Hajar el Hibla
the stone of the pregnant woman

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Hajar el Hibla, the Stone of the Pregnant Woman

There is a huge cut Stone in Lebanon near Baalbek,  in the fertile Beka'a  which is truly magickal. 

It may be one of oldest surviving  ceremonial astronomical instruments in the world. 

It is truly huge: it is the largest cut stone in the world, 16'  x  14' x  67' and weighs over 1000 tons. 

The Beka'a  (Beqa'a) valley lies between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges and is irrigated by the headwaters of the rivers Leontes and Orontes.  (Lîþânî and Asi.)

This was a in a land of plenty and a natural place of settlement for the groupings of man. It was the land of the Sun with water. The power and the fecundity enabled them to thrive. 

When Gertrude Bell visited in June 1900 she described "the  valleys, near the streams, ... lined with the deepest thickest vegetation, poplars vines and corn and every sort of fruit tree; the villages well built, clean, prosperous..."

The earliest god  I have found associated with Baalbek  is  the Syrian Baal-Hadad (Lord Hadad) after whom the city of Baalbek was named.  

It was believed that Baal interceded with EL the god of the sun who rose each morning to warm the land.  Baal-Hadad was the Syrian god of Thunder Tempest and Torrential rains which of course fed the rivers. 

The land  of the Beka'a had/has magical properties. It watered itself.  The two rivers which start here  sort of soak into the ground naturally watering the land giving it fertility.

The Greeks replaced Baal-Hadad  and El with Zeus and Helios and renamed Baal-bek Heliopolis.

Other myth tells us that Adam's son Cane lost it here in  year 133 of the creation,  and built  Baalbek  during a fit of raving madness

In the lack of reliable history or archeology all we can do is examine what we see in the context of known belief.

Canaanite myth/religion is of death and resurrection. 

The remains of  the Roman sanctuary of Jupiter Heliopolitan are just up the hill built on foundations of earlier times. No one really knows how early. There is no real history from these times only myth and countermyth. 

 

Baalbek
The name,  Baalbek records the town's association with the worship of Baal, a local sun deity whom the ancient Greeks identified with their sun god, Helios.

The Greeks and Romans called the town Heliopolis, "City of the Sun." 

Once a splendid city, it is famous now for the imposing ruins of ancient temples

Links and select Bibliography

Courtesy:  www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/photos/A_358.htm "Phonecian block in the quarry [Hajar el Hibla  "The Stone of the Pregnant Woman"  or the Stone of the South. European woman on horseback, probably Gertrude Bell]" www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/letters/l435.htm   "Baalbek. Sun. June 3.[1900]..  The valleys, near the streams, are lined with the deepest thickest vegetation, poplars vines and corn and every sort of fruit tree; the villages well built, clean, prosperous -Gertrude Bell Letters www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/letters/l436.htm  "Mon 4. ..at 9,  or so, we started off with a guide...We rode up first to the quarries, the Phoenician quarries, where some of the great blocks for the Temple of Baal are still lying, all hewn and ready and never used."  Gertrude Bell Letters All around Hajar el Hibla are ancient burial places adding to the interpretation as a place of death and revival.

Please click on images to enlarge

 

courtesy Christopher Willet. www.pierce.ctc.edu/faculty/cwillett/ The solstice sun sets on the pillars of  what is generally known as the Roman temple of  Bacchus.  It is  now believed that this temple was dedicated to Venus who was the Roman replacement for Astarte.

 

courtesy Christopher Willet. The last remaining pillars of the Roman temple of Jupiter

courtesy Christopher Willet. The solstice sun sets on the pillars of  what is generally known as the Roman temple of  Bacchus.  It is  now believed that this temple was dedicated to Venus who was the Roman replacement for Astarte.

 

At dawn on at the winter Solstice with snow on the ground the sun rises from behind the Anti Lebanon mountains which are also snow clad.

The sun shone and the winters were cold with snow.

There is a huge investment of man effort in this block of stone. It is an icon.  An icon was needed to bring the sun back. 

 In the Greek era BC Baalbek was renamed  Heliopolis. 

