we heard also the name of Wady Hijrabân applied to its upper part. At 4.35 there was a fork of the road; one branch going more to the right to the fountain of Ba'albek, while we took the other, turning down more to the left through an open gap in the hills. In the bottom of this gap we passed at 4.45 the little village and fountain of 'Ain Burday. Following now the base of the next hill, we came at 5 o'clock to the town of Ba'albek, situated at the northwestern extremity and angle of the high terrace and line of hills, which here break down and cease; while an arm of the alluvial plain runs up eastward to the fountain. The road which we had thus taken from Mâsy by Neby Shit, and indeed quite from 'Anjar, had virtually led us out of the Bukâ'a; so that, properly speaking, we were the whole day long not in the great plain at all; but on higher ground east of the line of hills. This smaller side valley is a singular formation; and may be said to extend from Wady et-Teim to Ba'albek, with interruptions mainly at 'Anjar and Neby Shit. The great plain itself, as seen through the openings in the hills, is superbly rich and beautiful; a gem lying deep in its setting of mountains, and fringed with the brilliant snows of Lebanon. The Bukâ'a thus far is everywhere well watered. The mountains begin further south to converge and make it narrower; and north of Ba'albek its character is wholly changed. From Mâsy northwards there is another road, leading along the western base of the line of hills, and of course skirting the eastern margin of the great plain. After crossing the stream of Yahfûfeh it ascends a steep hill; and, leaving the village of Kuna ten minutes on the right, passes along a shallow valley west of the high Tell mentioned above; and reaches in forty-five minutes a place of quarries and excavated tombs. Fifteen minutes further, across the valley running out below Neby Shît, is the village of Sir'in; and in twenty minutes more the road passes west of and under Rămâdy. Then follows Tubshâr in fifteen minutes; 'Ain el-Kuneiseh in ten minutes more, a modern hamlet on the left; and, after still twenty-five minutes one comes to Bereitân. Thence to Taiyibeh is thirty-five minutes; at forty-five minutes further the village of Dûris is ten minutes on the left; and another half hour brings the traveller to Ba'albek. 1 This road was taken by Dr De Forest in travelling from Ba'albek to 'Anjar; Journ. of Am. Or. Soc. III. pp. 358, 359. -Schubert also followed the same road, at least from Sir'în, which he writes Zarain; III. p. 314. 2 Dûris is on the direct road between Zahleh and Ba'albek. Near this village is what might seem to be a small temple, described by Burckhardt as surrounded by eight beautiful granite columns; Trav. pp. 11, 12. But, according to O. v. Richter, the columns are merely planted in the ground without order, and one or more of them The ancient quarries of Ba'albek are in the western base of the last hill, eight or ten minutes south of the town and temples. Here may still be seen the mode of quarrying the ordinary stones used for the massive structures of the adjacent city. They were ordinarily hewn out from the perpendicular face of the rock in an upright position, by cutting away an interval of about six inches between them and the rock behind and at the sides; leaving them half hewn or smoothed. Many such stones, so separated except at the bottom, still stand there like massive square pillars. In the same hill, nearer the city, are several sepulchral excavations. The great stone of all, so celebrated by travellers, lies in a slanting position, in a direction from east to west. We measured it as follows: Length Feet. In. 68 4 17 2 14 7 For what particular spot this stone was intended, it is difficult to say; as there would seem to be no place for it in the plan of the present structures. In judging of it as it now lies, the actual dimensions seem absolutely incredible. A person approaching takes for granted that he can place his hand upon the top of it; but finds himself on trial falling short by at least one half. On the low ridge or swell between this last hill and a small knoll perhaps half a mile further north, stand the two larger temples. The ancient city wall runs from their southwestern corner in an easterly direction up the hill to near its top; thence northwards down the hill and far into the plain which extends towards the fountain; and then north of west to the said knoll. The fourth side we did not trace. The wall was faced with hewn stones, and had square towers at frequent intervals. The whole construction reminded me much of the walls and towers at 'Anjar; except that the area here enclosed is much more extensive. The walls and towers are now in ruins; and the modern town, which lies mostly on the east of the temples, is nothing bottom upwards; forming a Muslim Turbeh or Wely; p. 80. So too Lt. Col. Squire, in Walpole's Travels in various Countries of the East, p. 307. The like conclusion is expressed still more definitely and strongly by De Saulcy; Narrat. II. p. 639. It is obviously the same structure, which Pococke more than a century ago speaks of as "a Mahometan sepulchre of an octagon figure;" II. i. p. 108. The fine VOL. III.