Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-05-15

r0pn0lhg eQAces were built by geni and In PROOF OF
this hey POINT to the immense stones high the wallis
and ask xhat human power could place them there The
Jews sqE Vas built by Solomon; and it is thought by
some castle impregnable fortress which
Solomon ed the tower Of Lebanon The Greeks believe
IL 70 be M0media where Santa Barbara Saffered mar
tyrdom lsrre Bslon, French traveller, who visited
Bsslbsk mhb considered 1t to- be the ancient CESAR
Philpp WAsrs St. Paul makes mention Of having been
Ebut the poatms@ CESAR Phsippi has bssn definitely
6xAa fmqdern tra1ens~ ut Baneas nssr the eQpzS p
~ dsn Sons salS3Sd n . 1 - aseGrx m NJ
however, is x3Wl ~ ~ ~ ~ s. n
't&At Tho most reliable 10 ssfss Ii IN Si
that BaAlbsk is the ancient Hsiopols -5s Nj sss-
Twas disappohtedn in the ruins Of Baalbsk and this
is saying good deal There Is very ite to be seenin
ths old world that does produce disappointment for
r beeysany traveller who is willing confess the truth
Twill admit that reading about places Of this kind home
and seeing them with the naked eye altogether differ
ent things. The ruins Of Baalbek are among the few
sights one in the East that viii bear the test Of
nyi the they studied the greater the admire
on they excite and fone cannot go into the sentimen
tatss Of Lamartine he win see enough at least afford
both pleasure and wonder. 81. sss sa1 szs a--se /.
Modern Baabek is totally unworthy the name it bears
had imagined it to be something like Beirut in any
event not inferior to Trpo but the fact is it is mser
able village not much better than the meanest collection
Of novels we had seen on the road few scattered and
runous stone huts with fiat mud roofs the walls broken
the stones scattered ia piles through the and
filthy lanes two three aapidated mosques and Greek
convent constitute nearly all that exists Of Baabek ex
elusive of the ancient temples Travellers consequence
Of the difficulty Of procuring accommodation any of the
NIahoean houses are generally compelled to camp
sde seek for quarters the Greek convent which is
about tempting comfortable pgsty The hlsides
are covered with the ruins Of the ancient walls and the
whoe town. dapdated that tits difficult to distinguish
the houses from the general wreck Many portions Of the
ancient ruins built in among the novels forming
curious elange Of the sublime and the ridiculous In
the midst Of mudroofed huts may be standing out
in solitary relief the remains of beautiful Cornhian
column and some miserable doorway the choicest
specimen Of acorice supported by blocks
Some Of the Inhabitants oah TO destroy the work Of the
gen have built their huts around the Standing columns,
scattered here and there SO that in projecting through
the reof they form very pretty ornament Old arches
and gateways patched up and reodeled that little
else save the material remains to show their origin The
principal mosque is evidently ALL nearly all, rebuilt
from the ruinsof ancient ece portions of it being
put together rs destroy abthe harmony of the d
ferent parts believe is the work of the Turks /,
looks very much as if II was done by people Who
ignorsntof the difference between column cornice
From elevation little beyond the chief ruins ther,
is 6ne Of the Castle of Daalbe and the Temple
the SUM- These the principal objects Of interest q
made sketch Of theIn which is now before me; but
cannot undertake to describe them is mighty mas
Of ruins Of walls of columns and towers-a picture
dssslatisn made desoteby all that survives the
wages bf time The castle, or palace is long rambling
ed6ce Of immense walls and Wondering towers
u nbahI Ca
and some recent patching in white have been
done by the Turks who evidently have great taste for
putting columns where conces belong and patching up
dark old walls composed Of immense blocks with little
pieces Of white stone about foot square The enormous
size Of rome of the blocks of stone in the main walls Of
the palace is one Of the chief objects Of Three
Of these in the wa at the Of the grand temple,
measure sixty feet EACH and fern together surface Of
hundred and eighty feet in length and in width
all Of solid stone Considering the distance these have
from the quarry, the height to which they
have been elevated in the wall it would seem that the
people Of those days must have had very powerful
mechanical means of overcoming the difficulty 't
We took an Arab boy efthe village with guide,
ana made thorough exploration of the ruins have
imperfect recollection Of long subteraneah passages arch
ed over with tremendous stones very dark aud full Of
inches and queer places the Sides with broken busts Of
old kings and ruined ornaments and dim flashes Of light
through the openings aud very strong smell Of goats
and this is all tell you Of the palace II was
doubt wonderful place once and is yet but IL is hard
to get all the bearings of 1t in day or two There
hundpeds Of intricate passages to explore above and be-
low grand old chambers TO stairs Of solid marbles
inscriponsn in Roman; marble tombs Of old kings
pcrors grand old columns, cornioes, and frietes and
dont know how many other things crowd the brain
with and confuse the memory $zr1s = - zzs-7rs "a
The broken columns on the outside are scattered about
in melancholy profusion. Some Of the best have been
taken away the mosque Of Sultan Soman in
Consantnope but there is still enough to astonsh the
bebolder The Doc and heCornthian orders of archi-
lecture are apparent throughout the ruins the pure and
elegant Of the Greeks prevailing In some parts and
the pruuse magnifcenoe Of the Romans in others but
always with such admirable disposition Of the parts
to preserve the tone Of harmony and st afford pleas
ing variety At ,t2s Ef4"
The entrance into the Temple Of the Sun is one Of the
grandest things imaginable. 1t almost incredible the
amounof labor bestowed upon this single part the
rous carving the bassorelievos the tricacy and nge
nuity Of design, and the wonderful decacy of finish
Over head is immense block Of stone displaced by
conyulsion Of nature, and 1t hangs by few inches
each side forming remarkable feature in the ruin, The
carving is minute and beautiful the eagle and the cupds
universally admired Chief Of all, however is the
frontspece consisting Of immense number of figures
bassOreevo representing the mysteries and sacrifices
Of Paganisms There Is mass Of and animals in
most Paganistc confusion very wen executed and very
strangely designed Within the walls Of the sacred tenn
pie inches where stoodn former times statuay, and
beautiful specimens Of feres and other decorations
In order get on top we were obced to creep into 1T