A place that still echoes with the steps of a history gone by, but still is.
Categories
Xanten~ a Photographic Visit
Tag: roman
Categories
It’s a New Time~
As the door closes shut on one year and opens to a brand new one, we get the urge to make changes, to have a clean slate and to resolve ourselves to a set of higher standards. It is as though every time, a new permission is issued to become a better human and to raise ourselves to a finer level of human development. Like the rings inside a tree trunk, every time we make a full cycle around the sun, we get this sense of renewal.
What are your resolutions for 2016? Are they real or forced? Conventional or brand new?
Mystery and history are around every corner in Lebanon. It is really astounding to think about how many pieces of the human puzzle are contained in that tiny country. One of the most impressive historical sites is what my niece used to call as small child ‘the broken house’ 🙂
Baalbek, Baalbak, ancient Heliopolis, are names attributed to one of Lebanon’s greatest Roman treasures, and one of the ancient wonders of the world. Baalbek is on of the largest sanctuaries that stood as evidence to the great wealth and power of the Roman Empire at the time. The hill that the monumental remains stand on is known to have been settled for over 9000 years. After the time of Alexander the great, the sanctuary was named Heliopolis (city of the sun), and in its Jupiter temple, Trajan the Roman emperor consulted the oracle wether he would come back alive after his war against the Parthians.The god answered him with a vine shoot cut into pieces…
The complex contains the remains of the temple of Jupiter, Venus, and Bacchus. On a nearby hill is a 4th temple dedicated to Mercury. Other minor structures were added by Nero and Trajan.
As a world heritage site, today Baalbak hosts every year a great arts and music festival.
