The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-07-07

have been made in this paper to Da-
mascus, it Will be remembered that
Paul was converted on his way here,
and that when the governor sought to
apprehend him he was let down In a
basket through window and made
good his escape, and that during his
Residence here ''he preached Christ in
the synagogue; that He is the Son Of
God; and COMPOUNDED the Jews which
dwelt at Damascus, proving that this
Is the Very Christ" We are tempted
to think that 1T would take more than
the eloquent voice of Paul to disturb
the consummate Indifference Of the
average pipe smoking, coffee drinking,
| sleepy-eyed citizen of modern Damas-
Gus.
Standing among the ruins of this in
glorious city, you look upon the re-
mains of two distinct but blended civil
izations The popular natural reH-
gions which for centuries held Asia
captive, mingle the wrecks of their CO.
lossal architecture with the exquisite
forms that the artistic genius Of Greece
created. Camels, sheep and goats
craze on the grass which grows over
the fallen, crumbling columns and cap
itals, and the opening spring casts
| fresh, green garlands over these relies
of the dead past. Great columns lean
heavily against tottering walls, as If
determined to postpone their fall to the
| last moment, and over the scene of
| desolaton the white chain of the Leb-
anon, capped by perpetual snow, gives
a chilling look
THE RUINS OF BAALBEC.
| Here is the ancient Heliopolis of the
| Greeks and Romans, celebrated for its
| sun worship in the temple, which was
one Of the wonders of the world. Here
| you may witness how the pride and
pomp of paganfsn arrayed itself be-
| fore its death; here you see the ruins
Of an entire city, full Of disorder, poet
| ry, grandeur and as you study some
| of this enormous debris in detail you
find that nowhere is the Corinthian
acanthus carved with more delicacy
than on these gigantic blocks.
| The temples Of Baalbec, dating at
least from the reign of Antoninus Plus,
were erected on the acrepolis of the
| city which was placed on an eminence,
surrounded with gigantic walls. the
stones Of which belonged to that Phoe-
1 nician architecture which has earned
| the name Of Cyclopean.
First there was the great Temple of
Jupiter, which has preserved large
part of it's portico, its ornate archi-
trave, its futed columns, and a rich
profusion of decoration; then there was
the Temple Of the Sun, the ruins of
which clearly indicate its past gran
/ deur; and the last was what was
known as the Circular Temple, the only
| remains Of which are a. few highly dec
grated chapels. Passing through q
long passageway we enter court, sew
enty yards long by about eighty five
t feet vic which is in the form of hex
agon. with here and there rectangular
reeesses in the WALL each with columns
in front. From this hexagon originally
i q handsome portal led into the great
court, about one hundred and fifty
yards long by one hundred and TWEEN
ty.five wide, in the center of which
stood the basilica, while around were
rectangular recesses, called by the Ro-
| mans exedrae.
In front of this great court the prin-
cipal Temple Of Baalbec stood This
temple had columns running around It,
only six of which are now standing.
These are sixty feet in height, with
Corinthian capitals and bordered with
frieze. When the temple was in its
glory there We're seventeen columns on
either side of the temple and ten at
either end. fifty -four in all, the build
ing inclosed by them being two hun
bred and ninety feet long by one hun
bred and sixty feet broad. The masses
of broken columns and falling walls In
dictate not only the work of the tooth
of time" but the ruthless ravages Of
the Arabs, who have destroyed price
less treasures in art in order that they
might secure the iron clamps in tbs
columns. In the grand portico of the
temple there Is an Inscription, whicf
may be translated as follows: ''Ero the
great gods of HeIiopolis. For the safe
ty of the Lord Ant. Plus Aug. and Of
Julia Aug, the mother of our Lord o.
the Castro (here it is quite indistinct,
Senate. A devoted {subject) of thu
sovereigns (causeO the capitals of thu
columns of Antoninus, whilst in tlt
air Ito be), embossed with gold at hel
own expense.
Inc SpCOAii tclitplCI VI itlilPiS vi thi'
Sun, stands on a platform lower thar
that of the Great Temple; nineteen Oh
of the forty-six columns, each sixty
FIVE feet high, remain, and the capitals
and entablatures of the columns ant
the frieZes round them are as exqui
sitely executed as anything in Baalbec
The portal of the temple claims one'i
special attention. The door posts ar
monoliths, most richly ornamentet
with foliage and ginii; the architrave il
of three stones, on the lower side D
which is the figure of an eagle, the EN-
blem Of the sun, and the basement
which is one hundred by seventy feet
is ornamented most profusely. Bull
into the outer wall are three stones
the largest ever used in architecture
The temple was at one time called
T'rilithon, or three-stoned, probabl.
from these stupendous blocks. On,
stone measures sixty-four feet long
another sixty three feet eight inches
and third sixty three. Each is thir
teen feet high and thirteen feet thick
, and placed in the wall at height o
twenty feet above ground. 1t is still
an unsolved problem how they wer'
ever raised to their present position.
At the quarries in the Lebanon
, mountains, where doubtless the5
stones came from, examined an un
, finished block which is seventy on
feet long and nearly eighteen feet il