r THE RUINS O F B A L B E C, OTHERWISE HELIOPOLIS C OE L O S Y R I A. LONDON: PRINTED IN THE YEAR MDCCLVII. JOURNEY FROM PALMYRA to BALBEC. T HE Specimen of our Eaftern Travels, which we have already given the publick in the Ruins of Palmyra, has met with fuch a favour¬ able reception as feems to call for the Sequel. We gratefully accept of the extraordinary indulgence fhewn us upon that occafion as an invitation to proceed, and fhall therefore produce, from the materials which we have been able to colle& in the courfe of our voyage, what ever we think may in any degree promote real knowledge, or fatisfy rational curiofity. Introduction. We confider ourfelves as engaged in the fervice of the Re-publick of Letters, which knows, or ought to know, neither diftin&ion of country, nor feparate ln- terefts. We fhall therefore continue to publilh our Work, not only in Engliflu but alfo in the language of a neighbouring Kingdom, whofe candid judgment of our firft produdtion, under the difadvantage of a hafty and negligent tranflation, deferves at leaft this acknowledgement. Having obferved that defcriptions of ruins, without accurate drawings, fel- dom preferve more of their fubjedt than it’s confulion, we fhall, as in the Ruins of Palmyra, refer our reader almoft entirely to the plates; where his informa¬ tion will be more full and circumftantial, as well as lefs tedious and contufed, than could be conveyed by the happieft precifion of language. _ It (hall alfo, in this, as in the former volume, be our principal care to produce things as we found them, leaving reflexions and reafonings upon them to others. This laft rule we fhall fcrupuloufly obferve in defcribing the Buildings ; where all criticifm on the beauties and faults of the Architefture is left en¬ tirely to the reader. If in this preliminary difcourfe we intermix a few obferva- tions of our own, not fo neceffarily conne&ed with the fubjeft, it is with a view to throw a little variety into a very dry collection of tacts, from which at any rate we can not promile much entertainment. Before we had quite finifhed our bufinefs at Palmyra our Arabian Efcort began Palmyra, to folicit our departure with fome impatience: our fafety in returning was, they laid, much more precarious than in our journey thither; becaufe they had then only accidental dangers to apprehend, whereas they were now to guard againft a pre¬ meditated furprize from the King of the Bedouins, or wandering Arabs, who might have had intelligence of us, and think us a prize worth looking alter. We £ had 2 JOURNEY from had alfo our own reafons for more than ordinary folicitude; as we were much more anxious about preferving the treafure we brought from Palmyra than that which we carried thither. Having therefore, by their advice, concealed our intended road back as well as the time we propofed to fet out, we left Palmyra March 2,7th 1751- the few miferable inhabitants of that place exprefling the utmoft aftonilhment at a viiit ol which they could not comprehend the meaning. We returned by the fame tirefome road through the Defart, which we have ahead)- defcribed in our journey to Palmyra* as far as Sudud; without any alarm except one, which is worth mentioning only as it relates to the manners of the About four hours before our arrival at Carietein we difcovered a party of Arabian horfemen at a diftance; to which, had the)- been fuperiour in number, we mult have fallen an eafy prey, in the languid ftate to which both our men and orfes were reduced, by a march of above twenty hours over the burning fands: but upon our nearer approach they began to retire precipitately, and abandoned ome cattle, which our friends feized, as a matter of courfe, laughing at our remonltrances agamft their injuftice. b & .i At , Su , dud , We 1 A ft r ° Ur former road on the r! S ht hand , and in five hours, ftill through the fame Defart, arrived at Cara, where we took leave of the greateft part of our Caravan. We fent the manufcripts and marbles, which we had col- leaed on camels to our ihip at Tripoli; the merchants who had joined us for prote&on returned to Damafcus with the fait they went to gather at Palmyra- f d b0r j men ’, n ° W n ° lon S er of ufe > returned to their matter the indeed^the)yjuftly V deferved an< ^ eb “ ^ V « iW aad fide %> which Cara, a village on the great Caravan-road from Damafcus to Aleppo, contains flian familf "ear a thoufand fouls, and amongft them about twenty Chri- , a r W f. h , ad paffed throu g h It before in going fromDamafcus toHaflia 1 Mot S ^ u ruined Church to be feen here, and another converted into LSow UP ° n V T al1 °‘ ^ ktter IS a Jine Greek, in a bad charafter, turned upfide down, in which we could read the words a@anasios EnisKonos. This VJ Uage is pleafantly fituated on a riling ground. The common mud buThas a°r ° f ^ ^ d " ed ‘ n the fun ’ of which k ’ s h °t*s are uilt, has at feme diftance the appearance of white ftone. The fhort duration of uch materials is not the only objeftion to them; for they make the ftreets dufty when there is wind and dirty when there is rain. Thefe inconveniencies are felt at Damafcus, which is moftly built in the fame manner. whem f everv a hn m ° nth ’ S C ° nftant &ti P Ue “ the Defart > Particularly at Palmyra, ) hour was precious, we indulged ourfelves here with a da)- of reft. ' Ruins of Palmyra page 33. Security PALMYRA to BALBEC. 3 Security and repofe, fucceeding to danger and toil, foon gave both us and our people that comforting refrelhment, which was fo neceflary to prepare us for new fatigues. We therefore fet out for Balbec March 3 1*1 and arrived at Erfale in feven hours. The greateft part of this journey was acrofs the barren ridge of hills called Antilibanus: our road was tolerably good, and our courfe a little to the Southward of the Weft. This village, confifting of about thirty poor houfes, was the only one we Erlil '- paffed through in our road from Cara to Balbec. We found nothing in it worth remarking, except a melancholy inftance of the unhappy government of this country : the houfes were all open, every thing carried off, and not a living creature to be feen. We had heard that the governour of Balbec’s brother was then in open rebellion, ravaging the country with a party of his defperate affociates; and it feems that when we palled through Erfale he was encamped in it’s neigh¬ bourhood, which made the inhabitants choofe to abandon their dwellings, rather than expofe themfelves to fuch unmerciful contributions as he had raffed in other places. We could not avoid Haying here all night; but, impatient to leave a place of fo much danger, we fet out early the next morning, and in five hours and a half arrived at Balbec, our courfe turning Hill more foutherly, our road tolerably good, lefs mountainous and barren, for the laft two hours, when the plain of Bocat began to open to us, difcovering on it’s oppofite fide the famed mount Libanus, whofe top is always covered with fnow. This city, formerly under the government of Damafcus, and a few years b.h«,i* finee the refidence of a Bafha, is now commanded by a perfon of no higher rank than that of Aga, who, preferring the more honourable title of Emir, which he had by birth, to that of his ftation, was called Emir Haffein. The Arabs have hereditary nobility and