BAALBEK. 
213 
It was a soft pleasant evening as we entered the outer 
walls, and drew up our horses Before the castle. Like the 
Acropolis at Athens, all else seemed nothing compared with 
the glorious Temple of the Sun. How grandly it towers amid 
the desolation of ruins ! rising in all its majesty from the 
mighty monuments that lie mouldering around it, with its yet 
magnificent columns standing out in bold relief against the 
mountains ; its massive walls unshaken by the tempests of 
ages, its magic ornaments still the perfection of beauty. 
Looking upward through the mass of ruins, the rugged out¬ 
line of the mountains was bathed in the rays of the setting 
sun, and the whole heavens glowed with soft colors. Far 
across the broad wastes of the valley of Bukaa were minia¬ 
ture islands and solitary trees, reflected in its surface, and 
long trains of camels passing on their weary way, and the 
hoary peaks of Mount Lebanon towering high above all. 
While Yusef went into the village to search for quarters, 
we rode around the ruins, more and more confounded with the 
vast extent and elaborate architectural finish of this magnifi¬ 
cent pile. All the associations of the place contribute to 
inspire the mind with glowing conceptions of the ancient 
splendor of Baalbek; when those walls of massive stone were 
perfect; when those broken columns, prostrate now—save a 
few that stand to show how great the wreck has been—had 
each a place; when those massive cornices, so exquisite in 
their finish, those friezes and capitals, wrought with such 
masterly skill, formed a perfect whole ; when the glorious 
Temple of the Sun stood untouched by the scathing hand of 
time or the ravages of war, and Baalbek was the glory and 
the pride of Assyria—such were the associations that filled the 
mind as we gazed upon this mighty wreck of matter. 
Of the origin of Baalbek I believe very little is known. It 
has been the current belief among the Arabs for many gen¬ 
erations that the Temple of the Sun and all the surrounding 
edifices were built by genii; and in proof of this they point to 
the immense stones high up in the walls, and ask what human 
power could have placed them there ? The Jews say it was 
built by Solomon ; and it is thought by some that the castle 
