Baalbek

Important town and agricultural center in Lebanon and the site of the magnificent ruins of a Roman town. First knowledge of Baalbek was the time of the Greek conquest of Syria (332 BC). After the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC), the region fell to the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, under which the town was called Heliopolis, probably after its Egyptian namesake. It achieved importance in late Hellenistic and Roman times, especially as a holy city. Among the ruins are the Temples of Jupiter and Bacchus. In 200 BC, it was taken by the Seleucids' Antiochus the Great and it was a Seleucid possession until the dynasty's fall in 64 BC, when it was again under Roman control. Baalbek has been an Arab city since 637 AD.

A settlement in the Lebanon, which achieved importance in late Hellenistic and Roman times, especially as holy city for the predatory Ituraean tetrarchs, and as religious centre of the Beqa’a region. Often known by its Greek name of Heliopolis (City of the Sun), it shows magnificent ruins of the Roman imperial period, particularly the Temples of Jupiter and Bacchus.