family conne&ions, contrary to the policy of the Porte, which is defirous of fuppreffing all influence that the Sovereign can not give and take away at his pleafure. Emir Haffein paid the Grand Signor fifty purfes annually, for the taxes of the diftridt he commanded : he alfo paid fifty purfes yearly for lands, granted in this country as rewards for military fervice, and farmed by him. We were told that thofe lands were much more profitable to him than to the perfons for whofe benefit the grant was originally intended : the reafon of which is, that it would be inconvenient, and even dangerous, for an)- man to pretend to the fame farm againft fo powerful a competitor. He fhould alfo have paid fomething to the Bafha of Damafcus, for lands which he held under him ; but had contrived for fome time to evade it, skreened by the prote&ion of the Kiflar Aga*, to whom he was faid to be under private contribution. This reafon the Bafha of Damafcus gave for refilling us letters to Balbec, which he civilly granted to all other places where they could be of fervice. • The Tide of the Black Eunuch, who has the care of the Grand Signor's women. b Having 4 J O U R N E Y FROM Our rccrp- Having taken up our lodging with a Greek, to whom we were recom- "■'"iimc. men( j e( j ) we wa ; tec j on the Emir, and found him in a Chiofque in his garden, reclined upon a Sopha near a fountain, and indolently enjoying his pipe. We prefented him with our Firman trom the Grand Signor, and a letter from the Baiha of Tripoli, and were moft courteoufly received. A pipe, coffee, fweet- meats, and perfume are fucceffively prefented on thefe occafions, and the laft is always underftood as a hint to finifh the vifit. He applied the Firman refpeft- fully to his forehead, and then killed it, declaring himfelf the Sultan’s flave’s Have; told us that the land he commanded, and all in it, was ours; that we were his wel¬ come guefts as long as we would Hay, and might fecurely purfue our bufinefs under his friendly protection. No part of oriental manners thews thofe people in fo amiable a light as their difeharge of the duties of hofpitality: indeed the feverides of Eaftern defpotilm have ever been foftened by this virtue, which fo happily flourilhes moft where it is moft wanted. The great forget the infolence of power to the ftranger under their roof, and onlypreferve a dignity, to tempered by tendernefs and huma¬ nity, that it commands no more than that grateful refpedf, which is otherwife fcarce known in a country where inferiours are fo much oftener taught to tear than to love. We had been advifed to diftruft the Emir, whole charadfer was infamous, and foon had occafion to fee how friendly that caution was. Though we had fent our prefents according to the cuftom of the country, yet new demands were every day made, which for fome time we thought it advifeable to la- tisfy; but they were fo frequently, and at laft fo infolently repeated, that it became neceflary to give a peremptory refufal. Avarice is no doubt as much an Eaftern vice as hofpitality is an Eaftern c irtue j but we muft obferve that we found the moft fordid inftances of the former in men of power and publick employment, while we experienced much generolity in private retired life : we are therefore cautious of charging to the character of a people what the nature of their government feems to require. For in the uninterrupted feries of fhamelels venality, which regulates the difeharge of ever}'publick duty, from the Prime Vizir downwards, and which, in the true fpirit of defpotifm, flops only at the wretch who is too low to make re- prifals, every fubaltern in power muft fubmit to that portion of the common proftitution which belongs to his rank, and which feems therefore the vice of the office rather than of the man. Frequent negotiations produced by this quarrel, in which the Emir unfuc- cefsfull) exerted all his art and villany, ended in an open declaration, on his fide, that we ffiould be attacked and cut to pieces in our way from 5 Balbec. When he heard that thofe menaces had not the effeft he expe&ed, and that we were prepared to let out with about twenty armed fervants, he fent us a civil menage, defiring that we might interchange prefents and part friends, and allow his people to guard us as far as mount Libanus; to which we agreed N ot long after this he was affaffinated by an emiffary of that rebellious brother whom we have mentioned, and who fucceeded him in the government of Balbec. Bocat T O PALMYRA B A L B E C. 5 Bocat might, by a little care, be made one of the richeft and molt beau- tiful fpots in Syria : for it is more fertile than the celebrated vale of Damafcus, and better watered than the rich plains of Efdralon and Rama. In it’s prefent negledted date it produces corn, fome good grapes, but very little wood. Though Ihade be fo eflential an article of oriental luxury, yet few plantations of trees are feen in Turky; the inhabitants being difcouraged from labours which promife fuch diftant and precarious enjoyment, in a country where even the annual fruits of their induftry are uncertain. In Palaeftine we have often feen the huf- bandman fowing, accompanied by an armed friend to prevent his being robbed of the feed. This plain extends in length from Balbec almoft to the fea; it’s dire&ion is from N. E. b. N. to S. W. by S. and it’s breadth, from Libanus to Anti-Libanus, we guefled to be in few places more than four leagues or lefs than two. The rivers which water it are the Litane, riling from Anti-Libanus a little north of Balbec, which having received great increafe from a fine fountain clofe by the city walls called Rofaleyn, i. e. the Fountain’s-head, and the Bardouni, riling from the foot of Libanus, near a village called Zakely, about eight hours S. W. of Balbec, foon joins the Litane in the plain, about an hour from a village called Barrillas. Thefc dreams augmented by feveral conftant rills from the melting fnows of Libanus, which the lead management might improve to all the purpofes either of agriculture or pleafur.e, form the Calimiah, and enter the fea under that name near Tyre, where we paded it when we vilited the ruins of that city. The mutual advantages which Tyre, in it’s flourilhing date, and this plain mud have reaped from each other are obvious. A rich fea-faring people, confined to a very narrow territory, upon the fhore, mud have greatly enjoyed a fpot like this in their neighbourhood; and in all probability their caravans from Palmyra and the Ead paded through this plain. Upon a riling ground, near the N. E. extremity of this plain, and imme¬ diately under Anti-Libanus, is pleafantly fituated the city of Balbec, between Tripoli of Syria and Damafcus, and about dxteen hours didant from each. From the bed information we could get we concluded the number of it’s inhabitants to be about live thoufand, of which there are a few Greek and Ma- ronite Chridians, and fome Jews. The people are poor, without trade and manufa&ures. The antient female beauty and proditution of this neighbour¬ hood feem to have declined together, and the modern ladies of Balbec have the character of being more * cruel and lefs fair. It appears drange that the proper names, Syria and Aflyria, lhould be lo indillindily ufed by the antients, that both are employed by