Evening star., 1899-02-04
CITY OF THE SUN GOD
Marvellous Ruins to Be Found in Asiatic
Turkey.
BaaI 'Bex AstOunds Us by It's Very
Observation-Disclosures of Masonry
Still Standing.
From the london Standard.

From the London Standard.
Baal 'Bek, the city of the sun god, lies at
the foot of Anti-Lebanon. In order to
reach it you must ride many miles over
bare brown plain, across ridges hoary with
olive and green with mulberry, between
massive hills streaked like the zebra. Sud-
denly out of the silent fields spring mighty
walls and pillars%giants who lift their
heads into the amber sky. The sight of
these superhuman columns, beside which
the tallest trees look like blades of grass,
fills with amaZement 1t is not alone
their size and strength and beauty that in
spire wonder, but their very existence in
ch solitude. far from the track of man
kind. We of the nineteenth century-meek
dependents on rail and steam-are so in the
habit of associatng cities with modern
means of communication that we are as
tcnished at the presence of massive ruins
in the heart of a valley remote from river
and sea.
AS we draw near our wonder grows for
out of the thick grove, whose dark
branches sweep and moan like a troubled
sea around the foot of imperishable cliffs,
there rise new walls and new columns,
massive, ornate, stately even in their
heaped confusion. This is the Temple of
the Sun-a relic of pagan worship that has
looked unmoved on the birth and death of
dynasties and faiths. Led as by some
enchantn4ent. we pass through the grove,
whose dark avenues, overgrown with weeds,
have echoed with the shreks of the vic
TINS of Baal. Lord of the Heavens There,
in the shadow of that poplar, may have
stood the molten image, the human figure
with a bulls head and outstretched arms.
from which children dropped into the fiery
lap. They caused their sons and daugh-
ters to pass through the fire. They made
themselves molten images, even two calves,
ard made grove, and worshiped all the
Won Xrn.l oil ,s.
not easy to associate these bloody rites
with such splenGor of design and colossal
workman ship, yet it is beyond dispute that
these walls have seen the worship of Baal
that here incense has been consumed in his
honor, that his priests, clothed in rich vest
ments. have t, Cdden these paths that here
mothers have looked on dry-eyed at the
sacrifice of their children, while the
screams of the burning victims were dead
ered with flute and drum.
SIX columns, graceful and gigantic, car
rying broken frieze-siX columns each
70 feet high and ~ feet in diameter-are
all that remain standing of this marvel of
paganism. The grove, whose tall poplars
look like grass growing out of assures in
the fallen walls, is silent. There is no
voice. nor any that anSWereth." We leave
the ghostly shade, and, walking down a
quiet country lane, reach the gate that
leads into the temple A Turkish guard
admits US. and in q moment we are plunged
into the gloom of Il vast vault-like passage
The flickering glare of torches reveals the
huge blocks of stone that shut out air and
sky. Emerging from these vaults. we ar
rive a the Acropols, and wander in grow
ing amazement, among the ruinous heaps
OF stone, so mOnStrouS in size, so perfect
in shape. so rich in carving as almost to
raise doubts of their human origin. 1t is
not that the ruins of great extent.
Those at Karnak-famliar to every tourist
in Egypt-and at Palmyra a wider
area. Their strength, the massive SIM
pltcity of their proportions, and the elab-
crate beauty of their ornament are the
things that move wonder and admiration
and make every modern palace and cathe-
dral dwindle into the insignificance of
paltry and ephemeral structure. The west
wall contains stones each from 81 to 81 feet
long, 13 feet thick, and as many broad.
What Titans hewed and placed these enor-
nous blocks that OppreSS us with the in
significance of the Church of st. Peter at
Rome and the meanness of the Coliseum?
What genius conceived and what cunning
hands wrought the elaborate tracery and
embroidery of frieze and capital and sculp-
tured architrave? Wherever your steps
lead you-through the space of the Acropo-
lis, in the Temple of Jupiter, in the Tenn
pie of the Sun-the same marvels of mason
ry appear. the same delicate embroidery of
stone, the same giants of hewn rock. And
the color! The deep orange stain wall
and pillar reflects the sunsets of thou
sand years"