Baalbek Stones#Stone of the South

File:Baalbek-stoneofpregnantwoman.jpg

The Baalbek Stones are six massive Roman{{cite book|last=Adam|first=Jean Pierre|title=Roman Building: Materials and Techniques|year=1999|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415208666|first2=Anthony |last2=Mathews |page=35}} worked stone blocks in Baalbek (ancient Heliopolis), Lebanon, characterised by a megalithic gigantism unparallelled in antiquity. How the stones were moved from where they were quarried to their final locations is uncertain.{{cite magazine |last1=Batuman |first1=Elif |date=18 December 2014 |title=The Myth of the Megalith |url=https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/baalbek-myth-megalith |access-date=3 January 2019 |magazine=The New Yorker |quote=Nobody seems to know on whose orders it was cut, or why, or how it came to be abandoned.}}

The smaller three are part of a podium wall in the Roman complex of the Temple of Jupiter Baal (Heliopolitan Zeus) are known as the "Trilithon". Each of these is estimated at {{convert|750–800|t|ST}}. The quarry was slightly higher than the temple complex, so no lifting was required to move the stones.{{sfnp|Adam|Mathews|1999|p=35}} The large stones may have been moved into position on rollers along temporary earthen banks from the quarry.{{sfnp|Jessup|1881|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mzdQAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA462 462]}}

The remaining three are Roman monoliths, not part of a larger structure, conventionally known as the "Stone of the Pregnant Woman" (estimated at 1,000 t), the "Stone of the South" (est. 1,242 t), and the "Forgotten Stone" (est. 1,650 t). These are the first, third, and tied fifth largest known stones ever quarried in human history. They are believed to have been intended for the nearby Jupiter Baal complex, possibly as an addition to the Trilithon; but, perhaps due to their size, they were never removed from their quarry. They have not been used since their extraction in ancient times.{{harvnb|Ruprechtsberger|1999|pp=7–56}}

Numerous archaeological expeditions have gone to the site starting in the 19th century, primarily German and French groups, and research has continued into the 21st century.{{Cite web|url = https://gilgamesh42.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/moving-the-stones-of-baalbek-the-wonders-of-roman-engineering/|title = Moving the Stones of Baalbek–The Wonders of Roman Engineering|last = Adair|first = Aaron|website = Fleeing Nergal, Seeking Stars|access-date = 2016-03-02}}

Trilithon

File:Trilithon of Baalbek 3.jpg

The Trilithon ({{langx|el|Τρίλιθον}}), also called the Three Stones, is a group of three horizontally lying giant stones that form part of the podium of the Temple of Jupiter Baal at Baalbek. The location of the megalithic structures is atop a hill in the region known as Tel Baalbek. Each one of these stones is {{convert|19|m|ft}} long, {{convert|4.2|m|ft}} high, and {{convert|3.6|m|ft}} thick, and weighs around {{Convert|750–800|t|lbs}}. The supporting stone layer beneath features a number of stones which weigh an estimated {{Convert|350|t|lbs}} and are {{convert|11|m|ft}} wide.

Although they do not form a trilithon in the modern archaeological sense, they have been known as the Trilithon since at latest the early Byzantine period.{{cite book |last=Sophocles |first=Evangelinos Apostolides |author-link=Evangelinos Apostolides Sophocles |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924021609395/page/1092/ |title=Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods |date=1914 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn= |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |page=1092}}

Stone of the Pregnant Woman

File:Colossal Hewn Block, Ancient Quarries Baalbek.jpg]]

The Stone of the Pregnant Woman ({{langx|ar|حجر الحبلي |Ḥajar el-Ḥible}}), also called the First Monolith, still lies in the ancient quarry at a distance of {{convert|900|m|ft}} from the Heliopolis temple complex.{{harvnb|Ruprechtsberger|1999|p=10}} Although the smallest of the three monoliths, it is also the most famous due to its fine condition, the imposing angle at which it lies, and it never having been fully hidden by the earth.

In 1996, a geodetic team of the Austrian city of Linz conducted topographical measurements at the site which aimed at establishing the exact dimensions of the two monoliths and their possible use in the construction of the gigantic Jupiter temple.{{harvnb|Ruprechtsberger|1999|pp=9–11}} According to their calculations, the block weighs c. {{Convert|1000|t|lbs}},{{harvnb|Ruprechtsberger|1999|p=15}}, the calculation is based on a length of 21 m. thus practically confirming older estimations such as that of Jean-Pierre Adam.{{harvnb|Adam|1977|p=52}}: 970 t

The rectangular stone block is:

{{convert|20.31|–|20.76|m|ft}} long{{harvnb|Ruprechtsberger|1999|p=15}}
{{convert|4|m|ft}} wide at the base
{{convert|4.14|–|5.29|m|ft}} wide at the top
{{convert|4.21|–|4.32|m|ft}} high
Has an estimated density of {{convert|2.6|–|2.8|g/cm3|abbr=on}}

There are multiple stories behind the name. One says the monolith is named after a pregnant woman who tricked the people of Baalbek into believing that she knew how to move the giant stone if only they would feed her until she gave birth.{{harvnb|Ruprechtsberger|1999|pp=12f.}} Others say the name comes from the legends that pregnant jinn were assigned the task of cutting and moving the stone,{{cite book|last=Hanauer|first=James Edward|title=Folk-lore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian, and Jewish|url=https://archive.org/details/folkloreholylan00unkngoog|access-date=12 March 2013|year=1907|publisher=Duckworth & Company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/folkloreholylan00unkngoog/page/n100 74]–}} while others say that the name reflects the belief that a woman who touches the stone experiences an increase in fertility.{{cite book|last=Doyle|first=Paul|title=Lebanon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzsRk0hvb_MC&pg=PA213|access-date=12 March 2013|date=2012-03-01|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides|isbn=9781841623702|pages=213–}}

Stone of the South

File:Baalbek- largest stone.jpg

The Stone of the South ({{langx|ar|حجر القبلي|Ḥajar el-Guble}}), also called the Second Monolith, was rediscovered in the same quarry in the 1990s. With its weight estimated at {{Convert|1,242|t|lbs}}, it surpasses even the dimension of the Stone of the Pregnant Woman.{{harvnb|Ruprechtsberger|1999|p=17}} (There is some confusion over the naming, due to its location having been forgotten, and accordingly some sources identify "Stone of the South" as an alternate name of the Stone of the Pregnant Woman.)

These are dimensions of the rectangular stone block, assuming that its shape is consistent in its still-buried parts:

{{convert|19.5|–|20.5|m|ft}} long
{{convert|4.34|–|4.56|m|ft}} wide
{{convert|4.5|m|ft}} high
Has an estimated density of {{convert|2.6|–|2.8|g/cm3|abbr=on}}

Forgotten Stone

File:Megaliths in Baalbek quarry 10200.JPG

The Forgotten Stone, also called the Third Monolith, was discovered in the same quarry in 2014 by archaeologists from the German Archaeological Institute. Its weight is estimated at around {{Convert|1500|t|lbs}}, making it the largest stone ever quarried.{{Cite web| title = Archaeologists Discover The World's Largest Ancient Stone Block| work = io9| access-date = 2014-11-29| url = http://io9.com/archaeologists-discover-the-worlds-largest-ancient-ston-1664281050}}

It is {{Convert|19.6|m|ft}} long, {{Convert|6|m|ft}} wide, and at least {{Convert|5.5|m|ft}} high.

References

= Bibliography =

{{Citation

| last = Adam

| first = Jean-Pierre

| title = À propos du trilithon de Baalbek: Le transport et la mise en oeuvre des mégalithes

| journal = Syria

| volume = 54

| issue = 1/2

| year = 1977

| pages = 31–63

| url = http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/syria_0039-7946_1977_num_54_1_6623

| language = fr

| doi=10.3406/syria.1977.6623

}}

{{cite book |last=Hastings |first=James |author-link=James Hastings |title=A Dictionary of the Bible Dealing with Its Language, Literature, and Contents |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yk1CKgPRKtAC |volume=IV, Pt. II |orig-date=1898 |date=2004 |publisher=University Press of the Pacific in Honolulu |isbn=978-1-4102-1729-5}}
{{citation |last=Jessup |first=Samuel |contribution=Ba'albek |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzdQAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA453 |pages=453–476 |editor-last=Wilson |editor-first=Charles William |editor-link=Charles William Wilson |display-editors=0 |title=Picturesque Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt, Div. II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzdQAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA13 |location=New York |publisher=D. Appleton & Co., illustrated by Henry Fenn & J.D. Woodward |date=1881 }}
{{Cite journal |last=Massih |first=Jeanine Abdul |date=2015 |title=The Megalithic Quarry of Baalbek: Sector III the Megaliths of Ḥajjar al-Ḥibla |journal=Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies |publisher=Penn State University Press |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=313-329 |doi=10.5325/jeasmedarcherstu.3.4.0313 |jstor=10.5325/jeasmedarcherstu.3.4.0313}}
{{Citation

| last = Ruprechtsberger

| first = Erwin M.

| title = Vom Steinbruch zum Jupitertempel von Heliopolis/Baalbek (Libanon)

| journal = Linzer Archäologische Forschungen

| volume = 30

| pages = 7–56

| year = 1999

| language = de

|trans-title=From the quarry to the Jupiter temple of Heliopolis/Baalbek (Lebanon)

}}