their bed authors * Hctlipolis, quie propinquat Libano monti, mulieres fpeciofas pafcit, que aput omnes nominantur Libanotidas; ubi Ytiierem piagnifice colunt : dicunt enim earn ibi habit are, & mulieribus gratiam formofitatis dare. Q to 6 ANTIENT STATE to exprefs the country we now fpeak of. Befides this confufion of names, the boundaries of Syria are extremely unfettled in antient writers; nor are the limits of it’s provinces better afcertained: thofe of Coelofyria in particular are as perplexed as any in antient Geography. Could we fuppofe that under this name the antients included, not one tra£fc of contiguous country, but thofe different valleys which wind among the moun¬ tains of Libanus and Anti-Libanus, in that fenfe in which the low-lands of a country are oppofed to it’s high-lands, Strabo, Pliny, and Ptolomy might more eafily be reconciled : but this conjecture, which the litteral meaning of the name fuggefts, is propofed with diffidence, and only as the lead: exceptionable way of throwing fome light on what is fo little underftood. Strabo’s diftinCtion * of Coelofyria in general, and Coelofyria properly fo called, is not unfavourable to this conftruCtion; but, however that may be, we can venture to affert that the latter, viz. Coelofyria properly fo called", is pre- cifely the plain we have defcribed. We may with equal certainty conclude from the antients that the prefent Balbec, in the plain of Bocat, is their Heliopolis of Coelofyria, fometimes called Heliopolis of Phoenicia, and generally diftinguifhed from other antient cities of the fame name by it’s vicinity to mount Libanus. We ffiall not trouble the reader with authorities to prove what is fo clear : the proper names Heliopolis and Balbecboth refer, though in different languages, to the favourite idolatry of the place, viz. the worlhip of the Sun or Baal; and the only two infcriptions found there put this matter beyond all doubt. of Balbec. WHEN we compare the ruins of Balbec with thofe of many antient cities which we viiited in Italy, Greece, Egypt, and in other parts of Alia, we cannot help thinking them the remains ol the boldeft plan we ever law attempted in architedhure. Is it not ftrange then that the age and undertaker of works, in which lolidity and duration have been fo remarkably confulted, lhould be a matter ol fuch oblcurity, that from all we have been able to learn we cannot promife to give entire fatisfadlion on that head ? However, to fave the reader the difagreeable pains of fearching among the fame rubbifh from which we. have colledled the following materials, we Ihall condudt him through the different periods to which thofe buildings can, with any fort of probability, be afligned, beginning with the moll antient. j™ah The 'Habitants of this country, Mahometans, Jews, and Chriftians, all h,»o 7 . confidently believe that Solomon built both Palmyra and Balbec. While both thofe ruins anfwer our ideas of his power and his riches, it is not difficult to find out his wifdom in the former, and his love of pleafure in the latter. We therefore think it probable that his charadter, as a wife and yet a voluptuous prince, may have given rife to an opinion, which, with regard to 'f Balbec, the vale of Baal, or Balbeit, the houfe of Baal. Balbec 7 OF BALBEC. Balbec at leaf!:, feems to have fearcc any other foundation; whatever claim Pal¬ myra * may have. We have feen that the choice of the latter fituation was worthy of his wifdom; nor could an Eaftern monarch enjoy his favourite pleafures in a more luxurious retirement than amidft the ftreams and fhades of Balbec. Many ftories are told there of the manner in which he fpent his hours of dalliance in this retreat: a fubject on which the warm imagination of the Arabs is apt to be too particular. But whether or no this is the tower of Le¬ banon, looking towards Damafcus, mentioned in his writings; whether he built it for the queen of Sheba, or for Pharoah’s daughter; whether he effedled this work in a natural way, as the Jews affirm, or was aflifted by fpirits in the execution of what the Arabs think beyond human power, with many other opinions equally ridiculous, hath already been too ferioufly taken notice of by travellers and miffionaries "J". Whether the Phoenicians did not creel thofe temples, in the neighbourhood of their capital, may perhaps be matter of more reafonable inquiry. So far is pretty certain, that the fun was worshipped here, in the flourishing times of that people, when this plain moft probably made part of their territory. That this city derived both it’s name and worfhip from Heliopolis in Egypt, is agreeable to moft received opinions of the progrefs of fuperftition from that country. But we are not left to mere probability for the truth of this fadl, lince we find the following account of it in Macrobius||; who fays ‘ That in 1 the city called Heliopolis the Aflyrians worfhip the Sun with great pomp, ‘ under the name of Heliopolitan Jove, and that the ftatue of this god was ‘ brought from a city in Egypt alfo called Heliopolis, when Senemur or Sene- ‘ pos reigned over the Egyptians, by Opias ambafladour from Delebor king ‘ of the Aflyrians, together with fome Egyptian priefts of whom Partemetis was ‘ the chief, and that it remained long among the Aflyrians before it was removed ‘ to Heliopolis.’ The fame author adds ‘ that he declines giving the reafon for this ‘ taft, or telling how the ftatue was afterwards brought to the place where in ‘ his time it was worlhipped, more according to the Aflyrian than the Egyptian 1 rites, as circumftances foreign to his purpofe.’ Though the author, by giving the name of Aflyrians to the inhabitants of Syria, an inaccuracy which we have obferved to be very common in antient writers, hath perplexed this paffage not a little, yet the oblcure piece of hiftory it contains feems to Ihew that the religion of Heliopolis in Syria was in his time a mixture of Chaldtean and Egyptian fuperftition, in which the former prevailed, as the circumftantial manner in which he mentions names leaves no room to doubt that he had hiftorical authority for thofe fadls, which however hath not reached us. We fhall then fuppofe, with Macrobius, that our Heliopolis received her ido¬ latry from the city of the fame name in Egypt, and pradtifed it with additional * See Ruins of Palmyra, page t Ben. Tudulenfis, Radsivil, Quarefmius, Belon, and others. II Saturnal. Jib. I. d rites Phoenician hiftory. 