The Hibla Stone is aligned to be the pathway for the suns return to warm the water and the earth. And then the grain grows. 

courtesy Christopher Willet. This wonderful photo was taken late in the afternoon of by Christopher Willett  who visited Baalbek on 22 December 2003. The setting sun is shining on the Anti Lebanon mountains in the background. It is not yet warm enough to melt the snow and bring growth back to the land.  It is particularly interesting to me that Chris visited at the Solstice, or the shortest day when the sun is lowest and the day shortest.

Courtesy: Ancient/ Historical Sites http://www.lgic.org/en/photos2_baalbek.php  Hajar el Hibla is orientated towards the rising solstice sun. It would be a pathway for the suns return. This photo would have been taken at about midday. This image shows the alignment of the Hibla stone with the hill.

 

The impact of the sun rising over the hill and the stone looking as if it were the pathway for the return of the warmer weather must have been amazing .  To help visualize it I made a wooden model of Hajar el HiblaI can imagine a priest climbing the stone at dawn and asking the sun to come back and warm the land.   The real stone is 14' across so  my little Blue-Tack man must be one of the race of Giants sometimes credited with moving Hajar el Hibla's sibling stones up the hill to where they are now, part of the foundations of the Roman Temple to Jupiter.

19th Century glass lantern slide depicting "Ruins of Babylon".  makers NEWTON 3 Fleet Street Norman Davidson writes  page 56: " At an early stage the Babylonians measured their days from sunset to sunset, divided into twelve periods each called a 'beru' and lasting about two hours. Later they divided the period from sunset to sunrise into twelve equal parts." In the summer daylight hours were longer than daylight hours in winter.  It is hard to believe the complexity of astronomical knowledge recorded in ancient times. But then the very survival of the people depended on this knowledge

Hajar el Hibla “the stone of the pregnant woman” is the largest cut stone in the world.  

 I think the “pregnant woman”  is Mother Earth?  Hajar el Hibla may be not fully birthed child of the world? I have become convinced that Hajar el Hibla is also one of the oldest  ceremonial astronomical instruments in the world.  

I was inspired to look at Hibla in this way by childhood visits to Newgrange in the Boyne Valley  in Ireland. See: 

 Hibla is orientated towards the eastern sky. At about 8:30 to 9 in the morning the sun is aligned with the stone. Both sides are illuminated. This form of illumination will only last a few minutes each day and be at the same time. At all other times one or other side will be in shade. With such a stone you have the ability to recognize a cycle in the sky. It is a fixed plane and it is orientated to enable you to see the ecliptic as it entered your horizon.

 The upper surface is angled so the sun of the winter solstice just shines along it as it rises over the hill which is now called Sheikh Abdallah. 

The stone would be a path to and from the sun as it rises in the eastern sky at the winter solstice. Baalbek can be very cold with snow upon the ground. 

The Romans Built their temple of Mercury , messenger of the sun on top of the hill. Perhaps the return of the sun would be signaled to those waiting below.

Ragette tells us  page 63 of " a monumental flight of stairs cut out of the rock of the hill, 10 to 12 m (33'- 39') wide. Fragments found in the vicinity included parts of engaged half columns and brief inscriptions referring to Mercury, but the clues to the identification of the temple are coins struck by Philip the Arab, which show stately pseudo-peripteros on a mountain with a distinct stairway leading up to it. Included in it is a caduceus insignia of Mercury. "

I can almost see the people as they gathered in the snow. The tell (settlement headquarters) is up the hill about 1/2 mile and when they had completed their ritual here at the stone perhaps  they would proceed there. 

This was the stone which was not born and never should be. It was and is a monument in its own right for any who have the eyes to look and see.

Courtesy:  (Friedrich Ragette, Baalbek, p114) This photo was taken mid morning. The shadows of the two figures are still long showing that it is also early in the year.

 

It is aptly named Hajar el Hibla: The stone of the pregnant woman. Is the "pregnant woman mother earth?

Hibla has three  siblings which are almost  almost as big which are the foundation on which the Romans built their largest temple to Jupiter.  It is a mystery how these huge stones were moved.

Perhaps the other stones were floated up the hill on rafts when the land was flooded!

 From the pictures I have seen, there are several generations of man activity in the surrounding stones. The Roman temple is buillt on the foundations of a far earlier building. 

