Baalbek — An Ancient Megalith
A megalith is a large stone used to construct a structure or monument, alone or together with other stones. Pyramids and other ancient megalithic sites around the world have intrigued archeologists, historians, and engineers alike. Such structures are a strong indication of ancient technological achievement by advanced intelligence.
The fact that stones weighing hundred tons had been cut precisely with laser precision, hauled great distances, and sometimes positioned hundreds of feet above the ground seems impossible, even with today’s technology. And no satisfying answers to these enigmas have been provided by mainstream science. It is something that we cannot dismiss and must pursue.
Baalbek in Lebanon
One such megalith that has left researchers utterly mystified can be found in Lebanon. The temple of Baalbek lies 50 miles northeast of the Lebanese capital of Beirut. It was the greatest temple complex ever constructed in the Roman Empire. And it was dedicated to Jupiter, Venus, and Bacchus until the arrival of Emperor Constantine (307–337AD), and his conversion to Christianity marked the site’s slow decline.
In Roman times, the city was known as Heliopolis, The City of the Sun. The temple complex is situated in the fertile Beqaa Valley, but historians have long wondered why the largest Roman temple ever built, was built there.
According to German archaeologists, the Beqaa Valley is a fertile plain that many civilizations have conquered over the centuries, and the region has been continually populated for at least 9000 years.
There was clearly some attraction to Baalbek, and the answer seems to be that the area had long been considered sacred. The guidebooks tell us that the entire temple complex was built by the Romans who arrived in 65 BC, yet more and more evidence is coming to light revealing that parts of the temple are much older. The Romans were only the latest in a long line of powers that incorporated it into their heritage.
The Acropolis of the temple at Baalbek is much bigger than the Acropolis in Athens. The massive and elegant Roman podium was built with some of the largest stone blocks ever cut. The architrave and frieze blocks of the temple weigh up to 60 tons each. One corner block weighs more than 100 tons. And all of them were raised to more than 60 feet above the ground.
Mainstream archaeologists argue that raising such heavy blocks was done using cranes. But Roman cranes were not capable of lifting such weights. So, mainstream archaeologists suggest that combining multiple cranes may have allowed the builders to lift these stones. In truth, this is speculation. But what is certain is that these huge temple stones pale compared to the megaliths they were built upon.
The platform — upon which the Roman temple complex is situated — is one of the most significant anomalies of the ancient world. The Romans could not craft stone in the size and style found in the temple’s platform. This means that the Romans built their temple upon an older foundation of crafted stones of unknown origin.
So why did the Romans build their temple atop this pre-existing platform? Many conquering empires, including Romans, frequently built their temples on the foundations of existing sacred sites. The Romans probably did precisely this at Baalbek. They built upon an existing monument of enormous stones already in place, realizing this platform would offer a better chance for their temple to remain intact.
The platform beneath the temple consists of about 24 megaliths at their lowest level, each weighing 300 tons. There is a trilithon (grouping of three megaliths, two verticals with a horizontal lintel atop them) in the west wall of the platform. This is known as the “Marvel of the Three Stones.” Each of the two vertical stones is more than 68 feet high, 14 feet wide, and 14 feet thick. Each stone weighs more than 800 tons.
Looking at the western wall, it is evident that the building techniques changed dramatically. There are much smaller blocks on top of the large stones. And the Trilithon stones also have different weathering patterns on them. A fourth stone, 80 feet long and weighing more than 1,200 tons, lies abandoned in a nearby quarry.
These platform stones at Baalbek are the largest worked stones yet discovered on Earth. Despite their immense size, these stones are so accurately placed in position and carefully joined that it is almost impossible to insert a piece of paper between them. And, as in so many other ancient sites around the world, these megaliths are precisely cut and were somehow transported from a quarry located several miles from the temple complex.
With the building techniques that mainstream science has accredited to the platform’s creators, it would take 40,000 men to move a single block! This is logistically impossible, as a 68-foot-long block does not offer sufficient handholds and spaces for 40,000 men to put their hands on it.
So clearly, some form of technology was used in moving these stones. Not only were the stones hauled from the quarry to the platform, but they were also tilted and lifted carefully and precisely into place.
The engineers and builders of the Baalbek platform possessed a technology that surpassed modern capabilities. Even with today’s technology, the excavation, movement, and installation of these huge blocks with such precision and accuracy would be an enormous challenge — if not impossible.
Once again, it does not require much of an open mind to accept that the placement of the foundation stones at Baalbek was not the work of primitive humans. A higher intelligence was involved.
Baalbek presents some of the best evidence from the ancient world to demonstrate that someone in the Beqaa valley was much more advanced than anyone else and constructed a stone platform far beyond the technology and capabilities of the Roman Empire — and built it in an earlier time.
The answer to the question of who built the large foundation blocks remains a mystery. Despite what mainstream science may claim, it is unknown how these megaliths were originally quarried, moved, and fitted. And no one knows why the pre-Roman platform was designed in such a complex way or for what purpose.
Interestingly, in 1959, the Russian scientist Matest Agrest proposed that Baalbek was used as a launch platform for extraterrestrial spaceships. Indeed, before NASA moved the gigantic Saturn V rocket to its launch pad on a huge, tracked vehicle in 1967, no one had ever transported such massive weight as the ancient stones of Baalbek.
The temple construction at Baalbek is an enigma. Obviously, it was built at an earlier period than the Romans. But we don’t know how or why. Perhaps it is time to look at the origin of Baalbek with a more open mind.
*************
If this article intrigues you, then you might like my series of six self-published books designed to present ‘some of what I know so far’ on a wide range of interesting subjects, including human evolution, spirituality, politics, religion, finance, nature, science, ancient anomalies, the cosmos and so much more.
This article is compiled from chapter 6 of my third book in the series titled: “So, here’s some of what I know so far regarding the Sci-Tech, Anomalies, Human 2.0, and ETs.”
You can find my books on Amazon by searching “books by Stephen Geist.”
Each of the six books has relevance to the other books but reading them in order is unnecessary. Each book can stand alone but reading all six books in the series would be better. Maybe you will awaken to a new state of ‘being,’ as I have — one that is both breathtaking and startling.
Also, if you enjoyed this article, please consider joining Medium and listing me as one of your favorite writers (so you will have access to all my work as well as the work of thousands of other excellent writers).
