B A L B E C. 



215 



Balbec. 



eagle. The bird is supposed to be an emblem of 

 the sun, to whom this temple was dedicated ; and 

 the two winged figures are supposed to represent the 

 zephyrs, or the air. We must content ourselves 

 with giving a very general account of these interest- 

 ing ruins, as it will be impossible to render a minute 

 description intelligible, without the assistance of 

 plates. Referring, therefore, the lovers of the arts 

 to Mr Wood's splendid work on The Ruins of Balbec, 

 we shall chiefly adopt the account of M. Volr.ey, the 

 latest author who has particularly described these 

 ruins, abridging it as much as is consistent with per- 

 spicuity. In entering the principal gate, which faces 

 the mountain on the east, we come into a hexagonal 

 court, which is one hundred and eighty feet in dia- 

 meter. This is strewed with broken columns, muti- 

 lated capitals, and the remains of entablatures and 

 cornices ; around it is a row of ruined edifices, which 

 display all the ornaments of the richest architecture. 

 On passing through this court, towards the west, we 

 enter a large square, three hundred and fifty feet 

 wide, and three hundred and thirty-six in length. 

 Along each side of this court, runs a sort of gallery, 

 divided into various compartments, seven of which 

 may be reckoned in each of the principal wings. It 

 is not easy to conceive the use of this part of the 

 structure ; but this does not diminish our admiration 

 at the beauty of the pilasters, and the richness of the 

 frize and entablature. Neither is it possible to avoid 

 remarking the singular effect which results from the 

 mixture of the garlands, the large foliage of the ca- 

 pitals, and the sculpture of wild plants with which 

 they are every where ornamented. At the west end 

 of this court, stand six enormous columns, which ap- 

 pear to be totally unconnected with the rest of the 

 building. On a mor 1 attentive examination, how- 

 ever, we discover a scries of foundations which seem 

 to mark out the peristyle of a grand temple, to 

 which these columns belonged. Pococke supposes 

 that this temple never was finished. We must exa- 

 mine them narrowly before we can conceive all the 

 boldness of the elevation, and the richness of their 

 workmanship. Their shafts are twenty-one feet 

 eight inches in circumference, and fifty-eight feet 

 high, so that the total height, including the entabla- 

 ture, is from seventy-one to seventy-two feet. These 

 six pillars are all that now remain of fifty-four. 



The southern side of the grand temple has, at 

 some distant period, been blocked up to build a 

 smaller one, the peristyle and walls of which are still 

 remaining. This temple presents a side of thirteen 

 columns, by eight in front, which, like all the rest 

 of the ruins, are of the Corinthian order : their shaft3 

 are fifteen feet eight inches in circumference, and 

 forty-four in height. We can form no idea of the 

 roof which formerly covered this temple, except 

 from the fragments which lie scattered amongst the 

 ruins ; these are to be found in the form of lozenges, 

 on which are represented Jupiter seated on his eagle ; 

 Leda caressing her swan ; Diana with her bow and 

 crescent, &c. 



Balbec was visited, in 1751, by Mr Dawkins and 

 Mr Wood, the latter of whom has given a set of 

 most faithful and splendid drawings of the ruins. 

 Mr Bruce also visited Balbec, and made numerous 



drawings, which he presented to the king, and which 

 he boasts of being the richest offering of the kind 

 ever presented by a subject to his sovereign : if, in- 

 deed, they are in the style of Mr Brace's other 

 drawings, they must be very excellent. A great 

 many plates of the ruins may also be found in Po- 

 cocke. Several changes have taken place since the 

 journey of Messrs Dawkins and Wood. Such a con- 

 tinual system of barbarous dilapidation is carried on, 

 that perhaps at no very distant period, travellers 

 will be forced to say, Etiam periere ruhim. The 

 truth of this observation is confirmed by the words 

 of M. Volncy. " They (Dawkins and Wood) found 

 nine large columns standing, and, in 1781, I found 

 but six. They reckoned nine-and-twenty at the 

 lesser temple, but there now remain but twenty. 

 The others have been overthrown by the earthquake 

 of 1759. It has likewise so shaken the walls of the 

 lesser temple, that the stone of the soffit of the gate 

 has slid between the two adjoining ones, and descend- 

 ed eight inches ; by which means the body of the 

 bird sculptured on that stone is suspended detached 

 from its wings, and the two garlands which hung- 

 from its beak, and terminated in two genii. Nature 

 alone has not effected this devastation : the Turks- 

 have had their share in the destruction of the co- 

 lumns. Their motive is to procure the iron cramps, 

 which serve to join the several blocks of which each 

 column is composed. These cramps answer so well 

 the end intended, that several of the columns are not 

 even disjointed in their fall ; one among others, as 

 Mr Wood observes, has penetrated a stone of the tem- 

 ple wall without giving way. Nothing can surpass the 

 workmanship of these columns: they are joined with- 

 out any cement, yet there is not room for the blade 

 of a knife between their interstices. But what occa- 

 sions more astonishment, is the enormous stones that 

 compose the sloping wall, which surrounds the tem- 

 ple on the west and north. To the west, the second 

 layer is formed of stones which are from twenty-eight 

 to thirty feet long, by about nine in height. Over 

 this layer, at the north-west angle, there are three 

 stones, which alone occupy a space of one hundred 

 and seventy-five feet and a half; viz. the first fifty- 

 eight feet seven inches, the second fifty-eight feet' 

 eleven, and the third exactly fifty-eight feet long, 

 and each of these is twelve feet thick. There is 

 still lying in a quarry in the adjacent mountain, a 

 stone, hewn on three sides, which is sixty-nine feet- 

 two inches long, twelve feet ten inches broad, and 

 thirteen feet three inches thick. 



" When we consider the extraordinary magni- 

 ficence of the temple of Balbec, we cannot but 

 be astonished at the silence of the Greek and Ro- 

 man authors. Mr Wood, who has carefully ex- 

 amined all the ancient writers, has found no mention 

 of it except in a fragment of John of Antioch, who 

 attributes the construction of this edifice to Antoni- 

 nus Pius. The inscriptions that remain corrobo- 

 rate this opinion, which perfectly accounts for the 

 constant use of the Corinthian order, which was not 

 in general use before the third age of Rome : but wo 

 ought by no means to allege as an additional proof, 

 the bird sculptured over the gate ; for if his crooked' 

 beak, large claws, and the (vduceus he bears,,giv 



Balbec. 