8 ANTIEMT STATE rites from Aflyria: but, for the fake of thofe who would trace this matter higher, we fhall juft obferve, firft, that the Egyptian Heliopolis was fituated on the con¬ fines ot Egypt and Arabia; again, that the molt antient trading intercourfe we read of was carried on between that city and the Eaft *; and laftly, that, it we rejedt the fabulous origin of the Egyptian Heliopolis in Diodorusy, and adopt Pliny’s account ||, we fhall find the Sun was worlhipped in Arabia before this city was built. MacrobiusJ. proceeds to fhew that the divinity he fpeaks of was both Jupiter and the Sun; ‘ this appears, fays he, by the rites of the wor- fhip, and by the attributes of the ftatue, which is of gold, reprefenting a perfon without a beard, who holds in his right hand a whip, charioteer- like, and in his left a thunderbolt, together with ears of corn ; all which mark the united powers of Jupiter and the Sun ’ : he adds, ‘ that the temple excells in divination, which belongs to Apollo or the Sun : the ftatue of the god, he fays, is carried as the ftatues of the gods are in the Circenfian Games, generally fupported by the principal perfons of the pro¬ vince, having their heads fhaven, and being purified by long chaftity ; they are hurried violently on, not by their choice, but by the impulfe of the divinity, in the fame manner as the ftatues of the Two Fortunes at An- tium are carried to give oracular anfwers. Perhaps, inftead of looking for an account of buildings of the Corinthian and Jonick order in the Jewiih and Phoenician hiftory, it may be thought more proper to inquire for them during the time that the Greeks poflefted this country : but from Alexander’s conqueft of it till that of Pompey we do not find them mentioned ; for which reafon we conclude that they muft be works of a later date. It may be. alledged that the fame period of hiftory is alfo filent with regard to the buildings of Palmyra §; though it appears probable, from our account of the antient ftate of that place, that at this time it was adorned with works of great magnificence ; and therefore that the buildings of Heliopolis might alfo have then exifted, though they efcaped the notice of hiftorians. In anfwer to this we muft obferve, that, befides the obfcurity in which Palm; ra was kept, as long as it remained an independant ftate, by a moft lin¬ gular reparation from the reft of the world, all accounts of that people from their own annals are loft, except what the infcriptions have preferved; but the hiftory of the Seleucidae is known, and hath recorded lefs important works of thofe kings than the buildings of Heliopolis. hX“ ; The Roman Hiftory ftill remains for our inquiry. The opinion that juicer., Heliopolis was made a colony by Julius Gtefar feems to be fupported by no ♦ Gen. chip. 37 v. a 5 . And the, lift up their eyes and looked, and behold a company of Ifmaelitea came from Gilead .with their camels bearing fpicer, , and balm, and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt + Diodor. lib. 5 . w, /AW., ri , ■mi.v.A,, aV. 9 ,A ™ u lr f' Cap ' *"!" P* mfnal Mmpbi, in r£ up HJ, u dmm,, Aruba, aniiur:, b,b,„. + Macrob. Saturn. Lib. I. § Rhins of Palmyra. better 9 OF BALBEC. better authority than the reverfes of home medals in which it is called Colo- nia Julia. On the fame grounds it is fuppofed that Auguftus fent veterans thither, be- caufe on coins it is called Colonia Julia Augufta; and that thofe veterans were ot the fifth and eighth legions, called the Legio Macedonica and the Legio Au¬ gufta , is gathered from the reverfe of a medal ot Philip the elder, on which there is this legend; COL. HEL. LEG. V. MACED, vm. AVG. Colonia Heliopolitana Legionis v. Macedonica vm. Augufta?. From a medal of Auguftus ftruck at Berytus we alfo learn that part of the fame legions was fent to that city; and as Strabo mentions two legions fettled in this country by Agrippa, it has been concluded, upon the concur¬ ring teftimony of thofe coins and this author, that the fifth and eighth legions were divided between Heliopolis and Berytus : and indeed it appears from the fame paffage in Strabo*, that the tradf of lands extending from Berytus to He¬ liopolis, and as far as the fource of the Orontes, was allotted to thofe veterans. We have been told that this temple pretended to divination; a prerogative claimed by it’s god the Sun, under the different characters of the Heliopolitan Jove, the Affyrian Belus, and the Delphick Apollo : and we find that it was in fome reputation for it’s oracular powers among the Romans, by a ftory re¬ corded of Trajan J'; who at the folicitation of his friends confulted this god T “i an - upon the fuccefs of his intended Parthian expedition. Upon the reverfe ofa medal of Adrian, on which the Two Fortunes are repre- Ads™, fented, we find the legend LEG. H. COL. H.; which by fome is read Legio odtava Colonia Heliopolis. However, were this conjedture more probable than it feems to be, we do not find the leaft reafon to fuppofe that this emperour, though a great builder in the provinces, has an)' title to the honour ot thofe Works. Lucian, a native of this country, who appears from fome paffages in his writings to have lived in the time of the Antonines and Commodus, mentions || tranfiently, if the treatife on the Syrian goddefs be his, a great and antient temple in Phoenicia, the rites of whofe worlhip were brought from Heliopolis in Egypt. This, from his Ihort defcription, appears to be the temple of Bal- bec: but as nothing which we faw Handing can pofllbly be the remains of what * BupurJc J*t KaWa'di ph mo Tguipmot, u’mX %>9» vUv mo fu/ttum, Scgepcvv Slo « %rcv ’Ayf.Wotf tv Wfoir&t'.r f, ri woWw, V rm « *0{ovt» -mepm. Strab. Lib. XVI. f The reader may have this ridiculous ftory in the words of Macrobius: Confulunt bunc deum £f? abfentes mijfis diplomat thus confignatis: refcribitque ordine ad ea quomxf£ Ifov, oux ’Ao-ov'fwv, dxd AHuVIwv. to eg HAmvroAtof tj tuv Qomxw incixtro. tyu 814 clr “’ r “" fxiyx St xx\ roSs, xa.\ dfjQxiw ir>. Lucian, de Syria Dea. 10 ANTIENT STATE in his time could be called antient, we dare only conje&ure that he wrote his treadle before the prefent temples were built. However, his teftimony ftrengthens that ot Macrobius, with regard to the antient worfhip of the Sun, and the origin of the rites ufed at this place. We now come to the firft and only hiftorical authority we have dilcovered, with regard to the building of thofe temples. Johof of Antioch, firnamed Ma- lala, lays that. A^Iius Antoninus Pius built a great temple to Jupiter at Helio ‘ polls, near Libanus in Phoenicia, which was one of the wonders of the world.’ As upon this fingle teftimony depends all we have been able to learn, with regai d to the builder ol the greateft work of antiquity now remaining, it may delerve a more curious examination. 1 From the time that Pompey went through Heliopolis to Damafcus till the reign we now fpeak of, this country muft have been well known to the Romans: and yet we have unfuecefsfully looked into this part of their hiftory lo remarkable for letters and curioftty, in hopes of finding fome mention ot the molt furpnfing ftrufture in their empire. Can we fuppofe that the writers of thofe times would have taken notice of lefs remarkable buildings in Greece, Alia, and Egypt, with fome degree of admiration, and that they would have exprelied fuch furprife at the temple of Diana at Enhefiw Phny tells us Lib. XXXVI. Cap. XIV. that the Architeft delpa was afiifted by the Goddefs to whom the temple was dedicated. means to raife fo great a weight. J ulius II OF BALBEC. Jul!u s Capitolinus, ’tis true, who writes the life of this emperour, enume- rates his buildings; amongft which we do not find this mentioned, though fo much more confiderable than others of which he takes notice. Had we any regular judicious account of that emperour’s reign, in which the temples of Heliopolis were not to be found, it would, no doubt, weaken the teftimony of Malala: but the trifling eolle&ion of anecdotes, chofen with¬ out judgment, and put together without any order by the author we are fpeak- lng of, lcarce deferves the name of hiftory. Heliopolis having been conftituted a colony by Julius Csefar, according to fomef, and having received part of the veterans of the fifth and the eighth egion from Auguftus, was made Juris Italici by Septimius Severus; as we are informed byUlpian ||, a native of this country: and we accordingly find it’s temple, for the firft time, on the reverfe of this emperour’s coins. At the fame time that we meet with Heliopolis on the coins of Julia .Hup™.