"The Romans did it", the official story has lack of look. I see nothing that would destabilize my life.

I have tried to explore the way the sun rises on Hajar el Hibla  using a model wooden model of the Hajar el Hibla. 

At the winter Solstice, a person standing at the top of  Hajar el Hibla will have either a shadow which is all along the stone or the upper surface is totally in shade and the shadow of the person at the top of the stone will be at the ground beneath. 

I have calculated the suns position using The Electric Astrolabe a fully animated planetarium program in the form of a planispheric astrolabe.

see: www.astrolabes.org/electric.htm 

courtesy Bonfils, ca. 1870. Bonfils was a French photographer working in Lebanon who created an important  visual record . This images shows part of the Baalbek Trilithon.. The Trilithon is a series of  three massive stones which are almost as big as Hajar el Hibla. They were moved up the hill in pre history and no one can say how! The Romans built their temple to Jupiter on this earlier foundation.

 I have no doubt that the solstice could be recognized by looking at how the sun lit the stone in the morning. 

Ritual would be used to emphasize the event. Perhaps the priests and or priestesses clamed the credit for the suns return.

 The Hibla stone is truly huge.  It is 16’ by 16’ by 67’.  Hajar el Hibla has three sibling stones, which are almost as big, called the Trilithon, which are part of the foundations of the largest temple the Romans ever built. The official story that Hagar el Hibla is merely a building block left behind in the quarry by the Romans, when they built their temple complex, is in my view ridiculous. 

The Hibla stone is in the Beqa’a valley near Baalbek just south of the largest temple complex the Romans ever built.  It is sometimes called Hajar el Gouble, stone of the south. 

courtesy Christopher Willet. This piece of the cornice of the Temple of Jupiter which lies on the ground beneath where the Romans placed it. The Lions head reminding us of the summer constellation of Leo. The Sun would have risen in Leo from 22 July approximately. The lion head is flanked by deeply carved palettes.   He rests his head on  on a twisted bar. The whole cornice was the rain water gutter. Rather than using down pipes as we do today  the water poured dramatically from the lions mouth.

Baalbek is at the roof of the world where two rivers , the Lîþânî and Asi rivers. meet. 
The place evokes obvious symbolism. Water and earth with sun are the substance of life and fertility.  

This was an ideal place of for human occupation. The rivers naturally irrigate the valley. There is known evidence that there was human occupation over 6000 years ago.  The climate is bracing with cold winters including snow and warm summers. 

Baalbek is a place of obliterated history.  At one time it ranked as one of the biggest Roman cities in Syria. The myths have been rewritten by the Greeks, the Romans, the Christians and the Arabs.  There is little archaeological evidence to explain the origin of the site.  There has been little excavation. However, there is definite evidence of human life back in the Early Bronze age (2900-2300 B.C) (Friedrich Ragette, Baalbek, p16) This was found under the Great Court of the Roman Temple of Jupiter.

  

 

Courtesy: tracyanddale.50megs.com/baalbeck /stone.html "On the way to the temple complex, one can stop at the Hajar El-Hubla, claimed by many (especially here in Baalbeck) to be the largest hewn block of stone in the world. It still rests here in this quarry which the was source of much of the stone for the temples. It is 21.3 meters of crystalline limestone. It certainly rivals the obelisk of Hatshepsut at Karnak Egypt in size. Its scale also raises the same question that confronts Egyptologists in respect to the Pyramids: how did the Phoenicians transport these huge stones? Nobody seems to know for certain. There is also a legend associated with the stone. It seems an infertile woman spent the night on the stone and woke to discover the next day that she was with child. Since that time locals refer to it as "the stone of the Pregnant Woman." www.tracyanddale.50megs.com/baalbeck /baalbeck1.html  Tracy and Dale have a wealth of pictures on their site, including panoramic views of the Roman and Arab ruins. See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/

Tracy and Dale's picture of Hajar el Hibla with projection lines:  It would appear that the photograph was taken in the early morning The light pattern is very similar to the Gertrude Bell picture indicating that the photo was also taken early in the morning. The scene has changed quite a lot since the visit by Bell in 1900.  The domed roof of a mosque can be  in the mid ground,

 

 

 

The Greek history (and written history) in the Baalbek only begins in the 4^th Century BC. They renamed Baalbek, Heliopolis – City of the Sun. This is believed to have been in the Seleucid period (after 198 BC). To differentiate this Heliopolis from Heliopolis in Lower Egypt, writers used to refer to it as Heliopolis in Phoenicia or Lebanon

The Roman temple complex was built upon an earlier foundation.  (Ragette records a bronze age tell beneath the temple to Jupiter) There is no written history so we are left with only the evidence of our eyes. The date of  the foundations is at best guesswork. 

