The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1899-01-21

darkness had fed, 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 forgottens
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 getty of the
SUM- 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 at the time of the persecu-
ton of Herod. The story goes that the
Romans, who wnrshiped, among other
deities, the lord of the sun, Baal, stole
the golden god from the defeated Egyp-
tians, and carried it far up north into
the mountains of Arti-Lebanon, in
Syria. There they built a great acrop-
ellis on the foundations of much older
structures of the Phenicians. with tenn
piles, courts and columns by the thou
sands, and called 1t 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 Ito symbolic his driving
the horses of the chariot of the SUM-, In
his LEFT hand thunderbolt and ears Of
wheat.
Syria, as well rs northern Egypt, was
given up at one time to the worship Of
Baal. and Baalbec was the center of thai
worship. / could not but sympat hize
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 cloud, each
morning at sunrise the snow peaks Of
the Lebanon glowed like molten meta
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. upor
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 tn,
grandest temple of ancient or modcrl
times began.
Imagine the long line of priests
trumpeters and choristers waiting ane
watching, their faces turned to catcl
the first flush upon the snow peaks
which was announced by a mighty bias
upon hundred trumpets.
The moment the glowing edge up
peared above the eastern hills, 5Oi
voices of the choristers broke into
grand hymn to the sun-the god o
day, the lord of life.
Speaking of the structures, an EN-
inent writer upon such matters calls i
the "boldest plan ever attempted IL
architecture" Nothing that can sd,
or draw--alas will give you an ide'
of the overpowering immensely OF tn
buildings, particularly the great TEN
pie of the Sun, with its enormous fiutet
golden columns, that helped to refec
the glory of the coming day. Man,
people describe Baalbec as being bull
of white marble, but 1t is really In
durated lhardened) limestone, that ha
retained the wonderfully delicate de
tail of column and peristyle as sharpl.
as though II had been finished yester
day. And it is thrilling thought tina
our obelisk in Central park may hav
looked-nay did, in its far-off Egyptian
infancy, look into the very Temple o
the Sun, and saw cur golden god q
Heliopolis thousands Of PEARS age