* * omna^ and Caracalla, vows in favour of that emperour and emprefs are re- corded in the two following imperfe& infcriptions, copied from the pedeftals of tha columns of the great portico, which are reprefented in plate iv. letter G. mdiis helivpol pro^al . a N TO NINI PII FMYC I HVIIJIU V M 1ft l/DMAJIRJWAT ?A 11\ ' COlVMAfdbVMP WHMNA1VR01N1V/M INAl’fdPEfVNI AfX VO TO LAS. IT . MDIIS HELIVP om is daicas mmmmcommmvm vronimumat/uim k t. Magnis Diis Heliupolitanis pro falute -Antonini Pii Felicis Augufti et Juliae Auguftae Matris Domini Noftri caftrorum fenatus Patriae — >--columnarum dum erant in muro inluminata fua pecunia ex voto libenti animo folvit. u. ' --- Magnis Diis Heliupolitanis- ►-oriis Domini Noftri Antonini Pii Felicis Augufti & Julia; Auguftae Matris Domini Noftri caftrorum- --toninianae capita columnarum dum erant in muro inluminata fua pecunia._ -f- See the pages 8 and 9. || Eft et Heliopolitana, qua a Divo fever0 per Belli civilis occaftonem Italia colonia rempullicam accepit. Ulpianus Lib. I de cenfib. * Upon comparing our copies of thefe infcriptions with thofe taken by the Rev. Mr. Thomas Crofts, who has vifited Balbec fince we were there, we found his were molt fatisfaftory, and we acknowledge ourfelves’ obliged to that gentleman for the liberty he gave us to make ufe of them. f We 12 STATE A N T I E N T We are at a lofs about the fenfe of capita columnarum Hum erant in rnuro inlumimta : perhaps thofe words imply the carving or finifhing of the capitals, which was generally done after the columns were fixed. It was common, among the antients, for particular perfons to contribute to publick buildings, by exe¬ cuting fome part at their private expence; and fuch benefa&ions were gene¬ rally recorded by an infcription, of which we have many. The heathen worfhip prevailed in thefe temples a great while, notwith- ftanding the progrefs of the Chriftian religion ; which long met with violent oppofition at Heliopolis, though firft openly preached and received in it’s neighbourhood. In thofe violent contefts, between expiring idolatry and prevailing Chri- ftianitv the temples fuffered much; their ftatues were broken, and their orna¬ ments defaced. Abulfaragius* fays that ‘ Conftantine built a temple- here;’ and adds that ‘ he abolilhed a cuftom of this place, permitting the promifcuous ufe of ‘ wives.’ But we learn from the Chronicon Pafchale 'f' that ‘ Conftantine only fhut ‘ up the temples of the Pagans; while Theodofius deftroyed fome, and con- 1 verted the great and famous temple of Heliopolis into a Chriftian church.’ In this paffage two barbarous words occur, which have been ftrangely tor¬ tured to different meanings. We adopt without hefitation the opinion of Holftenius, who thinks the word BaA tarn relates to Baal, the idol of the temple ; but we cannot agree with Reinefius in changing the word TftAi 0 o» into •n-iAeSjvAA nrot, as we think the three immenfe ftones of the fubaffement are evi¬ dently fignified by the former. All travellers have taken notice of thofe ftones; fome indeed of fcarce any thing elfe : nor is it furprifing that after the decline of tafte, when more attention was paid to mere magnitude than beauty, this temple fhould be chiefly noted for the iargeft ftones which perhaps were ever employed in any building. The Khalit,. It is in vain to go lower for information worth producing, with regard to thofe buildings: Church Hiftory affords little more than the names of fome Bifhops and Martyrs of Heliopolis; and, when Mahometanifm prevailed, this part of the country fell under the government of that branch of the Kha- lifs called the Ommiades ; an ignorant and incurious race, during whofe times we find only that || Balbec was a confiderable city. * Templum etiam [extruxit] in urbe Baal-bee, cujus incole uxores habebant communes, adeo ut nemini de Jlirpe fua conjlaret ; a quo [faflo ] ipfo probibente abjhnuerunt. Greg. Abul-Pharajii Hilt. Compend. Dynalt. p. 85. + KuvravTmt 0 dolSifi.it , fWiWrac, rtt itfa yovov fxAnirtv, xa'i root txovt rut EAAiwu#- ourof l ©ioJoYioc xx) xariXvan. Kal ri Up1 HXiwro'Xnot, to to BaWou, to' ply* mi vigi 6 oV<», xcol to T^&ufrw, x«i hnlnrn dor 0 Exx*wri«v Chron. Pafch. Olymp. cclxxxix. p. 303, p Herbelot Bjbliotheque Orientale, Front O F B A L B E C. 13 After the commencement of their power we fuppofe the name Heliopolis was entirely difufed, and that of Balbec took place; which we cannot but think the moft antient as well as the modern name of this city, always ufed by the natives of the country. The firft converfion of the temple into a fortrefs looks like a work of thofe Khalifs; though fome repairs have a more modern appearance, and are, no doubt, pofteriour to the conqueft of this country by Selim, having probably been made in the wars between the Grand Emir and the Turks. In this effay, for the defedls of which we can make no other apology than it’s being the firft attempt towards a hiftory of thofe buildings, the authori¬ ties to which we have had recourfe take notice of one temple only. To which then of the two great ruins, that we are to defcribe, lhall we apply the infor¬ mations here colledted? We do not think it eafy to give a direft anfwer to this queftion; and lhall only venture to produce a few obfervations, which may aflift the reader to decide for himfelf. If our criticifm upon the word t;& uflo» be juft, as it is applicable to the greateft temple only, we mull conclude that to have been the fame which Anto¬ ninus built, and which Theodofius converted into a Chriftian church. We meet with the temple of Heliopolitan Jove on antient coins; which are not always exadl with regard to the form of the building they mean to reprefent; as will probably appear in the following inftances. On the reverfe of a medal of Septimius Severus we find a temple, in form like the great temple of Balbec, and having, like it, ten columns in front, with the legend C O L. HEL. I. O. M. H. ColoniaHeliopolitanaJovi Optimo Maximo Heliopolitano. But on the reverfe of another medal of the fame emperour, with the fame legend, we fee a temple in perfpedtive, having indeed the fame form with both the great and the moft entire temple of Balbec ; but having fix columns only in front, which is the number of neither. The fame is repeated on the reverfe of a medal of Caracalla. On the reverfes of fome medals of Philip the Elder and his wife Ottacilia we find the fame legend, with a temple of a different fize and form, bearing no refemblance to any of the temples of Balbec. Upon the reverfe of another medal of the fame Philip we find a fourth temple, which feems to belong to Heliopolis by the legend COL. IVL. AVG. FEL. HEL. Colonia Julia Augufta Fcelix Hieliopolitana. A flair of many fteps leads £ to 14 ANTIENT STATE to an area, in which is a temple of the form of the great temple of Balbec : This is, in all