THE BAALBEK MEGALITHS

Located at Baalbek in Lebanon are the largest megalithic stones ever carved from the “living” rock of a quarry. Often referred to as Cyclopean, they range in size and mass but the most sizeable is estimated to weigh nearly 1,300 tons and lies unused.  It seems that thousands of years ago they were shaped into gigantic rectangles and moved over a kilometer to be used in the early construction of the Baalbek Archeological Complex which was expanded during the Roman period when the town was known as Heliopolis (City of the Sun).  They are not merely foundation stones as it is quite clear that they rest on a deeper layer of smaller, but still very large, blocks.  These massive units each weighing approximately 750 tons were built into the western retaining wall of the plaza and are known as the Trilithon.

The precision with which these megaliths have been carved is incredible and would be nearly impossible to achieve even today.  How they were moved and placed within the construction of the greater Baal-Jupiter (Zeus) Temple plaza remains unexplained.  Over the years various experiments have taken place that show that while it is possible for vast numbers of men with levers and rollers to move large building stones of up to 300 tons for short distances these megaliths are more than twice as large.  The size of the largest megalith and the fact that moving it even with modern technology would be extremely difficult does suggest that the ancient civilizations may well have had more advanced technology than we currently believe.  Still, what that technology was and how it worked will have to remain a mystery for now.