Baalbek Acropolis

The Baalbek Acropolis is located in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, approximately 85 kilometers northeast of Beirut. The site sits at the ancient city of Heliopolis, as the Romans called it, and is one of the largest and best-preserved Roman temple complexes in the world.

The Baalbek complex contains two major temples: the Temple of Jupiter and the Temple of Bacchus, both built during the Roman period. The Temple of Bacchus is among the best-preserved Roman temples in the world, while the Temple of Jupiter's foundation includes some of the largest stone blocks ever used in construction, including the so-called Trilithon stones weighing an estimated 800 tons each.

The major Roman structures at Baalbek were constructed primarily between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD, during the height of the Roman Empire. Earlier Phoenician and Hellenistic structures existed on the site before the Romans transformed it into one of their most important religious sanctuaries in the eastern empire.

The Temple of Jupiter at Baalbek rests on foundation stones known as the Trilithon, three massive granite blocks each estimated to weigh around 800 tons. A fourth, even larger stone known as the Stone of the Pregnant Woman lies in a nearby quarry and is estimated to weigh approximately 1,000 tons, making it one of the largest quarried stones in the world.