From: Subject: THE SECRET OF BAALBEK (CONCLUDED) Date: Sun, 4 May 2008 18:15:25 +0300 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="windows-1255" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://localhost:8780/pubs/journals/kronos/vol0603/003secrt.htm X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3198 THE SECRET OF BAALBEK (CONCLUDED)

THE SECRET OF BAALBEK (CONCLUDED)

IMMANUEL VELIKOVSKY

BAALBEK

In the valley that gives birth to two rivers of Syria -- the Orontes = flowing=20 to the north, and the Litani flowing to the south and west, between the=20 mountains of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, where roads from Palestine in the = south,=20 Damascus in the east, and the sea-coast on the west meet and run from = there to=20 Hamath in Upper Syria -- lie the ruins of Baalbek.

"When we compare the ruins of Baalbek with those of many ancient = cities=20 which we visited in Italy, Greece, Egypt, and in other parts of Asia = (and=20 Africa), we cannot help thinking them to be the remains of the boldest = plan we=20 ever saw attempted in architecture. Is it not strange then, that the = age and=20 the undertaker of the works, in which solidity and duration have been = so=20 remarkably consulted, should be a matter of such obscurity. .=20 .?"(1)

From the time when this was first written, in the fifties of the = eighteenth=20 century, and till today, nothing was added to dispel the obscurity which = envelops the origin of this temple city.(2) The excavations undertaken = there=20 brought no solution to the problem of its origin or the nature of its = cult.(3)=20 No early inscriptions were found.

Throngs of travelers who spend their day wandering among the ruins of = a=20 magnificent acropolis go away without having heard what the role of the = place=20 was in ancient times, when it was built, or who was the builder. The = pyramids,=20 the temples of Karnak and Luxor, the Forum and Circus Maximus in Rome = were=20 erected by builders whose identity is generally known. The marvellous = site in=20 the valley on the junction of roads running to Hamath is a work of = anonymous=20 authors in unknown ages. It is as if some mysterious people brought the = mighty=20 blocks and placed them at the feet and in front of the snow-capped = Lebanon, and=20 went away unnoticed. The inhabitants of the place actually believe that = the=20 great stones were brought and put together by Djenoun, mysterious = creatures,=20 intermediate between angels and demons.(4)

________________________=20

1. Robert Wood, The Ruins of Palmyra and Baalbek (Royal = Geographical=20 Society, London, 1827), Vol. III, p. 58; first published as The = Ruines of=20 Baalbec (1757).
2. "Wir wissen aussert wenig von dem Schicksal = Baalbeks=20 in Altertum", O. Puchstein, Führer durch die Ruinen von = Baalbek (Berlin=20 1905), pp. 3-4.
3. "Es war leider bei den an glänzenden Erfolgen = so reichen=20 Ausgrabungen eine Enttäuschung, dass sie uber das wesen des Gottes = und die=20 Geschichte seiner Verehrung nichtsgelehrt hat." H. Winnefeld, = Baalbek,=20 Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen von 1895-1905, ed. = by Th.=20 Wiegand, Vol. II (Berlin, 1923), p. 110.
4. C. F. Volney, Voyage = en Syrie=20 et en Égypte, pendent les années 1783-1785 (Paris, = 1787), p. 224.=20

SOLOMON'S BAALBEK

Local tradition, which may be traced to the early Middle Ages, points = to a=20 definite period in the past when Baalbek was built: the time of = Solomon.