There are modern tests which could be done, like examining the crystallization of the stone surfaces, so long as no one has restored and cleaned them up first!

 

Courtesy Bonfils, ca. 1870. Courtesy: http://www.biblemysteries.com/library/baalbek.htm I think this  is one of the oldest pictures of the Hajar El Hibla and that it was taken at the end of the 19th century was taken at the end of the 19th Century by Bonfils.

 

 

Hajar el Hibla has three sibling stones which are almost as big. They are part of the visible foundation of the Roman temple to Jupiter. They are called the Trilithon. No one has given convincing evidence as to how these incredibly large and heavy stones were moved from the quarry. I find Ragette’s belief that it was the Romans wholly unpersuasive and accept the holes put in Ragette’s thesis by Andrew Collins.

Andrew Collins, has published a two part essay on the web in which he rejects the argument that the Romans were responsible for Baalbek. He examines the myths and refers to folklore accounts from both Egypt and Palestine where “there are tantalizing accounts of how sound, used in association with `magic words', was able to lift and move large stone blocks and statues, or open huge stone doors.” He speculates that “Baalbek's first `city' was constructed, not just as a religious centre, but also as an impenetrable fortress against attacks by whatever we see as constituting the gigantes and Titans of mythology?”

Courtesy Bonfils, ca. 1870. See also further great pictures of the Baalbek stones

 

My wooden model of  Hajar el Hibla aligned with the rising sun at the winter solstice. As I am in London Latitude 51 32 N  and Baalbek  is at 34 N the sun in my sky was much lower. The upper side of the stone is in total darkness

 

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I don’t think it’s possible to separate myth from science from fact. They all help to discern the true facts. Once we reject the official view that it was the Romans who moved  Hajar el Hibla’s sibling stones up the hill to where they are now the foundation of the largest temple to Jupiter they had ever built, we are in “don’t know territory”.  It is all guesswork. We do not know the technology; we do not know the when, or the who, and we do not know the why. It is all speculation. The confidence with which Ragette credits the Romans for moving the Trilithon is scary and misleading.

My wooden model of  Hajar el Hibla aligned with the rising sun at the winter solstice. As I am in London Latitude 51 32 N  and Baalbek  is at 34 N the sun in my sky was much lower. The upper side of the stone is in total darkness. The block totally eclipses the rising sun.

 

 

Michael Alouf, who was the curator of the runes History of Baalbek  writes:

“Baalbek is considered as one of the most ancient cities of the world. All nations, particularly the Arabs who took possession of it suppose that it dates from time immemorial. According to their legends Adam and the Patriarchs inhabited the country round Baalbek…” Alouf goes on to report a Maronite tradition: “the fortress of Baalbek on Mt Lebanon is the most ancient building in the world. Cain, the son of Adam built it in the year 133 of the creation, during a fit of raving madness. He gave it the name of his son Enoch and peopled it with giants who were punished for their iniquities by the flood.” 

Man has little surviving written history. What we have tells little of the story as to how we have got to here. Most of the story is speculation not fact. 

When bits are written down there are sometimes references to planet knowledge and seasons which could not exist if the authors did not have access to a lot more than we are reading. 

The inhabitants of Baalbek were without doubt successful farmers.

The buildings they built leave a record of the knowledge which is as clear as writing. And Hajar el Hibla is a building.  

No one in modern times seems to have realized that Hajar el Hibla needed to be interpreted. 

The archeologists’ attention was always diverted by the surviving Roman structures with their decoration rather than this simple icon of the understanding of time. 

The sun is asked to return and warm the frozen land.

