Prior to the first century BC there is little evidence for any religious architecture at Baalbek or in the Bekaa valley, but by the mid third century the ancient city of Baalbek-Heliopolis hosted one of the largest religious sanctuaries within the Roman Empire and at least forty temples of various sizes were constructed in the Bekaa valley. The northern Bekaa valley was included in the territory of the colony of Berytus in 15 BC and this study aims to understand the extent to which the Bekaa valley is a product of colonial landscape conversion.1 To achieve this aim the study evaluates sources for Baalbek and the Bekaa including previous archaeological research and the methodologies that have been used. The origins of settlement and cult practice at Baalbek-Heliopolis are examined along with the role the Ituraeans may have played at the site during the period of study. The chronology of the development of Baalbek-Heliopolis is considered alongside an assessment of the deities worshipped there including the so-called “Heliopolitan Triad”. The role of euergetism at Baalbek-Heliopolis is explored as well as the extent of Military involvement. GIS analysis is used to study the relationship of the temples at Baalbek-Heliopolis with the surrounding landscape. The study concludes by exploring the worship of Jupiter Heliopolitanus outside the Bekaa valley and its relation to cult at Baalbek- Heliopolis. The thesis comprehensively challenges the previous view that Baalbek-Heliopolis was a cult site dating back to the Bronze Age where the Phoenician deities Hadad and Astarte were worshipped. It replaces this with a picture of the development of a Roman city within a colonial context where a major religious centre developed with no links to earlier deities. As such the character of the colonial development is seen to be almost entirely intrusive in nature.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:639800 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Paturel, Simone |
| Publisher | University of Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/10443/2557 |
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