probability, an aukward reprefentation of that great temple, with the courts, portico, and great flairs leading to it. In our defcription of the great temple, we fhall give fome reafons which have convinced us that it never was compleatly finifhed. In the entablature of the temples there is a more than accidental limilitude, which nothing but imitation could produce. Thofe temples difcovered to us no marks of very different antiquity; and the leaft entire feemed to owe it’s more ruinous ftate rather to violence than to decay. Under whatever name the antient divinity of this temple was invoked, whe¬ ther the Baal of facred, or the Belus of profane hiftory, whether called Jupiter or Apollo, it is certain the objeft of worfhip was the Sun; the ftrufture of whofe temples at Palmyra and Heliopolis differs from that ol all others we have feen, in fome particulars which may be the fubjedf of a feparate enquiry into the Syrian mythology. At prefent we fhall only obferve, as travellers through thofe antient feats of idolatry, that we imagined we could difcover, in many of the deviations from the true objeitt of worfhip, fomething in the climate, foil, or fituation of each country, which had great influence in eftablifhing it’s particular mode of fuper- ftition. If we apply this obfervation to the country and religion of Syria, and exa¬ mine the worfhip of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, called in fcripture Baal, Afta- roth, and the Hoft of Heaven, we may perhaps not only fee how that early fu- perftition, which milled the inhabitants of a flat country, enjoying a conftant ferenity of sky, was naturally produced ; but we may alfo obferve fomething of the origin and progrefs of that error, in a certain connexion between thofe objects of worfhip confidered phyfically, and their characters as divinities. Thus, the pomp and magnificence with which the Sun was worfhipped in Sy¬ ria and Chaldaea, the name of Baal, which, in the Eaftern language, fignifies Lord or Matter, and the human vidhims facrificed to him, feem all together to mark an awful reverence paid rather to his power than to his beneficence, in a country where the violence of his heat is deftrudfive to vegetation, as it is in many other refpedts very troublefome to the inhabitants. But the deification of the inferiour gods of the firmament feems to have taken it’s rife from different principles, in which love feems to have been more predominant than fear ; at the fame time that their worfhip has ftronger charadberifficks of it’s Syrian extradiion than that of Baal, it the following ob~ fervations be well founded. Not O F B A L B E C. 15 Not only the extenfive plains and unclouded sky, already mentioned, have been long fince obferved to point this out, but we imagine that the manner in which the inhabitants of this country live, and which is as uniform as their climate or their foil, hath greatly contributed to direft their attention to thefe objccfts. It has ever been a cuftom with them, equally connected with health and plea- fure, to pafs the nights in fummer upon the houfe-tops, which for this very purpofe are made flat, and divided from each other by walls. We found this way of fleeping extremely agreeable; as we thereby enjoyed the cool air, above the reach of gnats and vapours, without any other covering than the canopy of the heavens, which unavoidably prefents itfelf, in different pleafing forms, upon every interruption of reft, when filence and folitude ftrongly difpofe the mind to contemplation. No where could we difcover in the face of the heavens more beauties, nor on the earth fewer, than in our night-travels through the defarts of Arabia; where it is impoflible not to be ftruck with this contrail: a boundlefs, dreary wafte, without tree or water, mountain or valley, or the lead variety of co¬ lours, offers a tedious famenefs to the wearied traveller; who is agreeably re lieved by looking up to that chearful moving pidlure, which meafures his time, directs his courfe, and lights up his way. The warm fancy of the Arab foon felt the tranfition from wild admiration to fuperftitious refpedb, and the paflions were engaged before the judgment was confulted. The Jews in their paffage through this wildernefs (where we are told in the fcriptures * they carried the ftar of their god, which St. Jerom fuppofes to have been Lucifer, worlbipped in the fame country in his time) feem to have caught the infection in the fame manner, and “ their hearts) went “ after their idols.” This bewitching enthufiafm, by which they were ib fre¬ quently feduced, is ftill more ftrongly charadfterized in the fame expreflive lan¬ guage of holy writ, which tells us that “ their eyes went a whoring after “ their idols § and an antient native of this country, a man of real piety, feems to acknowledge the danger of contemplating fuch beauties, and to difown his having yielded to the temptation, in the following words || : “ If 1 be- “ held the fun when he Ihined, or the moon walking in her brightnefs, and my “ heart hath been fecretly enticed, or my mouth have killed my hand ; this “ were an iniquity, &c. However unconnected the natural hiftory of a country and it’s mythology may feem, yet their relation might bear a more minute examination, without running into wild conjeftures. Even Egypt had fome objects of divine wor- * Amos. v. 26. + Ezek. xx. 1 C. ftlip § Ezek. vi. 9. | Job, xxxi. 26. h i6 A N T I E N T STATED- lhip, fo peculiarly the growth of that foil, that they could never bear tranf- planting, notwithftanding the complaifance of antiquity for her abfurdities. As fuperftition travelled northward, fhe changed her garb with her country, and the pi&urefque mixture of hill, vale, grove, and water, in Greece, gave birth to Oreades, Dryades, and Naiades, with all the varieties of that fanciful mythology, which only fuch a poet as Homer, in fuch a country as Greece, could have connefted into that form and fyftem, which poetry has ever fince thought proper to adopt. We may add, as a further confirmation of our opinion, that this fame mythology, examined on the fpot where Homer wrote, has feveral plaufible and confiflent circumftances, which are entirely local. Should health and leifure permit us to give the public that more elalfical part of our travels, through thofe countries which are moft remarkable as the fcenes of antient fable, we may illuftrate by fome inlhances what is here only hinted at. Having now finilhed this Second Volume, I beg leave to feparate myfelf a moment from my fellow-traveller, to acknowledge, as editor of this work that I alone am accountable for the delay of it’s publication. When called from my country by other duties, my necefiary abfence re¬ tarded, in fome meafure, it’s progrefs. Mr. Dawkins, with the fame generous fpirit, which had fo indelatigably furmounted the various obftacles of our voyage, continued carefully to prote& the fruits of thofe labours which he had fo chearfully lhared: he not only attended to the accuracy of the work, by having finilhed drawings made under his own eye by our draughtfman, from the sketches and meafures he had taken on the fpot, but had the engravings fo far advanced as to be now ready for the public under our joint infpe&ion. This declaration I owe in juftice both to the public and my