My wooden model of  Hajar el Hibla aligned with the rising sun at the winter solstice. As I am in London Latitude 51 32 N  and Baalbek  is at 34 N the sun in my sky was much lower. The upper side of the stone is no longer total darkness.  The shadow of the crawling figure is the full length of the stone. 

To get this image I tilted the stone so as to align with the sun .  I wanted to imagine the impact on people watching the dawn. 

My wooden model of  Hajar el Hibla aligned with the midday sun at the winter solstice. As I am in London Latitude 51 32 N  and Baalbek  is at 34 N the sun in my sky was much lower. The upper side of the stone is no longer total darkness.

Also in Baalbek we are not in a land of freedom of speech. We are in a place which to survive obliterates history. So do most places (even now!). 

Ragnett records the charter issued by Abu Obaida in A.D 637. The inhabitants were offered three possibilities: leave, adopt Islam. Or pay a special tax. Before them The Christians had destroyed much.

My wooden model of  Hajar el Hibla aligned with the Midday sun at the winter solstice. As I am in London Latitude 51 32 N  and Baalbek  is at 34 N the sun in my sky was much lower. The upper side of the stone is  total darkness.My wooden model of  Hajar el Hibla aligned with the Midday sun at the winter solstice. As I am in London Latitude 51 32 N  and Baalbek  is at 34 N the sun in my sky was much lower.

 

 

The Catholic Encyclopedia 

Puts the Christian history thus, with no sign of regret: 

“The introduction of Christianity into Baalbek is obscure. In the life of St. Eudocia, there is mention of one Theodotus, Bishop of Heliopolis, in the reign (117-138) of Hadrian. (Acta SS., 1 March, 8f.) The account is of doubtful historical value and when Constantine forbade the licentious pagan practices, there were no Christians there. Constantine, however, erected a church or perhaps simply transformed one of the temples into a Christian basilica, which he entrusted to a bishop with priests and deacons (Eusebius, Life of Const., III, lviii). During the reign of Julian (361-363) the Christians were severely persecuted (Sozomen, History, V, x). Paganism disappeared from Baalbek only after Theodosius (379-395) had destroyed the idols and probably the Great Temple."

This is an abuse of others beliefs and their expression in art.

How can we be surprised that there is no written history. There are even periods when we would expect official record when there was none.

Has this amazing stone survived by being "just a building block.

My wooden model of  Hajar el Hibla aligned with  with my desk lamp  My Blu-tak man is way too big!

 

 

My wooden model of  Hajar el Hibla aligned with  with my desk lamp  My Blu-tack man is way too big! My wooden model of  Hajar el Hibla aligned with  with my desk lamp:  my Blu-tack man is way too big! The Electric Astrolabe is running on my computer.

 

Hajar el Hibla is an Astro Temple

Ancient agrarian communities, or in plain language “people who husbanded there animals and grew their crops”, farmers,  needed to recognize the seasonal changes that followed the sun cycle. A simple calendar just using the very visible cycles of the moon and having twelve lunar months in a year will not work for long. It does divide time in humanly recognizable periods. The phases of the moon may be important for plant growth, but the length of day which is controlled by the sun, certainly is. Some plants will only flower when the days are less than 12 hours or we have past the summer equinox. 

Hibla would have given a reference point for the moon too. It is an unmoving plain to which to refer the movement of the heavens

It is a sort of fixed telescope.

SOME BOOKS

Alouf Michael M.,   History of Baalbek ,  First published in 1890, This edition 1999 The Book Tree Escondido. CA.  ISBN 1585090638

Davidson, Norman.  Astronomy and the Imagination, a new approach to mans experience of the stars ,  Routledge & Keegan Paul  Ltd, London . ISBN  710203713, ISBN  710201179, ISBN  14019078-3

O'Kelly, Michael J, and Claire O'Kelly, Newgrange - Archaeology, Art and Legend  , Thames & Hudson London, 1982. ISBN 500390150

Ragette Friedrich, Baalbek,  Chatto & Windus, London,  1980,  ISBN 701121467.

WEBOGRAPHY

CURRENT THEORIES ON OUR FORGOTTEN PAST http://www.geocities.com/seqenenretaoii/theories.html
 This website revolves around the search for a lost race that left their fingerprints all across the world and includes a section on Baalbek. 

