Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1898-12-31

darkness had fled, and the full moon
was flooding the snowy peaks of Lee
Damon, and still against the mountains
of whiteness stood the six huge col
umns, their glorious capitals just COM
ing into the mysterious light. 1t
seemed as if they reached up to the
very stars. The people who built them
disappeared thousands of years ago,
and their history has been forgotten;
but the grandeur of their IDEA remains,
and men of to-day travel weary miles,
as we did, to come in touch with the
handiwork of men who never dreamed
that America existed.
The name Heliopclis ("City of the
Sun'O is a little confusing when used
in connection with the Baalbec of which
we are talking, because the former, you
will remember, is the name of the old,
cid city in the north of Egypt where
Joseph and Mary took the child Jesus
for safety al the time of the persecu-
tion of Herod. The story goes that the
Romans, who worshiped, among other
deities, the lord of the sum- Baal, stole.
the golden god from the defeated Egyp-
tiaEs, and carried it far up north into
the mountains of Arti-Leb banon, in
Syria. There they built great acrop-
ellis on the foundations of much older
structures of the Phenicians. with tenn.
pies. courts and columns by the thou
sands, and called it Heliopolis, the City
of the Sun. The tenacious natives con-
| tinued, nevertheless, to use their own
lame for the place, Baalbec. Baal was
sort of double divinity, both Jupiter
and the sun-beardless, life-sized fig
ure, of solid gold, holding in his right
| hand whip TO symbolic his driving
the horses of the chariot of the sum, in
his left hand thunderbolt and ears OF
wheat.
Syria. as well as northern Egypt, was
given up at one time to the worship of
Baal. and Baalbec was the center of that
worship. l could not but sympathize,
in part, with the symbol of their wor.
ship. Our camp was pitched in the
courtyard of one of the great temples.
| For two weeks, without a cloud, each
morning at sunrise the snow peaks of
the Lebanon glowed like molten metal
against the green-blue sky, the first
herald of the god of day.
The worship must have been an i'm.
posing one. The rising sun was waited
for by the priests of Baal, who watched
the summit of Dhahr ell Khodib, upon
whose western slope are situated the
cedars of Lebanon. The moment the
first rose-colored rays struck the snow
peaks, the great daily ceremony of the
grandest temple of ancient or modern
times began.
Imagine the long line of priests,
trumpeters and choristers waiting and
watching, their faces turned to catch
the first flush upon the snow peaks,
which was announced by mighty blast
upon hundred trumpets.
The moment the glowing edge up
peared above the eastern hills, 500
voices of the choristers broke into u
grand hymn to the sun-the god OF
day, the lord of life.
Speaking of the structures, an EN-.
inent writer upon such matters calls il
the "boldest plan ever attempted in
architecture" Nothing that l can say
or draw-alas!-will give you an idea
Of the overpowcring immensity OF the
buildings, particularly the great Tenn
pie of the Sun, with its enormous futed
golden columns, that helped TO reflect
the glory of the coming day. Many
people describe Baaibec as being built
of white marble, but it is really in
durated (hardened) limestone, that has
retained the wonderfully delicate de-
tail of column and peristyle as sharply
as though it had been finished yester-
day. And it is thrilling thought that
cur obelisk in Central park may have
looked-nay did, in its far-otf Egyptian
infancy, look into the very Temple OF
the Sun, and saw our golden god al
Heliopolis thousands of years ago.