DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4642#0055
THE DOORWAY, BAALBEC.
On a subject of this order, no description can be so valuable as that of the individual who has surveyed
it at once with the intelligent curiosity of a traveller, and the accurate eye of an Artist.
" This is, perhaps, the most elaborate work, as well as the most exquisite in its detail, of anything
of its kind in the world. The pencil can convey but a faint idea of its beauty. One scroll alone, of
acanthus leaves, with groups of children and panthers intertwined, might form a work of itself. Even
independently of the beauty of the sculpture, and its excellent preservation, we are lost in wonder at
the size of the stones, and at the nature of the machinery by which such masses were raised. Earthquakes
have shaken this extraordinary remnant; but from the magnitude of the blocks which form the lintel,
the central one, being wedge-shaped, has slipped only so far as to break away a portion of the blocks
on either side, and thus remain suspended.
" But its effect is injured by a wall which crosses the Eastern Portico, and within a few feet of
the doorway, so that the spectator is forced to look at it almost directly upwards. An eagle, with
expanded wings, hovers in the centre of the lintel, bearing festoons of fruit and flowers. The fair
proportions of this extraordinary work are injured below still more than above, by being buried ten or
twelve feet in the ground, so that it necessarily looks stunted." Yet the whole performance, shattered,
shortened, and hidden as it is, excites the highest admiration that can be given to a work of genius
and beauty.1
The Artist proposes the question, whether the Eagle may not be rather the Egyptian emblem of
sanctity than the Roman of empire, from the similitude of its position to that of the " Sacred Vulture,"
invariably placed on the lintels of the Egyptian temples. In this idea he nearly coincides with M. Volney,
who remarks, that the tuft upon its head proves that it is not the Roman Eagle. The same bird, too,
is found on the Temple of Palmyra, and is, therefore, an Oriental Eagle, consecrated to the Sun, which
was the divinity of both temples.
On the northern side of the portal is sculptured a winged form, hovering over head, and extending
its wings two-thirds of the breadth of the gate; and on each side of the central Eagle is also sculptured
a youth, or Genius, on the wing. The Eagle carries in its pounces a caduceus, and in its beak the
strings coming from the end of the two festoons, whose other ends are supported by the two youths,
or Genii.2
The breadth of this incomparable entrance is twenty-two feet; the height can be ascertained only
when its bases shall be cleared from the accumulation of ruins and earth. The measure of the Temple
within is forty yards long by twenty broad. Round the interior are two rows of pilasters. Between
the pilasters are niches, which seem to have been designed for the reception of statues. There are
eight pilasters in a row, and seven niches, exclusive of those of the Adytum.
About eight yards from the upper end of the Temple, stood, until recently, two fine channelled
pillars, which seem to have formed a partition, and to have supported a canopy over the head of the
great Idol, whose place was probably in a large niche at the end. On those portions of the partition
which remain are carvings in relievo of Neptune, tritons, fishes, sea-gods, Arion and his dolphin, and
other marine figures. The covering of the whole fabric is broken down. " But this I must say " (it is
Maundrell, one of the most exact of travellers, who speaks), " that it strikes the mind with an air of
grandeur beyond anything that I ever saw before, and is an eminent proof of the magnificence of the
ancient architecture. About fifty yards distance from the Temple is a row of Corinthian pillars, very
great and lofty, with a most stately architrave and lintel at top. This speaks itself to have been part
of some very august pile."
Roberts's Journal. c Pococke conceives them to be Zephyrs, or emblems of the Atmosphere, as the Eagle was of the Sun.
On a subject of this order, no description can be so valuable as that of the individual who has surveyed
it at once with the intelligent curiosity of a traveller, and the accurate eye of an Artist.
" This is, perhaps, the most elaborate work, as well as the most exquisite in its detail, of anything
of its kind in the world. The pencil can convey but a faint idea of its beauty. One scroll alone, of
acanthus leaves, with groups of children and panthers intertwined, might form a work of itself. Even
independently of the beauty of the sculpture, and its excellent preservation, we are lost in wonder at
the size of the stones, and at the nature of the machinery by which such masses were raised. Earthquakes
have shaken this extraordinary remnant; but from the magnitude of the blocks which form the lintel,
the central one, being wedge-shaped, has slipped only so far as to break away a portion of the blocks
on either side, and thus remain suspended.
" But its effect is injured by a wall which crosses the Eastern Portico, and within a few feet of
the doorway, so that the spectator is forced to look at it almost directly upwards. An eagle, with
expanded wings, hovers in the centre of the lintel, bearing festoons of fruit and flowers. The fair
proportions of this extraordinary work are injured below still more than above, by being buried ten or
twelve feet in the ground, so that it necessarily looks stunted." Yet the whole performance, shattered,
shortened, and hidden as it is, excites the highest admiration that can be given to a work of genius
and beauty.1
The Artist proposes the question, whether the Eagle may not be rather the Egyptian emblem of
sanctity than the Roman of empire, from the similitude of its position to that of the " Sacred Vulture,"
invariably placed on the lintels of the Egyptian temples. In this idea he nearly coincides with M. Volney,
who remarks, that the tuft upon its head proves that it is not the Roman Eagle. The same bird, too,
is found on the Temple of Palmyra, and is, therefore, an Oriental Eagle, consecrated to the Sun, which
was the divinity of both temples.
On the northern side of the portal is sculptured a winged form, hovering over head, and extending
its wings two-thirds of the breadth of the gate; and on each side of the central Eagle is also sculptured
a youth, or Genius, on the wing. The Eagle carries in its pounces a caduceus, and in its beak the
strings coming from the end of the two festoons, whose other ends are supported by the two youths,
or Genii.2
The breadth of this incomparable entrance is twenty-two feet; the height can be ascertained only
when its bases shall be cleared from the accumulation of ruins and earth. The measure of the Temple
within is forty yards long by twenty broad. Round the interior are two rows of pilasters. Between
the pilasters are niches, which seem to have been designed for the reception of statues. There are
eight pilasters in a row, and seven niches, exclusive of those of the Adytum.
About eight yards from the upper end of the Temple, stood, until recently, two fine channelled
pillars, which seem to have formed a partition, and to have supported a canopy over the head of the
great Idol, whose place was probably in a large niche at the end. On those portions of the partition
which remain are carvings in relievo of Neptune, tritons, fishes, sea-gods, Arion and his dolphin, and
other marine figures. The covering of the whole fabric is broken down. " But this I must say " (it is
Maundrell, one of the most exact of travellers, who speaks), " that it strikes the mind with an air of
grandeur beyond anything that I ever saw before, and is an eminent proof of the magnificence of the
ancient architecture. About fifty yards distance from the Temple is a row of Corinthian pillars, very
great and lofty, with a most stately architrave and lintel at top. This speaks itself to have been part
of some very august pile."
Roberts's Journal. c Pococke conceives them to be Zephyrs, or emblems of the Atmosphere, as the Eagle was of the Sun.