Mystic Places
http://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_5.htm 

Jonathan Gray
http://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_5b1.htm  Alan F. Alford writes in depth on The Mystery of the Stones at Baalbek . He offers some modern photographs taken when he visited in May 1995.

W.T. Wallington, a retired carpenter with  35 years experience in construction in his  The Forgotten Technology official website http://www.theforgottentechnology.com/ speculates on how to move heavy stones. He makes it look so easy! The Hibla stone is bigger but some of the demonstrated stone moves are impressive.

Gordon Pipes records how he moves heavy stones with leavers and refutes the traditional archeologists' explanation of ramps and huge manpower. He moves a block weighing much less than the Hadjar el Hibla. 

http://www.stonehengetheanswer.com/  I found the attempt to get under the skin of ancient building techniques enthralling. 

Daniel Da Cruz  tells the story of Baalbek's traumatic history
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/196702/phoenix.of.the.plain.htm 

The Lebanese Ministry of tourism  have published many pictures of Baalbek the links are below.

http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/196702/phoenix.of.the.plain.htm 

http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/asia/baalbek.shtm
Personal travel impressions in text and pictures from Baalbek, Lebanon. Click on the pictures to enlarge, send as a free e-card, or download for personal use.

http://www.shoofimafi.com/2004_pics-beq.cfm?RequestTimeout=500 

http://www.fiu.edu/~rquin001/lebanon2.html 

http://members.tripod.com/hew_frank/id27.htm 

http://www.araboo.com/ a wealth of information about the Arab world: Araboo.com is a premier Arab World directory, with categorized links to Arabic sites, updates, resources and more.

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/baalbek.htm 

http://www.pacal.de/baalbek.htm 

http://www.beiruttimes.com/photos/ 

http://earth.leeds.ac.uk/leb/sites/baalbek.htm 

http://www.myphotographs.net/lebanon/image1.html 

http://www.myphotographs.net/lebanon/lebanon.html 

http://www.myphotographs.net/lebanon/image2.html 

http://www.sacredsites.com/middle_east/lebanon/baalbek.htm 

http://www.ceticismoaberto.com/fortianismo/jgarrido_baalbek.htm 

http://www.yanabi.com/activeweb.cfm?a_id=718 

http://www.bearfabrique.org/Catastrophism/Baalbek/Baalbek.html 

http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/lebanon/baalbek/baalbek.html 

http://www.opuslibani.org.lb/photolebanon/fbaalbek.htm 

http://www.poutnik.cz/asie/libanon/mistopis/zs-baalbek/ 

http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/Baalbek.html 

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2000/468/re1.htm 

http://www.phil.uni-erlangen.de/~p1altar/photo_html/topographie/syrien/baalbek/balbek6.html 

http://www.wyattnewsletters.com/babel/sum35.htm 

http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/94963.html 

http://www.unesco.no/kultur/verdensarven/kriterier.html 

http://intercosmos.iespana.es/reportajes/ciencia/baalbek.htm 

http://photos.eisenbach.at/voyages/lebanon/7.htm 

http://www.baalbek.org/Column%20With%20Contents.htm 

http://www.onhiatus.com/journal/journal.cgi/670-685F.html 

http://www.conspiracynewsnet.com/shadow.html 

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/terres.bibliques/liban_tb/baalbek/baalbek.htm 

http://www.erkareisen.de/libanon01.html 

http://www.cedarseed.com/water/antiquity.html 

http://www.tu-cottbus.de/BTU/Fak2/Vermwes/ map

http://www.upf.edu/materials/fhuma/portal_geos/tag/t2/img/2.18baalbek.JPG 

http://www.cs.utk.edu/~langston/Pix/Lebanon-Pix/bekaa-valley/tn/temple-of-jupiter.jpg.html 

http://www.syjoho.nl/photo_albums/200206/  http://www.syjoho.nl/photo_albums/200206/images/02%20Baalbek23%20(Lebanon)_jpg.jpg 

http://www.biblelandstudios.com/nuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=60

