DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0513
that we should have had coins indicating the fact. On a coin of Byblos of the time of
Macrinus, there is a picture of a temple without a roof, and a lofty single column rising from
the centre high above the walls.
There are, it seems, no coins extant of. this city under the Antonines, and yet there is
strong evidence in favour of Antoninus Pius (who died a.d. 161) having contributed to the
Acropolis one of its stately temples. It is well known, from ancient records, that this peace-
loving emperor (who, in a.d. 140, rebuilt the rampart from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of
Clyde, in Scotland) and his coadjutor and adopted son, Marcus Aurelius, were munificent
patrons of the cities of Syria. John of Antioch, surnamed Malala, writing in the seventh
century, states positively that Antoninus Pius " built at Heliopolis, in Phoenicia of Lebanon, a
great temple to Jupiter, one of the wonders of the world ; " and he adds, " he also built at
Laodicea of Syria a forum, a great and wonderful piece of architecture, together with a public
bath called Antoninas." This allusion to Laodicea is of great importance, for although no
Ba'albek coins have as yet been found inscribed with the name of Antoninus Pius, there are
coins of Laodicea ad Libanum on which it appears, proving that he was a patron of that city,
and thus giving weight to the words of Malala. The ruins of this once-important place have
lately been identified at Tell Neby Mindhu, about thirty-five miles north of Ba'albek, on the
road to Emesa (Hums).
Dr. Robinson thinks it probable that Antoninus Pius built the Lesser Temple and
dedicated it to Jupiter Baal {Baal Zeus), and restored or rebuilt the Great Temple. They are
evidently works of the same period. He says, " However strange it may appear that no
contemporary writer has alluded to this temple of Antonine, yet the general fact of its erection
by him accords well with various other circumstances. The elaborate and ornate style of the
architecture belongs to a late period. The massive substructions, indeed, were probably those
of an earlier temple which may have been left unfinished or overthrown by earthquakes."
The votive inscriptions, engraved in long slender letters on the pedestals of the portico of
the Great Temple, alluded to on page 466, refer, according to De Saulcy, to the gilding of the
portico pillars at the expense of a citizen of Ba'albek, probably on the occasion of a visit paid
to the temple by the Emperor Caracalla and his mother, the Empress Julia Domna, second
wife of the Emperor Septimus Severus. Severus died at York in a.d. 211. Caracalla and his
brother Geta succeeded him, but Geta was murdered in a.d. 212. The Emperor Caracalla
and his mother, the Empress Julia Domna, journeyed through Egypt and Syria in a.d. 215,
and it is natural to conclude that they then visited Ba'albek and that this is the date of the
votive tablets inscribed with their names in the portico of the Great Temple. This empress
was a native of Syria, and daughter of Bassianus, priest of the temple of the sun at Emesa
(Hums), about fifty miles north of Ba'albek. The fact that a daughter of a Syrian priest of
the sun was chosen as a consort for a Roman emperor, shows how highly Syrian sun-worship
was honoured at that time. Heliogabalus was also a priest of the sun at Emesa, and when he
became emperor he retained the title " Sacerdos Dei Solis."
Macrinus, there is a picture of a temple without a roof, and a lofty single column rising from
the centre high above the walls.
There are, it seems, no coins extant of. this city under the Antonines, and yet there is
strong evidence in favour of Antoninus Pius (who died a.d. 161) having contributed to the
Acropolis one of its stately temples. It is well known, from ancient records, that this peace-
loving emperor (who, in a.d. 140, rebuilt the rampart from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of
Clyde, in Scotland) and his coadjutor and adopted son, Marcus Aurelius, were munificent
patrons of the cities of Syria. John of Antioch, surnamed Malala, writing in the seventh
century, states positively that Antoninus Pius " built at Heliopolis, in Phoenicia of Lebanon, a
great temple to Jupiter, one of the wonders of the world ; " and he adds, " he also built at
Laodicea of Syria a forum, a great and wonderful piece of architecture, together with a public
bath called Antoninas." This allusion to Laodicea is of great importance, for although no
Ba'albek coins have as yet been found inscribed with the name of Antoninus Pius, there are
coins of Laodicea ad Libanum on which it appears, proving that he was a patron of that city,
and thus giving weight to the words of Malala. The ruins of this once-important place have
lately been identified at Tell Neby Mindhu, about thirty-five miles north of Ba'albek, on the
road to Emesa (Hums).
Dr. Robinson thinks it probable that Antoninus Pius built the Lesser Temple and
dedicated it to Jupiter Baal {Baal Zeus), and restored or rebuilt the Great Temple. They are
evidently works of the same period. He says, " However strange it may appear that no
contemporary writer has alluded to this temple of Antonine, yet the general fact of its erection
by him accords well with various other circumstances. The elaborate and ornate style of the
architecture belongs to a late period. The massive substructions, indeed, were probably those
of an earlier temple which may have been left unfinished or overthrown by earthquakes."
The votive inscriptions, engraved in long slender letters on the pedestals of the portico of
the Great Temple, alluded to on page 466, refer, according to De Saulcy, to the gilding of the
portico pillars at the expense of a citizen of Ba'albek, probably on the occasion of a visit paid
to the temple by the Emperor Caracalla and his mother, the Empress Julia Domna, second
wife of the Emperor Septimus Severus. Severus died at York in a.d. 211. Caracalla and his
brother Geta succeeded him, but Geta was murdered in a.d. 212. The Emperor Caracalla
and his mother, the Empress Julia Domna, journeyed through Egypt and Syria in a.d. 215,
and it is natural to conclude that they then visited Ba'albek and that this is the date of the
votive tablets inscribed with their names in the portico of the Great Temple. This empress
was a native of Syria, and daughter of Bassianus, priest of the temple of the sun at Emesa
(Hums), about fifty miles north of Ba'albek. The fact that a daughter of a Syrian priest of
the sun was chosen as a consort for a Roman emperor, shows how highly Syrian sun-worship
was honoured at that time. Heliogabalus was also a priest of the sun at Emesa, and when he
became emperor he retained the title " Sacerdos Dei Solis."