In
the town Baalbek, situated in Libanon, there is a large temple complex
which
had been built by the Romans. However, these Roman temples were built
on a foundation existing of the biggest and heaviest stones in the
world that were ever carved and placed into position. However, the
Romans themselves never claimed to also have laid this foundation; It
is possible that it already existed for centuries before the Romans had
built their temples on top of it.
Actually, the history of settlement in the area of Baalbek dates back
about 9,000 years with almost continual building and rebuilding of many
generations. One of its temples which is now called the "Temple of
Jupiter" (as seen on the right image) already was a temple since the
pre-Hellenistic era. The cyclopean (large megalithic building blocks)
building style of the foundation certainly differs from the more
refined Greek building style (with smaller stones) of the temples on
top of it. Blocks can be found of about 10
meters in length, 5 meters high and 3 to 4 meters deep. They weigh
more then 450 tons per block. Above these megaliths there are three
blocks which are even heavier, weighing each more then 1000 tons,
called Trilithons or Triliths.
In
a neighbouring stone quarry the biggest stone of them all can be found
and weighs approximately 1158.696 tons and is called the "Stone of the
Pregnant Woman". (Seen on the image left.) A second ancient monolith
was discovered in the same quarry in the 1990s, which even surpasses
the dimension of the well-known Stone of the Pregnant Woman. Its weight
is estimated at 1242 tons. Today there are few machines who could lift,
transport
and place such a block. It is unthinkable and probably even impossible
that man could do this in the past with only manpower, ropes and
primitive tools.
According to the legend of the local population, Baalbek's first city was built by Cain - one of the sons of Adam - who had been banished to the "land of Nod" (Baalbek) that laid east of Eden. If fell into ruins during the Great Flood and was rebuild by a race of giants under the command of Nimrod, a "great hunter" and "king of Shinar" (Sumer) of the book of Genesis. Nimrod was also the builder of the Tower of Babel.