http://www.zenobia-studienreisen.de/B_13__Tag_Baalbek.113.0.html 

http://www.shechem.org/machon/schwarz/palestine/lebanon.html 

http://www.stefaniemoehrle.de/Libanon/Libanon.htm 

http://www.dm.net.lb/freeguide/tour/tour1.htm 

http://www.tufs.ac.jp/common/fs/asw/ara/senkou.html 

http://www.pbase.com/little_sis/image/19903571 

http://tabisite.com/gallery_as/lebanon.html 

http://homepage.mac.com/drysdale/Pages/Mount_Lebanon.html 

http://www.discoverlebanon.com/photo_gallery.php?photoid=125  picture of hibla

http://library.wustl.edu/units/spec/archives/guides/bysubject_stlouis/sturgis-link-photos/box120rmembaalek.jpg 

http://www.aaronfollett.com/archives/2005/05/ includes drawing of Ottoman Fortification, Baalbek, Lebanon 

http://www.satellitediscoveries.com/articles/greatest/secret.html

http://geo.ya.com/travelimages/lebanon.html 

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Admins/DMVRC/lanterns/lrgimage/lebanon/LX000239.html  
Temple of Bacchus, Detail of doorway, with keystone raised photo pre 1914: original Bryn Mawr number: 193; new number: 239

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Admins/DMVRC/lanterns/lrgimage/lebanon/LX000858.html 

http://www.si.umich.edu/chico/kelsey/KS_9/KS_95.6.html  Date: January 14, 1920  
Photographer: George R. Swain Caption: A typical small Arab village. Baalbek to Damascus 

http://www.si.umich.edu/chico/kelsey/baalbek.html Francis W. Kelsey and the Near East Expedition of 1919-192Images of Baalbek, Syria

http://www.speleogenesis.info/archive/publication.php?Type=publication&PubID=3269 

http://www.cdr.gov.lb/sdatl/4/Figure_IV_13_L_agglom_ration_de_Baalbek_enjeux_de.htm  
map: Figure IV.13. L’agglomération de Baalbek, enjeux de développement de la zone urbaine.

http://www.dainst.org/index_586_de.html  Deutsches Archäologisches Institut one of the finds described as: Gewandbesatz aus Blattgold: Garb trimming from gold foil: The image   looks like a cross between Heliopolitan Jupiter / baal-Sun and the Roman lion that was used in the capitol decoration of the temple.

http://www.dainst.org/index_2951_de.html 

http://herve.jezequel1.free.fr/piruinorient.html 

http://www.kahlil.org/lebanonpics2.html Photographs of the Lebanese Scenery

 http://intercosmos.iespana.es/reportajes/ciencia/baalbek.htm  
Erich von Daeniken  RECUERDOS DEL FUTURO

http://herve.jezequel1.free.fr/piruinorient.html 

http://www.southcoast.net/gregb/baalbek.html 

http://www.um.u-tokyo.ac.jp/publish_db/Bulletin/no01/no01004.html  
object was the discovery of cave sites:These were areas as the northern part of Bekka Valley, main ridge of the Lebanon Mountains.

http://www.ancientx.com/nm/anmviewer.asp?a=35&z=1  
early morning photo of hibla!

http://durigon.alien.de/baal.htm  
Horst und Anke Dunkel  give a clear history of the ancient ruins , Die Tempel von Baalbek:"Wohnsitz der Götter"

http://www.medinaarts.com/JHLCat08.htm  (View the lithographs of Baalbec.)

http://www.katolik.nu/libanon/libanon_40002.htm  several pictures of Hibla.

http://aboulhiss.tripod.com/id21.htm  
My country Lebanon.

http://www.marsanomalyresearch.com/evidence-reports/2005/088/part-2/strange-colossi-2.htm 

climbing to the sun

Stone of the pregnant woman 
(Nasser Noueihed; 582216620678; 8)

http://almashriq.hiof.no/ddc/projects/mot/
photobase/images/MT18/JPEG0278.JPG 

 

DAVID ROBERTS Tinted lithographs from the quarto edition of his famous work
"The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia", published in London by Day & Son, 1855-56.

Baalbek Ruins  by Francis Frith

courtesy Christopher Willet.

My shadow cast by the setting sun on the grass of  London Fields at the solstice  this year.