Athena Review Image Archive ™
Baalbek, Temples of Jupiter and Bacchus (drawing 1757)
Baalbek, Temples of Jupiter and Bacchus (Wood 1757, table 24)
This 1757 drawing of Baalbek by R. Wood, viewed from the south, shows the Temple of Jupiter at left (B) and the Temple of Bacchus at right (A). The huge Temple of Jupiter (95 by 50 meters in area) was built during the Augustan period in the early 1st century AD. Note that Wood's drawing shows a set of 9 columns in the Temple of Jupiter. Within two years, the earthquake of 1759 would topple three of these columns, leaving the group of six seen in early photographs by Frith and others.
The Temple of Bacchus, built in the 2nd century AD, is 74 by 39 meters in area, with a monumental entryway 14 meters high. This temple remains relatively well preserved.
Also indicated in the drawing are fortifications (C) added during the Arab period in the 11th-15th centuries.
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