Idrisi, the Arab traveler and geographer (1099-1154), wrote: "The = great=20 (temple-city) of astonishing appearance was built in the time of = Solomon."(1)=20 Gazwini (d. 1823 or 4) explained the origin of the edifices and the name = of the=20 place by connecting it with Balkis, the legendary Queen of the South, = and with=20 Solomon.(2)

The traveler Benjamin of Tudela wrote in the year 1160 of his visit = to=20 Baalbek: "This is the city which is mentioned in Scripture as Baalath in = the=20 vicinity of the Lebanon, which Solomon built for the daughter of = Pharaoh. The=20 place is constructed with stones of enormous size."(3)

Robert Wood, who stayed at Baalbek in the 1750's, and who published = an=20 unsurpassed monograph on its ruins, wrote: "The inhabitants of this = country,=20 Mohomedans, Jews and Christians, all confidently believe that Solomon = built=20 both, Palmyra and Baalbek."(4)

Another traveler who visited Syria in the eighties of the eighteenth = century=20 recorded: "The inhabitants of Baalbek assert that this edifice was = constructed=20 by Djenoun, or genies in the service of King=20 Solomon."(5)

________________________=20

1. Idrisi in P. Jaubert, Géographie d'Edrisi (Paris, = 1836-1840), I,=20 p. 353 quoted by C. Ritter, Die Erdkunde, Vol. XVII (Berlin, = 1854), p.=20 224.
2. Al-Qazwini Zakariya ibn Muhammad Kosmographie, H. F. = Wüstenfeld ed. (Berlin, 1848-49),II, p. 104.
3. A. Asher tr. and = ed., The=20 Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela (N. Y., 1840-41).
4. R. Wood, = The=20 Ruins of Palmyra and Baalbek (London, 1827), p. 58.
5. C. F. = Volney, op.=20 cit., p. 224.=20

ON -- AVEN

The identification of Bikat Aven, referred to in Amos 1:5 with the = plain of=20 Coele-Syria is generally accepted.(1) The text, already quoted, reads: = "I will=20 break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the = plain of=20 Aven . . ." The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Bible by the = Seventy,=20 renders the above text as "the valley of On," written the same as On (or = Heliopolis) in Egypt. The Hebrew spellings of Aven and On do not differ = in=20 consonants; and vocals were inserted in the texts by the Masoretes in a = late=20 period. On is the Hebrew name of Heliopolis in Egypt, pronounced also as = Aven,=20 as in Ezekiel 30:17; Bikat Aven is the name of the plain of Baalbek in = Amos.=20 Tradition has it also that the cult of Baalbek was brought there from = Heliopolis=20 in Egypt.(2)

[*!* Image]=20

Hosea, however, called by the name of Aven (Beth-Aven) the cities of = Bethel=20 and Dan;(3) and he spoke of "high places" there, and in the instance = where he=20 referred to "the sin of Israel" he obviously meant Dan.(4)

Amos, who in the eighth chapter speaks against the worshippers at = Dan, in=20 chapter one speaks against the plain of Aven -- and thus, comparing = Hosea and=20 Amos, one wonders whether Amos 1:5 speaks of Baalbek or of Dan.

The expression Bikat* Aven, or the Valley (Plain) of Aven in Amos = impelled=20 the exegetes and commentators to refer the place to Coele-Syria, and = this=20 because Bi'qa is the specific name of the Coele-Syrian plain -- still in = use=20 today. The very name Baalbek is generally explained as the Baal of Bi'qa = or=20 Bekaa -- of the valley.

* Editor's Note: The Hebrew word bikat can be = translated=20 as either plain or valley. -- LMG

Baalbek is situated in the valley between Lebanon and Hermon. Of Dan = it is=20 also said that it was situated in a valley:

". . . And it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-Rehob. And they = built a=20 city, and dwelt therein."(5)

________________________=20

1. E. Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine and the Adjacent = Regions (London 1874), Vol. III, pp. 519-520.
2. Lucian, De = Dea=20 Syria, par. 5; Macrobius, Saturnalia I. 23: Assyrii quoque = Solem=20 sub nomine Jovis, quen Dia Heliopoliten cognominant, maximis ceremoniis = in=20 civitate que Heliopolis nuncupatur. Ejus dei simulacrum sumtum est de = oppido=20 Aegypti, quod et ipsum Heliopolis apellatur, regnante apud Aegyptios = Senemure;=20 perlatum est primum in eam per Opiam, legatum Deleboris, regis = Assyriorum,=20 sacerdotesque Aegyptios, quorum princeps fuit Partemetis, diuque habitum = apud=20 Assyrios, postea Heliopolim commigravit.
3. Hosea 10:5.
4. Hosea=20 10:8.
5. Judges 18:28.=20

