Located in Lebanon's Beqaa valley, about 86 km northeast of Beirut and 60 km from the Mediterranean coast, Baalbek is one of the best least-known Roman sites in the world. Consisting of temples to the developing Roman trinity of Jupiter, Baachus, and Venus, this complex is based upon an earlier, existing sacred site dedicated to another triad of deities: Hadad (Adonis), Atargatis (Astarte), and Baal. All around the Roman temple complex of Baalbek are tombs cut into the rocks which date to the Phoenician era centuries earlier.
The transformation from a Canaanite religious site to a Roman one began after 332 BCE when Alexander conquered the city and initiated a process of Hellenization. In 15 BCE Caesar made it a Roman colony and named it Colonia Julia Augusta Felix Heliopolitanus. That's not a very memorable name (which may be why it was more commonly known simply as Heliopolis), but it was from this time that Baalbek itself became more famous - in particular because of the massive temple of Jupiter which dominates the site.
Read More: Photos & Images; Religion, History, Culture of Baalbek, Lebanon
