DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27910#0087
THE GREAT COLUMNS AND SMALLER TEMPLE, BAALBEO.
R. ROBINSON prefaces his description of the Temples of Baalbec with the following passage
(“ Biblical Researches,” vol. iii., p. 507), which is so remarkably appropriate to the subject
of my picture, that I quote it entire:—
“The temples, the ruins of which now constitute the wonderful attractions of Baalbec,
are two in number—the greater and the lesser. The former, with its magnificent peristyle
yAKfiSf and its vast courts and portico, extended 1000 feet in length from east to west. It stands upon an
artificial vaulted platform, elevated from 20 to 30 feet above the adjacent country. Besides the dilapi-
■ y. ^ dated ruins of the courts and portico, there now remain only the six south-western 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 corner of the great peristyle. It had no court; and its
length is less than one-third 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.” And in the present day, as Dr. Robinson afterwards states, “ in respect to the general plan,
it must everywhere be borne in mind that many parts, and especially the south side, have been greatly
disfigured and obscured by the Saracenic erections of the middle ages, when the whole area of both temples
was converted into a Moslem fortress.”
The area of the great temple, to which the columns in the foreground of my picture belonged, is raised
as before stated, considerably above that of the smaller structure, upon arches covering a vast extent of
vaulted chambers, which are still accessible, but contain nothing worthy of remark. The building was 290
feet long, and 160 wide. It had ten columns in front, and nineteen on each side, and was, from the ground
to the top of the pediment, 120 feet high. It appears that a certain Trevet, in 1550, saw twenty-seven
columns of the great temple: subsequent travellers mention but nine; and Volney, in 1785, saw only six
standing—the present number. They are 71 feet 6 inches high, and the entablature—portions of which lie
scattered around, beautifully sculptured—was 11 feet 9 inches high. Each shaft, it will be seen, consists of
three pieces, joined without cement, but by means of an iron bar let vertically into each piece; and so
effectual is this means, that a column of the smaller temple has fallen against the outer wall with such
violence as to beat in the stone against which it fell, yet the joinings of the shaft have not been in the
least degree opened by the shock. Some of the standing columns are considerably mutilated by violent
attempts to get at these bars of metal.
I have before stated that I am not versed in architectural nomenclature; but I conclude with the
following edifying description of the smaller temple, from a popular article upon “Baalbec” in the Penny
Cyclopaedia:—“The building is peripteral, the columns are pycnostyle, and the portico is dipteral, with a
pseudo-intercolumniation before the antse of the pronaos! ”
R. ROBINSON prefaces his description of the Temples of Baalbec with the following passage
(“ Biblical Researches,” vol. iii., p. 507), which is so remarkably appropriate to the subject
of my picture, that I quote it entire:—
“The temples, the ruins of which now constitute the wonderful attractions of Baalbec,
are two in number—the greater and the lesser. The former, with its magnificent peristyle
yAKfiSf and its vast courts and portico, extended 1000 feet in length from east to west. It stands upon an
artificial vaulted platform, elevated from 20 to 30 feet above the adjacent country. Besides the dilapi-
■ y. ^ dated ruins of the courts and portico, there now remain only the six south-western 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 corner of the great peristyle. It had no court; and its
length is less than one-third 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.” And in the present day, as Dr. Robinson afterwards states, “ in respect to the general plan,
it must everywhere be borne in mind that many parts, and especially the south side, have been greatly
disfigured and obscured by the Saracenic erections of the middle ages, when the whole area of both temples
was converted into a Moslem fortress.”
The area of the great temple, to which the columns in the foreground of my picture belonged, is raised
as before stated, considerably above that of the smaller structure, upon arches covering a vast extent of
vaulted chambers, which are still accessible, but contain nothing worthy of remark. The building was 290
feet long, and 160 wide. It had ten columns in front, and nineteen on each side, and was, from the ground
to the top of the pediment, 120 feet high. It appears that a certain Trevet, in 1550, saw twenty-seven
columns of the great temple: subsequent travellers mention but nine; and Volney, in 1785, saw only six
standing—the present number. They are 71 feet 6 inches high, and the entablature—portions of which lie
scattered around, beautifully sculptured—was 11 feet 9 inches high. Each shaft, it will be seen, consists of
three pieces, joined without cement, but by means of an iron bar let vertically into each piece; and so
effectual is this means, that a column of the smaller temple has fallen against the outer wall with such
violence as to beat in the stone against which it fell, yet the joinings of the shaft have not been in the
least degree opened by the shock. Some of the standing columns are considerably mutilated by violent
attempts to get at these bars of metal.
I have before stated that I am not versed in architectural nomenclature; but I conclude with the
following edifying description of the smaller temple, from a popular article upon “Baalbec” in the Penny
Cyclopaedia:—“The building is peripteral, the columns are pycnostyle, and the portico is dipteral, with a
pseudo-intercolumniation before the antse of the pronaos! ”