BAALATH, BAALGAD, BAAL ZAPHON, BAALMELECH

Is Baalbek the Scriptural Baalath, as Benjamin of Tudela thought? = About=20 Baalath it is said: "And Solomon built . . . Baalath, and Tadmor in the=20 wilderness."(1) Tadmor is Palmyra, far to the northeast of Baalbek.(1a) = Baalath=20 is said to have belonged to the tribe of Dan.(2)

Or, is Baalbek the Scriptural Baal Gad? deliberated a few = scholars.(3) It is=20 said: "Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon under mount Hermon."(4) In the = valley=20 of Lebanon under mount Hermon lies Baalbek. If this identification is = correct=20 then Baalbek was inside the Israelite kingdom. However, against this = supposition=20 of Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon it was argued that the Israelite = kingdom=20 never embraced the area of Coele-Syria, or the valley between Lebanon = and Hermon=20 (Anti-Lebanon).(5)

Some writers would regard Baalath and Baal Gad as two names of one = place and=20 would locate it at Baalbek.(6)

If Solomon built in Palmyra in the desert between Syria and = Mesopotamia, the=20 region of Coele-Syria between Lebanon and Hermon could certainly be in = the area=20 of his building activity, argued these scholars. But placing Baal Gad in = Coele-Syria, where would they place Dan, the northernmost point of the = Kingdom=20 of Israel? To keep Dan in Galilee and to place Baal Gad, an Israelite = city, one=20 hundred fifty kilometers farther to the north will not stand up against = the=20 indisputable fact that Dan was the northernmost city in Israel.

Some scholars, looking for Baalbek in the Scriptures, identified it = with=20 Baal-Hamon, referred to in the Song of Songs.(7) And again, = Baal Hamon=20 is supposed to be another name for Baalath and Baal Gad (8)

Also Baal Zaphon, or Zeus Cassius, was proposed as Baalbek.(9) In = this=20 connection it can be said that, according to the Talmud, Gad was the = name of the=20 planet Jupiter;(10) and Zeus Cassius signifies Jupiter of Lebanon; and = Hamon was=20 supposed to be a Syrian form of the name Amon(11) who, according to the = Greek=20 authors, was Zeus-Jupiter.(12)

All this together, if correct, points toward the cult of Jupiter in = Baalbek,=20 a matter to which we shall return in one of the next sections.

Besides Baal Gad, Baal Zaphon or Zeus Cassius, Baal Hamon, and = Baalath, one=20 more name is identified as Baalbek: Baalmelech, or "the royal=20 Baal".(13)

