Baalbek, Lebanon – 2017

The Temple of Bacchus is part of the Baalbek archaeological site, in Beqaa Valley region of Lebanon. The temple complex is considered an outstanding archaeological and artistic site of Imperial Roman Architecture and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. This monument to Bacchus is one of the best preserved and grandest Roman temple ruins; its age is unknown, but its fine ornamentation can be dated to the second century CE.

The temple was probably commissioned by Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius (r. AD 138-161). No information was recorded about the site until a 4th-century Greek conquest, by which point the temple would likely have been closed due to the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire. When the complex fell into disrepair, the Temple of Bacchus was possibly protected by the rubble of the rest of the site’s ruins.

It was not until 1898–1903 that a German expedition excavated two of the large temples and began reconstructions on the site. In 1920, the State of Greater Lebanon was proclaimed and protections and repairs of the site were mandated by the Lebanese government.

In the mid-1970’s the Lebanese civil war broke out and protections of the site ceased as Al-Biqā became a stronghold for Palestinian and Syrian forces. In 1984 the ruins at Baalbek were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Preservation of the site began in the 1990s following the end of the war.

The German Archaeological Institute’s Orient Department has done a number of archaeological excavations and research on The Temple of Bacchus and the entire temple complex.