Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1913-05-09

for the Berlin museums now possess many of the
finest examples of the carvings found there.
Baalbek is the name Of a ruined city of ancient
Coela-Syria, s~ignifying the Getty of Baal," the sun
god. The name was converted by the Greeks,
during the Seleucidian dynasty, into it's Greek
equivalent, Heliopolis. 1t is situated in latitude
81 degrees, l minute north, longitude SO degrees,
II minutes east, in the plain of Buka's, at the
northern extremity of a low range of bleak hills,
about one mile. from the base Of Antilibanon, in
a well watered and delightful locality, a little
more than 40 miles northwest of Damascus. 1t
was once the most magnificent of Syrian cities,
full of palaces. fountains and beautiful monu-
ments.
These ruins are known as the Acropolis and are
unique for their massfveness and for the great
amount of both bold and delicate carving with
which they are adorned. There is, indeed. so
much carving and such variety as to make ones
first visit bewildering. The temples being built
on a fiat plain, it was important to raise them
above the surrounding level to render them more
imposing, and to that end there are vast sub
structures and vaults and passages supporting
the shrines. The most imposing was that of the
great Temple of the Sun, which was a rectangu-
lar building 290 feet by $50, having its roof sup
ported by a peristyle of 81 Corinthian columns,
10 at each side and 10 at each end. OF these
six are still standing. The circumference Of
these columns is about 90 feet, and the length
of the shaft about So feet; with pedestal, capital
and entablature they measure about so feet in
height. The great Temple of the Sun occupied a
platform on the Acropolis about 1000 feet by $50
feet. The main entrance of the temple was on
the east. Here a wide flight Of steps led up to
a portico 10 feet above the gardens and orchards
that now surround the ruins. An inscription on
the great portico states that the temple was
erected to the Great Gods Of Heliopolis by
Antoninus.
through which a large gateway opens into the
great square, at the west end of which Is the
temple on a lofty s%tylobate. Except the columns
mentioned, little of the great temple or of the
buildings in front of it is left standing, but the
ground is covered with their ruins. The vast size
of the stones used in the substructures of the
great platform is remarkable, some of them being
over 60 feet long and IL feet thick.
South from the great temple is a smaller one
known as the Temple of Jupiter. 1t is smaller
In form, having its peristyle and the walls of its
cells still mostly standing. Its dimensions are
227 feet in length by III feet in breadth. with
Is columns at the sides and s at each end. Both
temples as well as the surrounding structures
were built of limestone. In a richly decorated,
somewhat fantastic Corinthian style. Besides
these there stands at a distance of 800 yards from
the others a circular building supported on six
granite columns built in mixed Ionic and Corin-
THAN style.
Nearby also are the remains Of the Temple of
Bacchus, famed for it's magnificent carvings.
Here are enormous slabs of stone deliberately
carved with the heads of emperors and deities
and interviewer with floral designs, the whole
forming a unique ceiling. The portal is the gem
of the entire edifce. The door posts are beautl-