________________________=20

1. I. Kings 9:17-18.
1a. [Cf. K. Michalowski, Palmyra = (N.Y.,=20 1968); Dictionary of the Bible, edited by J. Hastings (Rev. = ed., N.Y.,=20 1963), "Tadmor"; The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, = edited by=20 H. S. Gehman (Phila., 1974), "Tadmor". -- LMG]
2. Joshua 19:44.
3. = Michaelis, Supplementa ad lexica hebraica (Göttingen, = 1784-1792), pp.=20 197-201; Ritter, Die Erdkunde, Vol. XVII, pp. 229-230; E. F. C. = Rosenmüller, The Biblical Geography of Asia Minor, Phoenicia = and=20 Arabia, tr. by N. Morren (Edinburgh, 1841), I. ii,, pp. 280-281; W. = H.=20 Thomson, "Baalbek" on Encyclopaedia Britannica (14th ed.), vol. = II, p.=20 835.
4. Joshua 11:17; cf. St. Jerome, Onomastica, article ;=20 "Baalgad"
5. E Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, Vol. I = (first ed.,=20 Berlin, 1884), p. 364, note; Robinson, Biblical Researches, = III, p.=20 410, n. 2.
6. Cf. Robinson, Biblical Researches, III, p. = 519;=20 Ritter, Die Erdkunde Vol. XVII, pp. 229-230.
7. Song of=20 Songs 8:11.
8. G. H. von Schubert, Reise in das Morgenland = in den=20 Jahren 1836 und 1837 (Erlangen, 1838, 1839);Wilson, Lands of = the=20 Bible, Vol. II, p. 384.
9. O. Eissfeldt, Tempel und Kulte = syrischer=20 Städte in heenistischrömischer Zeit (Leipzig, 1941), p. = 58.
10. F. H. W.=20 Gesenius, Thesaurus philologicus linguae hebraeae et chaldeae = Veteris=20 Testamenti (Leipzig, 1829), p. 264.
11. Michaelis, = Supplementa ad=20 lexica hebraica, p. 201; Rosenmüller, Biblical = Geography, I. ii,=20 p. 281; Wilson, Lands of the Bible, II, p. 384.
12. = Herodotus,=20 Histories II. 42; Diodorus Siculus I.13.2.
13. G. Hoffman,=20 "Aramäische Inschriften, "Zeitschrift für = Assyriologie, XI (1896), p.=20 46. [Cf. Worlds in Collision, p. 175; D. Cardona, "Saturn as = King,"=20 KRONOS IV:3, pp. 91-92. -- LMG]=20

THE TRILITHON

Already in the last century it was observed that the Acropolis of = Baalbek and=20 the temples built on it date from different epochs. The massive = substratum --=20 the great base of the acropolis -- appears to be of an earlier date; the = three=20 temples on the substratum, of a later date.

It is even probable that the wall of the acropolis did not originate = in one=20 epoch. Among the stones of which it is built there are three* of an = unusual size=20 -- almost twenty meters long. Each of them weighs about one thousand = tons. These=20 huge monoliths are incased in the wall. The question arises whether they = are not=20 the survivals of the original cyclopean structure -- that which carried = the name=20 Rehob, or Beth-Rehob, and which served as a landmark for the scouts = dispatched=20 by Moses in their survey of Canaan, and for the emissaries of the tribe = of Dan=20 in their search for the territory in the north. Like Stonehenge in Great = Britain, or Tiahuanaco in the Andes, it may have originated in an early = time --=20 not necessarily neolithic, since it appears that these stones are = subjected to=20 hewing by metal tools.

* Editors Note: The three massive slabs imbedded in the = Baalbek=20 wall received their combined name of trilithon from = historians of=20 Byzantine times, but they do not constitute a trilithon in the modern = sense of=20 the word. -- DC

[*!* Image]=20

In the quarry a mile away is found another stone of comparable size, = cut out=20 of the rock from all but one side; it appears that this stone of more = perfect=20 cut was quarried in a later time, possibly in the days of Jeroboam, or = even=20 later; but, for probably mechanical considerations, the work was not = finished=20 and the stone not removed, and the emulation of the early builders not=20 completed.(1)

In another place I intend to return to the problem of the Trilithon = of=20 Baalbek, when treating cyclopean buildings and the mechanical means of = quarrying=20 and transporting these monoliths.

1. See the recent discussion by Jean-Pierre Adam, "À propos du = trilithon de=20 Baalbek, Le transport et la mise à l'oeuvre des = mégalithes," Syria LIV=20 (1977), pp. 31-63.

THE EMBOSSED QUADERS

Aside from the incased trilithon, the attention of the visitor to = Baalbek who=20 inspects the wall of the acropolis is drawn to stones of a bossed shape = with an=20 indented rim on all four sides of the face of the stone.