-43 columns were of course brought from Ba'albek. In the angle formed by the city wall on this hill, formerly stood the Doric column described by Pococke and Wood; Pococke II. i. p. 107. Wood p. 17. It had already been overthrown in 1802; Squire in Walpole's Travels in the East, p. 306. The remains are described by De Saulcy; Narrat. II. p. 615 sq. 1 more than a mean village of larger size. There are here many trees of various kinds, especially walnut trees. The large and beautiful fountain of Ba'albek is fifteen minutes south of east from the temples, in its own sweet valley or depression in the plain; which here runs up to the base of Anti-Lebanon on the north of the hills and terrace. The whole vale is rich and meadow-like. The water boils up in several places; two of which are built up with a low semicircular wall. On the stone-work of one of the fountains Maundrell found a Greek inscription, containing the name of a Christian bishop. The water is limpid and fine, and runs off murmuring in a pretty river; as large perhaps as the stream from Neba' Shemsin. Just by the fountain are the ruins of a mosk, with a single row of columns along the middle; perhaps once connected by arches and aiding to support the roof. On the north side is a square court. The stream from the fountain passes down to the temples. Its natural channel is on the north of them; but branches are now carried along also on the south of the temples, and supply water for several mills. The whole stream is afterwards exhausted in the plain by irrigation; and none of it reaches the Lîtâny, unless in winter. The remotest permanent source of the Lîtâny is understood to be at a village called Haushbeh, nearly west of Ba'albek, at the foot of Lebanon; and the stream, an hour or two below the fountain, is about half as large as that of Ba'albek." 3 The elevation of Ba'albek above the sea, is, according to Russegger, 3496 Paris feet; according to Schubert, 3572 Paris feet. The medium is 3584 Paris feet, or 3769 feet English. We pitched our tent on the south, overagainst the lesser temple, and opposite to the usual entrance at the present day. We found here other companies of travellers; and among them several artists diligently occupied in sketching. One party was encamped at the eastern end of the large court of the great temple itself; and we regretted that we had not done the same; having yielded rather hastily to the apparent difficulty of bringing in our baggage animals. We gave ourselves up for the evening to the astonishment and enjoyment which the wonders of the scene inspire; leaving a more careful examination of the details until the next morning. 1 In Burckhardt's time Ba'albek contained about seventy families of Metâwileh, and twenty-five of Greek Catholics; p. 15. There has probably been little change since. 2 Maundrell Journ. May 5th, ult. 3 The smaller fountain visited by Burckhardt, which he calls Jûsh, is higher up on the side of Anti-Lebanon; Trav. p. 16. We neither saw it, nor heard it spoken of. So Mr Robson, who had visited the fountain, and crossed the stream some distance further down. Comp. Burckhardt Trav. p. 10. Russegger Reisen I. p. 702. Schubert III. p. 322. THE TEMPLES. The temples, the ruins of which now constitute the wonderful attractions of Ba'albek, are two in number; the greater and the lesser. The former, with its magnificent peristyle and vast courts and portico, extended a thousand feet in length from east to west. It stands upon an artificial vaulted platform, elevated from twenty to thirty feet above the adjacent country. Besides the dilapidated ruins of the courts and portico, there now remain only the six southwestern columns of the lofty peristyle; and these are still the crowning glory of the place. The lesser temple stands likewise upon its own similar, though less elevated platform. It is on the south of the greater temple; is parallel with it; and its front is a few feet east of the eastern line of the great peristyle. It had no court; and its length is less than one fourth part of that of the greater temple with its courts. It was finished, and that most elaborately, and the larger portion of it still remains; while not improbably the larger temple was never completed. 2 It is not my province to describe or dwell upon the plans and noble architecture of these ruins. All I wish to do is, in the fewest words, to present such a sketch as will enable the intelligent reader to gain a correct general idea of the place; and such also as will put the future traveller in a situation at once to comprehend the outline of the ruins, and thus be saved the time and labour of studying them out for himself without a guide. This last unfortunately was our own case. We had with us Maundrell's work, which contains a tolerable description of the lesser temple, but hardly refers to the greater. Yet, since the folios of Pococke and Wood, no traveller, with the exception of Volney, has ever given a plan of the ruins, nor even a description of their main parts and features. We examined for ourselves, without plan or guide; and while I have since been gratified to find our results as to the plan corresponding entirely with those of Wood and Dawkins, yet we should have been great gainers had we possessed even the slightest outline. True, whoever visits Ba'albek in order to study the architecture of its remains, will make himself acquainted with the splendid and costly works in which they are depicted. But such is not the object of most travellers, nor was it ours. I insert therefore a mere outline of the original ground-plan of the two temples, as reduced by Volney from that of Wood and Dawkins; with a brief description. 1 The small circular temple further east, will be noticed hereafter. "It has sometimes been erroneously re garded as standing upon the same platform with the greater temple. Biblioth. Sac. 1843, p. 85. The main material is everywhere the compact limestone of the region, quarried from the adjacent hills.' 1 Wood and Dawkins Ruins of Baalbec, fol. Lond. 1757, Plate III. Comp. also Volney, II. p. 216.-We made few measurements; and I give in the text those of Wood and Dawkins, except where otherwise specified. |