Baalbek was an important city in ancient times. It was a center for the worship of the Near Eastern god Baal. Later Baalbek became a colony of the Romans, who built some of the greatest temples of the ancient world there.
Among the vast ruins at Baalbek, the most awesome structure is a wall that surrounds a terrace connecting a number of temples. Part of the wall is formed by three stones of unimaginable size.
Each of these hewn stones is about 62 feet long, 14 feet wide, and 11 feet high and weighs more than 750 tons, that’s more than 1.5 million pounds! Yet the stones were set in position 22 feet above the ground!
Another huge stones lies in a nearby quarry, from which it was cut but not removed. This stone, which weighs more than 1,000 tons, is the largest squared stone on earth.
It’s not known whether these stones were hewn by the Romans or during an earlier period. No one can guess how such massive stones could have been lifted into place.
Arab legend tells that the first temples at Baalbek were built after the Deluge by a tribe of giants. It would have taken giants indeed to lift the great stones at Baabek.