[*!* Image]=20

O. von Richter in 1822(1) and S. Wolcott in 1843(2) drew attention to = the=20 fact that the quaders of the wall of the temple area of the acropolis of = Baalbek=20 have the same form as the quaders of the Temple of Solomon, namely, of = the=20 surviving western (outer) wall, or Wailing Wall. The Roman architects, = wrote=20 Wolcott, never built foundations or walls of such stones; and of the = Israelite=20 period it is especially the age of Solomon that shows this type of stone = shaping=20 (chiseling). The photograph of the outer wall of Baalbek's temple area=20 illustrates that the same art of chiseling was employed in the = preparation of=20 stones for its construction. Whatever the time of construction of other = parts of=20 Baalbek's compound -- neolithic, Israelite, Syrian, Greek, or Roman -- = this=20 fundamental part of the compound must have originated in the same = century as the=20 surviving (western) wall of the area of Solomon's temple. [Cf. G.M. = Lamsa,=20 "Solomon's Lost Temple,"New Magazine, Feb. 1967 -- = LMG]=20

[*!* Image] _______________________=20

1. O. von Richter, Wallfahrt, p. 88; quoted by Ritter, = Die=20 Erdkunde, XVII, p. 231.
2. S. Wolcott, "Notices of Jerusalem; = and=20 Excursion to Hebron and Sebeh or Masada; and Journey from Jerusalem = northwards=20 to Beirut, etc." in Bibliotheca Sacra (1843), p. 82; quoted by = Ritter,=20 Die Erdkunde, XVII, p. 232.=20

THE TEMPLES OF THE ACROPOLIS

The buildings on the flat plateau of the Acropolis have columns with = capitals=20 of Corinthian style. The time of the origin of these temples is = disputed. An=20 author of the last century(1) brought forth his arguments against a late = date=20 for the temples atop the acropolis; he would not agree to ascribe them = to the=20 Roman period, or Greek period; he dated them as originating in an early = Syrian=20 period: the Romans only renovated these buildings in the second century = of the=20 present era.

The opinions of scholars are divided over whether these buildings can = be=20 ascribed to Roman times, though the source of the designs on the = doorways and=20 the ceiling and in the capitals of the columns speak for a Roman origin. = When=20 the Roman authorship of the buildings is denied, the Romans are credited = only=20 with renovating the structures.

The Emperor who is sometimes said to have built the largest of the = temples in=20 the temple area -- that of Jupiter -- is Aelius Antoninus Pius = (138-161). The=20 source of this information is the history of John of Antioch, surnamed = Malalas,=20 who lived not earlier than in the seventh century of this era, and wrote = that=20 Antoninus Pius built a temple for Jupiter at Heliopolis, near the = Lebanon in=20 Phoenicia, which was one of the wonders of the world.(2)

Julius Capitolinus, who wrote the annals of Antoninus Pius and = enumerated the=20 buildings he erected, offers no material support for the assertion made = by the=20 Syrian writer of the early Middle Ages. Though Antoninus Pius did build = in=20 Baalbek, as is evidenced by his inscriptions found there,(3) his = activity was=20 restricted to reparation of the temples or the construction of one of = the=20 edifices in the temple area.(4) The work in its entirety could not have = been his=20 because Lucian, his contemporary, calls the sanctuary of Baalbek already = ancient, and because Pompey had already found it in existence and Trajan = consulted its oracle.

The style of the temples caused the same divergence of opinion as the = style=20 of the surviving ruins of Palmyra. Some regard them as Roman,(5) others = as=20 Hellenistic and Oriental.(6) They are sometimes

[*!* Image]=20

INSERT KVI3_12.JPG HERE

called East-Roman.(7) In the case that only the ornamentation is of = the Roman=20 period the question may arise whether the walls and the columns of these = buildings could be of as early a period as the seventh century before = the=20 present era, or the time of Manasseh, of whom Pseudo-Hippolytus says = that he=20 reconstructed Baalbek, built originally in the time of=20 Solomon.(8)