friend: for whatever, in the ftate of their accounts, the balance may be in his favour, I muft not ungratefully conceal how much I am a debtor to both. ROBERT WOOD- EXPLANATION of the PLATES. EXPLANATION PLATE L Plan of the city of Balbec, (hewing only the fituation of the ancient buildings which remain. N. B. This plate may be ufed as an index to the contents of the work; the principal objects of which are, the great temple with it’s courts, the moll entire temple, and the circular temple. Views of thofe ruins, in the con¬ dition we found them, are intermixed with the reprefentations of the fame buildings, in their fuppofed entire Hate; that it may appear upon what autho¬ rity fome parts are reftored. N. B. The meafures we make ufe of are Englilh feet and inches. A. Portico, which formed the grand front to the build¬ ings A. B. C. D. It is defcribed in plates III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, and XI. B. Hexagonal court, to which the portico A leads, is defcribed in plates III, IX, X, XI, and XX. C. Quadrangular court, to which the court B leads, is defcribed in plates III, and from XII to XX in- clufive. D. Great temple, to which the approach was through the foregoing portico and courts, is defcribed in plates iil, XXI, and XXII. E. The mod entire temple, which fee defcribed from plate XXIII to plate XLI inclufive. F The circular temple. See plates XLII, XLIII, XL1V, XLV. • • G. A Dorick column, whofe (haft confifls of feveral pieces, Handing fingle on the elevated fouth-weft part of the city, where the walls inclofe a little of the foot of Antilibanus. We difcovered no¬ thing, either in the fize, proportions, or work- manlliipof this column, fo remarkable as a little bafon on the top of it’s capital, which communi¬ cates with a lemicircular channel, cut longitudinally down the fide of the (haft, and five or fix inches deep. We were told that water had been for¬ merly conveyed from the bafon by this chan¬ nel ; but how the bafon was fupplied we could not learn : as it greatly disfigures the (haft of the co¬ lumn, we fufpedt it to be a modern contrivance.. The (mall part of the city, which is at prefent in¬ habited, is near the circular temple, and to the fouth and fouth-weft of it. We did not thinlc the Turkifh buildings worth a place in this plan; but the reader may fee a view of them in the follow¬ ing plate. A great deal of the fpace within the walls is entirely negledted, while a fmall part is employed in gardens; a name which the Turks give to any fpot near a town where there is a little (hade and water. H. The city walls, which, like thofe of moft of the ancient cities of Alia, appear to be the confufed patch-work of different ages. The pieces of ca¬ pitals, broken entablatures,' and, in fome places, reverfed Greek infcriptions, which we obferved in walking round them, convinced us that their laft repairs were made after the decline of tafte, with materials negligently collected as they lay nearefl: to hand, and as haftily put together for immediate defence. I. The city gates: they correfpond in general with what we have faid of the walls; but that which is on the north fide prelents the ruins of a large fubaffement, with pedeftals and bafes for four co¬ lumns, in a tafte of magnificence and antiquity much fuperiour to that of the other gates. The ground immediately about the walls is rocky, and little advantage is taken of a command of water, which might be much more ufefully employed than it is at prefent in the gardens. Some confufed heaps of rubbifh, which appear to have belonged to an¬ cient buildings, both v/ithin and without the walls, are too imperfect to deferve notice. PLATE II. View of the city of Balbec from the fouth, (hewing it’s antiquities and Turkifh buildings, N. B. In this perfpe&ive view the fame letters mark the fame buildings, of which they marked the plan in the foregoing plate. A. Turkilh i8 EXPLANATION A. Turkifh towers built on the ruins of the portico. See plate IV. B. South-weft wall of the hexagonal court. C. South wall of the quadrangular court. D. Nine columns of the periftyle of the great temple on the fouth fide, which ftill continue to fupport their entablature, notwithftanding feveral unfuc- cefsful attempts of the Turks to deftroy them, in order to get at the iron employed in ftrengthening the building. E. The mod entire temple. F. The circular temple, now a Greek church. G. The Dorick column. See this letter in plate I. H. The city walls. J. The well gate. K. A minaret or Turkifh ftecple. Inftead of bells, which are not ufcd in Turky, a perfon is em¬ ployed to call the people to prayers from the bal¬ cony, near the top of this minaret, at the five ftated times appointed in every twenty-four hours for divine worfhip. L. A quarry of free ftone, near the city walls, from which probably the immenfe (tones employed in the fubaflement of the great temple were taken ; while the more ornamented parts of thofe build¬ ings were fupplied from a quarry of coarfe white marble, weft of the city, and at a greater diftance. In the firft quarry there are ftill remaining fome vaft ftones, cut and fhaped for ufe: that upon which this letter is marked, appears, by it’s fhape and fize, to have been intended for the fame pur- pofe with the three ftones mentioned in plate III, letter X. It is not entirely detached from the quarry at the bottom. We meafured it feparately, and allowing for a little difagreement in our mea- lures, owing, we think, to it’s not being exadly lhaped into a perfectly regular body * we found it feventy foot long, fourteen broad, and fourteen foot five inches deep. The ftone, according to thefe dimenfions, contains 141I28 cubic feet, and fhould weigh, were it Port¬ land ftone, about 2,270,000 pounds avoirdupoize, or about 1 135 tons. M. Part of Antilibanus. N. Part of M. Libanus. PLATE III. Plan of the great temple, and of the portico and courts leading to it. r N '.^' > T n m ° ft L en ' ire ,P a , rtS are difbmguifhed in this plan by eroded lines, the lead: entire by tingle lines, and the intermediate ftages of decay are marked by a mixture of both. But the precife degree of ruin in which we b >’ 46 v-s exhibited in A. Stair leading to the portico. B. Portico. C. Lateral chambers, feparated from the portico by two pilafters. / D. D. D. D. Broken walls which were perhaps conti¬ nued (or intended to be continued) from the por¬ tico and quadrangular court, till thev met at right angles. There are no remains to ftrengthen this conjedhire, further than it's being evident from the unfiniflied walls that fomethingis wanting ; and that it is plain from the negligent manner in which the external walls of the courts are built (which fee plate II, letter B and C.) that they were to have been covered by fomething. E. Great door of communication between the portico and the hexagonal court. F. Smaller fide-doors. G. The hexagonal court. We think it not improbable that the particular buildings of this and the fol¬ lowing court ferved as fchools and lodgings for the priefts of the Sun ; whofe habitations + Strabo takes notice of his having feen at Heliopolis in Egypt. PI. Palfages between the portico and the hexagonal court. I. Exedras of the hexagonal court. The exedne of the ancients, whether in their palate or private houfes, were places where philofophers alfembled to teach and converfe upon different parts of ]]- . t f[ atur< 7 Their according to Vitruvius and Alex, ab Alexandra, refembled much that of the buildings to which we give this name. L Nid?