Rome in the Bekaa — the largest Roman temples ever built, amid cedar mountains
Baalbek hosts the most spectacular Roman ruins outside Italy — the Temple of Jupiter, once Rome's largest religious structure, still raises six of its original 54 columns 22 metres into the Lebanese sky. The adjacent Temple of Bacchus is more complete than the Parthenon and better preserved than almost any other Roman temple in the world. Set in the fertile Bekaa Valley between Lebanon's two mountain ranges, the site has been continuously occupied for 9,000 years.
Known as Heliopolis — City of the Sun — to the Greeks, Baalbek was one of the most important cult centres in the ancient world. The Romans began their colossal temple complex in the 1st century BCE; the project continued for 250 years across multiple emperors. The three enormous blocks called the Trilithon, incorporated into the Temple of Jupiter's podium, each weigh over 800 tonnes — among the largest stones ever moved by human hands; how they were transported remains debated. UNESCO inscribed the site in 1984.