_____________________

1. See von Schubert, Reise in das Morgenland, op. cit., Vol. = III, p.=20 325.
2. Chronographia in Corpus Scriptorum Historiae = Byzantinae 11,=20 p. 280.
3. Robinson, Biblical Researches, III, p. 509.
4. = Robinson suggested that "Antonine rebuilt the great temple of the Sun; = and=20 erected the lesser temple to Jupiter Baal" (Biblical = Researches, III,=20 p. 520, n.6).
5. O. Puchstein in Th. Wiegand ed., Palmyra = (Berlin,=20 1932).
6. B. Schulz in Wiegand ed., Palmyra.
7. H. = Winnefeld, B.=20 Schulz, Baalbek (Berlin, Leipzig, 1921, 1923).
8. L. = Ginzberg,=20 Legends of the Jews (Philadelphia, 1928), VI, p. 375. [Cf. = "Jerusalem=20 City of Venus," KRONOS III:3, pp. 70-72. -- LMG]=20

THE CALF

It was almost a common feature in all places where pilgrims gathered = to=20 worship at a local cult that diminutive images of the deity were offered = for=20 sale to them. Also small figures of the god or of his emblem in precious = or=20 semi-precious metals were brought by worshippers as a donation to the = temple=20 where the large scale figure had its domicile.

In Baalbek archaeological work produced very few sacred objects or = figures=20 that could shed light on the worship of the local god. "It was a = disappointment,=20 next to the brilliant success of so rich an excavation, that nothing was = learned=20 of the nature of the deity and the history of its worship."(1)

Figures of Jupiter Heliopolitanus standing between two bullocks or = calves=20 have been found at Baalbek, dating from Roman times.(2) In addition, an = image of=20 a calf was also found.

The only figure of an earlier time found in Baalbek is an image of a = calf.=20 Since it is to be expected that images found in an ancient temple are=20 reproductions of the main deity worshipped in the holy enclosure, it is=20 significant that the holy image in the temple of Baalbek was that of a = calf, and=20 of no other animal.*

* Editor's Note: The image of the calf that was found = could also=20 have been a votive offering having nothing to do with the nature or = character=20 of the deity being worshipped. -- DC

[*!* = Image]=20

The name Baal-Bek (Baal-Bi'qa) is sometimes transmitted by Arab = authors as=20 Baal bikra, or Baal of the Steer or Calf, which is the way of = folk=20 etymology to adapt the name to the form of the worship practiced in the = temple.=20 This, together with the finding of the images of the calf in the area of = the=20 temple, strengthens the impression that the god of Baalbek was a=20 calf.

______________________=20

1. Winnefeld in Wiegand, Baalbek, op. cit., Vol. II(1923), = p.=20 110.
2. René Dussaud, "Jupiter héliopolitain," = Syria I (1920), pp.=20 3-15; Nina Jidejian, Baalbek Heliopolis "City of the Sun" = (Beirut,=20 1975), ill. no. 135-140.=20

THE ORACLE OF BAALBEK

Baalbek or, as the Romans called it, Heliopolis, was venerated in the = Roman=20 world as the place of an old cult of an ancient oracle, and it rivalled=20 successfully other venerated temples of the Roman Empire.

It is known that the Emperor Trajan, before going to war against the=20 Parthians in the year 115, wrote to the priests of Baalbek and = questioned its=20 oracle. The oracle remained in high esteem at least as late as the = fourth=20 century of the present era, when Macrobius in his Saturnalia = wrote of=20 Baalbek: "This temple is also famous for its oracles."(1)

Was it the ancient oracle of Micah? In the words of Jeremiah, shortly = before=20 the Babylonian exile of -- 586 in which he spoke of "a voice . . . from = Dan",(2)=20 we had the last biblical reference to the oracle of Micah. In the days = of=20 Jeremiah the oracle must have been seven or eight hundred years old. Did = it=20 survive until the days of Trajan and even later, until the days of=20 Macrobius?

In the Tractate Pesahim of the Babylonian Talmud is written the = following=20 sentence: "The image of Micah stands in Bechi."(3) Bechi is known as the = Hebrew=20 name for Baalbek in the time of the Talmud. As we have seen, in the Book = of=20 Exodus it is recounted that the Danites, migrating to the North, took = with them=20 Micah and his idol, and that it was placed in Dan of the North. The = Talmud was=20 composed between the second and the fifth centuries of the present = era.

