Really, really old things

Lebanon is full of really really old things, which for two history nerds is pretty amazing. One example: we went on a long hike last weekend to the top of a mountain overlooking the Bekaa Valley. At the top of the mountain were the ruins of a Roman temple. And we could just climb all over the stones. Crazy, right? Things that would likely be encased in glass in a museum in the US are just out for us to climb all over.

Have you ever stood on Roman ruins? We have.

Way back during the Eid long weekend, we both had a chance to explore different really really old things with colleagues. Sorry not to have shared any of this sooner; apparently, we’re becoming Lebanese and no longer appreciate just how amazing these ancient ruins are.

Ruins in Byblos, overlooking the Mediterranean

Wade traveled to Byblos with Nick, who teaches English and History in the high school. Nick taught at independent schools in the US before working on a series of cool projects, including one to deliver education via radio programs in rural Sudan.

Wade and Nick

Byblos is just 40 km up the coast from Beirut, and was occupied as early as the 5^th millennium BC; it’s mentioned in the Bible, but it was called Gebal then. It’s thought to be the longest continually inhabited city in the world. In addition to temples dating back to the 4^th millennium BC, Byblos is home to much more recent really old things, like the Crusader castle.

Wade getting hands-on with some ruins.

Really old obelisks from a Phoenician temple.

More really old ruins in Byblos. Archeologists think this well is the oldest part of the city, dating back to the neolithic revolution.

More ruins from Byblos's past, with the modern city in the background.

The crusader castle.

Megan traveled to Baalbek with Abby, Kari, Amy, and one of Amy’s friends who was visiting for the weekend. Abby is the counselor for 9^th and 10^th grade students, so Megan spends a lot of time working with her at school. She was in Austin before coming over to Lebanon, and this is her first international school job as well. She also shares a penchant for great music and NPR podcasts. Kari teaches first grade and was also new to ACS this year; she taught most recently in Guatemala and, before that, taught in a town of 300 people in rural northern Alaska. Amy teaches fifth grade and, in addition to a few years at ACS, taught in Senegal.

The ladies had a bit of a flat tire fiasco on the way to Baalbek; after changing one flat tire, they learned that another tire was basically glued together and would probably blow out at any time. Luckily, a very nice gas station owner hammered the rim of the flat tire back into place so that they could use the spare instead of the glued-together one. It probably helped their cause that they were five blond-ish American ladies.

The men at the repair station with, from left, Kari, Abby, Amy, Amy's friend, and Megan.

Baalbek was originally a Phoenecian city, with settlement dating to the 3^rd millennium BC. A temple dedicated to the god Baal in the 1^st century BC led to the city’s name – the “bek” refers to the Bekaa valley, where it is situated. It became part of the Roman Empire, and work began on its gigantic temples around 60 BC. Just to give you a sense of Baalbek’s scale, the Temple of Bacchus (actually dedicated to Venus, but the early name stuck) is the “small” temple at Baalbek, but it is actually larger than the Parthenon in Athens.

The "small" temple. For a sense of scale, look at Amy next to the fallen column at the bottom of the photo.

In front of the Temple of Bacchus.

The large temple, called the Temple of Jupiter, only has six columns still standing. However, those six columns are the largest in the world – almost 23 meters high! And yes, visitors are basically free to climb on any of the ruins.

Can you see the five ladies at the base of the Jupiter Temple columns? They really are HUGE.

Megan, with the Jupiter Temple in the background.

More really old things. All of those things that look like random stones are actually carved parts of the ruins and would probably be in a museum anywhere else.

Megan, like Wade, gets a kick out of touching ruins.

Really, touching ruins never gets old.

Really, really old things. They’re everywhere here. Come and visit and we promise that you’ll get to climb all over them, too!