baalbek
The city of Baalbek, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, was in ancient times known as Heliopolis (not to be confused with the Egyptian city of the same name). These days it sells Hezbollah t-shirts, but it is also home to what reputedly was the largest temple complex in the Roman empire, devoted to Jupiter, Venus and Bacchus. The complex's awe-inspiring ruins rank with Luxor's Karnak in preserving the gargantuan yet exquisitely detailed monumental architecture of the ancient world.