This passage in the Tractate Pesahim is a strong argument for the = thesis of=20 this essay, namely that Baalbek is the ancient = Dan.(4)

___________________=20

1. Sat. I. 23. 12.
2. Jeremiah 4:15.
3. Pesahim 117a; = see=20 Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, VI, p. 375.
4. The readers of = this=20 passage probably understood it in the sense that Micah's oracular image, = after=20 being removed from the temple of Dan, was placed in Baalbek. Baalbek = being Dan,=20 such an interpretation is superfluous.=20

TWO PROBLEMS: A SUMMARY

The problems will be put side by side. Dan was the abode of the old = oracle of=20 Micah. Jeroboam built there a "house of high places", or a temple. = Previously,=20 he was the builder of Jerusalem's wall under Solomon; before becoming = king of=20 the Northern Kingdom he lived as an exile in Egypt. He introduced the = cult of=20 the calf in Dan.

The new temple was built to contest and to surpass the temple of = Jerusalem.=20 It became the gathering place of the Ten Tribes, or "the sin of Israel", = and=20 pilgrims from Judah also went there.

The prophets, who opposed the cult of Dan, called the place Aven, = like Aven,=20 or On (Heliopolis) in Egypt.

Its oracle was still active in the days of Jeremiah, in the beginning = of the=20 sixth century.

Dan was the northernmost city of the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes, and = the=20 capital of the tribe of Dan. It was situated in a valley. If Baal Gad, = between=20 the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon was not the same place, Dan must have = been more=20 to the north.

The place was at the point where the roads meet that run toward = Hamath.

No ruins of this temple-city are found. Where was Dan and its = temple?

* * *

Remains of a great temple-city are preserved in Baalbek. At the = beginning of=20 the present era it was described as already ancient. It bore the name of = Heliopolis, like the Egyptian On, or Aven (Ezekiel); and Amos, who spoke = against=20 the worshippers at Dan, prophesied the desolation of Bikat-Aven, or the = Valley=20 of Baalbek.

Its cult was introduced from Egypt. During excavations, the figure of = a calf=20 was unearthed.

The temple possessed an old oracle. The Talmud contains the = information that=20 the oracle of Micah (which according to the Book of Judges was in Dan) = stands in=20 Baalbek.

Local tradition assigns the building of the temple of Baalbek to the = time of=20 Solomon. The wall of the temple area is built of great stone blocks of = the same=20 peculiar shape as those of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, the remains of = the=20 outer wall of the temple area erected by Solomon.

Baalbek lies in a valley (Bi'qa) between the Lebanon and the = Anti-Lebanon,=20 and on the junction of the roads that connect Beirut from the west and = Damascus=20 from the east with Hamath in the north.

The history of the temple-city of Baalbek in pre-Roman times is not = known,=20 neither is its builder known, nor the time when it was built.

* * *

Two problems -- when was Baalbek built and who was its builder, and = where was=20 Dan and what was the fate of its temple -- have a common answer.

The tradition as to the age of the acropolis and temple area of = Baalbek is=20 not wrong. Only a few years after Solomon's death the house of the high = places=20 of Dan-Baalbek was built by Jeroboam.* Possibly, Solomon had already = built a=20 chapel for the oracle, besides the palace for his Egyptian wife.

* [See I. Velikovsky, "Theses for the Reconstruction of Ancient = History,"=20 Scripta Academica Hierosolymitana (N. Y., 1945), Thesis No. = 62 and=20 Thesis No. 63. -- LMG]

The Djenoun who, according to Arab tradition, built Baalbek = for=20 Solomon were apparently the tribesmen of Dan. In the Hebrew tradition, = too, the=20 tribesmen of Dan, because of the type of worship in their capital, were = regarded=20 as evil spirits. In the corrupted name of Delebore, who, according to = Macrobius,=20 was the king who built Baalbek and introduced there the cult of = Heliopolis from=20 Egypt, it is possible to recognize the name of Jeroboam who actually = returned=20 from Egypt before he built "the house of the high places".