^ 5, PerhapS the priefts were lod g ed here. M. Paflage from the hexagonal court to the quadran¬ gular court. ^ N. Lateral communications between the fame. O. The quadrangular court. P. It’s redangular exedne, tetraftyle. Qi It's redangular exedne, hexaftyle. R. It’s femicircuiar exedra. See thofe of Diocletian's Baths. T. It’s great niches ; perhaps for ColofTal ftatues. V. Smaller niches in the femicircuiar exedne, and be- tween the pilafters of the quadrangular court. W. The great temple of ten columns in front, and nineteen in flank, of which nine only arc il.md- mg with their entablature. The bafes of the others are 1tlmoft all in their places, and fome of them with pair of the broken Draft; but there are no bafes to be feen of a veffibule, nor any part of the “n El' ■ J h 'r 'u mple “ ° f the P er 'P ter °s and de- caflylc kind of the Greeks; but it's intercolumna- tton is none of the five forts which Vitruvius this Hone, .hid, he makes flat, eigiiS ^ t ’E» £ t? 'HMourroAd Aatoit fiMui'fuit dvSp. n inches deep. “ Lib.tl'p! Of* ” * W ™ W** »«! mentions OF THE PLATES. mentions: a neceffary confequcnce of the great dia¬ meter of the columns, which would not admit even of the pycnoftyle, the lmalleft diftance which the Greek art of building had preferred. X. Terras, or fubaffement, of the great temple ; if we can apply this lad name to that which fupported no part of the temple. We think it probable that it was never finifhed, as the expence and trouble of carrying away materials of this prodigious lize could have anfwered no purpofe. The reader may fee in plate XXIV, letter B, the manner in which the^eriftyle was finifhed before the fubafi'ement. By what we fee of it at the weft end, it appears that this fubaffement was to haveconfifted of three rows or ftrata of ftones, like that of the entire temple ; the loweft forming the mouldings of the focle with part of the die; the fecond forming the greateft part of the die ; and the h.gheft forming the remaining part, with the mouldings of the cimafa. The loweft ftratum is feen in this plan. We have marked the length of the ftones: their breadth, not including the projection of the mould¬ ings of the focle, is ten feet five inches; and their height thirteen feet. The fecond ftratum, form¬ ing the greateft part of the die of this fubaffe- ment, is feen at the weft end. We could not get to meafure the height and breadth of the ftones that coinpofe it, which however appeared to be the fame as in the lower row ; but we found the length or thc.ee of them to make together above a hundred and ninety feet, and feparately fixty three feet eight inches, fixty four feet, and fixty three feet. We have conjedlured (in our account of the ancient ftate of thefe buildings) that this temple was called from thefe three great ftones. To the weft a folid foundation of rough ftones, upon which the fubaffement is built, appears about twelve feet above the ground. The buildings in this plan are raifed a confiderable height from the ground by very folid arches ; which fee under letter E of the following plate. P L A T E IV. View of the portico in it’s prefent ruinous ftate. A. Modern towers, built upon the lateral chambers. See plate III, letter C. B. An Attic, which is carried on through the two courts, and feems to have been ornamented with ftatues. C. Entablature, which is the fame on the outfide and infide of the portico. See plate VIII. D. Lateral chambers. See their feCtions, plates VI and XI. E. Doors leading to the arches which fupport the por¬ tico and the two courts. The feCtions of thofe arches,, in plates X, XI, XIII and XIV, ftiew that they communicate with one another, and are car¬ ried on in the fame direction with the walls of the portico and courts, to which they give both fojidity and elevation. The ruftick manner in which they are built, of vaft unchizzled ftones, would make it feem as if nothing elfe was intended by them; and yet fome heads carved in alto relievo upon the key-ftones, which projeCt at regular diftances, made us fufpeCt they might alfo have anfwered forne mvfterious purpofes of the antient religion of this temple. They are in fome places almoft filled up with rubbifh, and very indifferently lighted by the funnels, which fee plate X, letter F} fo that we could only difeover by torch-light one of thofe heads diftinCtly, which had a youthful face with horns like a Serapis. We could alfo obferve upon the fame ftone fome Roman characters, but fo m- diftinCt that we found it impoflible to make out a word. The fame obfeurity and rubbifii alfo pre¬ vented our taking an exaCl plan of thofe arches. F. Rough wall, which we fuppole was covered by the ftair, as reprefented in the following plate. G. Pedeftals of the columns of the portico. Upon two of them marked with this letter are the infcriptions, which fee page 11. Thefe columns were (landing in La Roque's time, 1688; if we may at all truft to his account, which contains fo much ignorant admi¬ ration, and fo little intelligible defeription. H. Turkifli wall. I. Great door leading to the hexagonal court. K. Smaller lateral doors, with niches over them, lead¬ ing to the fame. See plate VII. L. Tabernacles for ftatues. The columns of all the tabernacles of thefe ruins are taken away, as well as all the ftatues, and every thing that was port¬ able. M. The fouth-weft part of the city. PLATE V. Upright of the portico in it’s perfect ftate. No ornament feems wanting to complete this grand front to the whole building, as it is herereftored, except the ftatues on the Attic andI in the tabernacles. How far it may have been farther extended on both f des be¬ yond the lateral chambers, can only be conjeftured See plate III letter D. The doors marked E, in plate IV, are omitted here by a miftake, which was not difeovered till the plate was engraved. k Several explanation Several art,fts have obferved a fimilitude between fome European buildings and lome parts of the ruins of Palmyra and Balbec; from which they have perhaps too haft,ly, concluded that the former were copied from the latter’ The portico of the Louvre at Pans has been compared in this light with fome parts of the ruins of Palmyra, as alio with the portico deferibed in this plate • but we cannot difeover any foundation for inferences fo injurious to the me¬ mory of the architect who built that noble ftruflure, which is as juftly ad- mired as it is unaccountably neglected. ^ plate vi. Longitudinal feftion of the fame. See it’s tranverfe fe^ion plate XI. plate VII. Smaller door of communication, between the portico and hexagonal court. A. The door. _ , B. Niche over the door. L and D - Tabernacles of the portico. PLATE VIII. Order of the portico. PLATE IX. - >- * A. Exedrx of the hexagonal con r , on its fouth-wert C. The molt entire temple. B. Bxedr* of the fame on Its notth-welf f,de. this **. at . ^ PLATE X. Upright of the eaft, fouth-eaft, and north-eaft lides of the fame court. A. B. The north-eaft fide. „ c .. n S' S c C , aft fide ‘ F ’ S ^fr n ° f °T ° f ■ ^ ches on w hich the building F ?' J -• • ■ - ZWJ.XXXZ. _ - --