BA'ALBEK
An
Akkadian tablet from some four thousand years ago states:
All
we great Anunaki [Anannage]
Decided together on a rule
Anu and Addad would rule the Highlands
I [Enlil] would rule the Lowlands
In
this stanza, the Highlands and the Lowlands are relative terms.
We know that Enlil, the Lord of Cultivation, ruled
in Kharsag so that, here, the Lowlands refer to that
irrigated plain as distinct from the surrounding mountains.
The Highlands, therefore, were the higher parts of the Lebanon
area. In these parts, today, there exist the magnificent ruins
of Ba’albek to remind us of the almost incredible achievements
of gods and men in times so remote that the mind has difficulty
in comprehending the span of it.
These
ruins comprise an architectural complex the description of which
includes such superlatives as having columns among the tallest
ever constructed on earth; the largest stone blocks ever used
for any purpose; and the boldest architectural engineering feat
ever carried out in the ancient world.
