptures carved within the peristyle that are believed to be depictions of Acarina which would make them the first recognizable representations of mites in architecture.