City of ancient Syria, now in Lebanon,
60 km/36 mi NE of Beirut, 1,150
m/3,000 ft above sea level. It was originally
a centre of Baal worship. The Greeks
identified Baal with Helios, the sun, and
renamed Baalbek Heliopolis. Its ruins,
including Roman temples, survive; the Temple
of Bacchus, built in the 2nd century AD, is
still almost intact.