Baalbec

Baalbec (called by the Greeks Heliopolis, city of the sun) was a magnificent city in the valley between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, known in antiquity for its celebrated temple of the sun-god. The city stood at an elevation of approximately 3,800 feet in the Beqaa Valley, roughly fifty miles north of Damascus. Its enormous temple complex, the ruins of which remain among the most impressive in the ancient world, featured temples to Jupiter, Bacchus, and Venus built during the Roman imperial period.

Though not named in the biblical text by this Greek form, Baalbec is believed by many scholars to be the Baal-gad of Joshua or to be associated with the region of Lebanon mentioned in connection with Solomon's building activities. The cedars of Lebanon that supplied Solomon's temple were transported from the forests surrounding this area. The site represents the enduring presence of solar Baal worship in the northern reaches of what the biblical world considered the promised land's outer boundaries.