* * * * *

EDITORIAL POSTSCRIPT:

Velikovsky's essay on Baalbek was planned to include a discussion = of the=20 names by which this place was known in Egyptian texts. This part was not = written, but a few notes of his, scattered among his papers, may help us = to=20 follow his reasoning. One note reads: "Dunip (Tunip) of the el-Amarna = letters=20 and other ancient sources was Dan. It was also Kadesh of Seti's = conquest.=20 Finally, the place is known as Yenoam ('Yahwe speaks') which refers to = the=20 oracle."

Tunip: As Velikovsky noted in "From the End of the=20 Eighteenth Dynasty to the Time of Ramses II" (KRONOS III:3, p. 32) = certain=20 scholars(e.g., Gauthier) have identified Tunip with Baalbek, though = others=20 (e.g., Astour) have disputed the link. Thutmose III recorded the capture = of=20 Tunip in the 29th year of his reign; an inscription recounts the = Egyptian king's=20 entering the chamber of offerings and making sacrifices of oxen, calves, = etc. to=20 Amon and Harmachis. The el-Amarna letters indicate that the same gods = were=20 worshipped at Tunip as in Egypt

On the walls of a Theban tomb of the time of Thutmose III (that = of=20 Menkheperre-Seneb), among paintings of foreigners of various nations, = there is=20 one of a personage from Tunip, carrying a child in his arms. Velikovsky = thought=20 that, possibly, it was a depiction of Jeroboam, and that the painting=20 illustrated the passage in the First Book of Kings (11:40): "And = Jeroboam arose,=20 and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak, king of Egypt. . ."

Among the considerations which led Velikovsky to identify Tunip = with=20 Dan-Baalbek were (1) Tunip was located in the general area of Baalbek, = with some=20 scholars asserting that the two were one and the same. (2) There was a = temple of=20 Amon at Tunip; the Roman equivalent of Amon -- Jupiter -- was worshipped = at=20 Baalbek.

Kadesh of Seti's Conquest: This identification was = given in=20 brief in Velikovsky's article in KRONOS III:3, mentioned above. The = relevant=20 passage reads: "There is a mural that shows Seti capturing a city called = Kadesh.=20 Modern scholars recognized that this Kadesh or Temple City was not the = Kadesh=20 mentioned in the annals of Thutmose. Whereas the Kadesh of Thutmose was = in=20 southern Palestine, the Kadesh of Seti was in Coele-Syria. The position = of the=20 northern city suggested that it was Dunip, the site of an Amon temple = built in=20 the days of Thutmose III. Dunip, in its turn, was identified with = Baalbek."=20 Pseudo-Hippolytus (Sermo in Sancta Theophania in J. -P. Migne, = Patrologiae=20 Cursus Completus [Graecal Vol. 10, col. 705) gives the information that=20 Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, restored Baalbek. In his forthcoming Assyrian = Conquest, Velikovsky suggests that this could have been a reward for = Manasseh=20 for his "loyalty to the Assyrian-Egyptian axis".

Yenoam: Regarding Yenoam, I find only the following = among=20 Velikovsky's notes: "Yenoam-Dan (Yehu probably introduced the cult of = Yahwe at=20 Dan)." Yenoam, read in Hebrew, could be interpreted as "Ye [Yahwe] = speaks";=20 Velikovsky evidently saw in the name a reference to the oracle at Dan. = Yenoam is=20 mentioned among the towns taken by Thutmose III (he captured it soon = after=20 taking Megiddo). In the el-Amarna letter no. 197 there is a reference to = a town=20 named Yanuammu. Later, Seti recorded the despatching of an army against = Yenoam,=20 in the first year of his reign. Yenoam is once again mentioned on = Merneptah's=20 so-called Israel Stele; the claim is that it was "made non-existent" = In=20 Ramses II and His Time this deed is ascribed to = Nebuchadnezzar.

-- Jan N. Sammer

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