Baalbek monolith is the largest monolith ever!
The mysterious site of Baalbek has revealed a monolithic block measuring 19.60 meters in length and weighing an estimated 1650 tonnes. The reasons behind why this massive stone was abandoned in the quarry and how ancient peoples planned to transport is still unclear.
The megalith known as "Hajjar al-Hibla" was found on the site of Baalbek. It is an enormous block of stone, approximately 20 meters long and with sides of 4 meters left by the builders in the quarry perhaps out of fear that it would have broken during transportation.
In the summer of 2014, the Oriental Department of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut began a new excavation at the megalithic site of Baalbek with the objective of understand which technologies were used to cut the stone and which tools were used for its transport. During the excavations, in the layer lower than that of Hajjar al-Hibla, and next to it, another block of stone was found which considerably exceeds its dimensions: it is long 19.60 meters, 6 meters wide and 5.5 meters deep! It was probably intended for the Temple of Jupiter, which sits on three limestone blocks of similar size at the nearby site of Baalbek.
The weight of the Hajjar al-Hibla megalith is estimated at around 1000 tonnes, while the new block discovered in 2014 weighs around 1650 tonnes. It is therefore the largest known megalith of antiquity! With its 5 thousand years of history, Balbeek presents constructions made with the largest stone blocks ever observed.
The sacredness of the place was recognized by all the peoples of antiquity, so much so that when the Romans conquered the region, they built a temple dedicated to the god Baal-Jupiter, a hybrid between the ancient Canaanite deity of Baal (Lord) and the Roman Jupiter.
The temple was built on a 'tel', i.e. a mound, a sign of a place long considered important, even if it is not known what its sacredness was due to.
The site, in ancient times, was used for purposes that currently remain shrouded in mystery. Furthermore the oldest part of the Baalbek ruins cannot be traced back to any known culture at all. The origins of Baalbek date back to two Canaanite settlements which archaeological excavations beneath the temple of Jupiter have allowed us to date to the Early Bronze Age (2900-2300 BC) and Middle Bronze Age (1900-1600 BC).
The origin of the name is the subject of discussion by archaeologists. The term Baal simply means 'Lord' or 'God', a title used throughout the archaic Middle East. The word Baalbek could mean 'Lord of the Valley', or 'God of the City', depending on different interpretations.
In the Seleucid (323-64 BC) and Roman (64-312 BC) periods, the city was known by the name of Heliopolis, the 'City of the Sun'. With the construction of the temple, Baal-Jupiter became the central deity of the region's cult. Whatever the nature of the pre-Roman cult, the construction of the temple created a hybrid form of veneration of the god Jupiter, generally referred to as Jupiter Heliopolitanus.
Ancient legends state that Baalbek was the birthplace of Baal. Other traditions hold that Baalbek is the site of Baal's first arrival on Earth.
