@petersbits 25 April 2021 more from that month

Baalbek: Temple or Jupiter. The temple of Jupiter in Baalbek (Lebanon) was the largest sanctuary in the Roman world, but little survives, except for six Corinthian columns on the south side, which are still carrying their entablature (the horizontal beams). The reason is that from the sixth century on, the temple was dismantled. The author known as ps.-Zacharias of Mytilene informs us that in 524/525, lightning destroyed the building and after that, the emperor Justinian (r.527-565) started to remove the granite columns (they may have been used in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople). Later, in the age of the Crusades, the stones were reused to convert the complex into a fortress. It was built on top of an existing megalithic platform with 1000-tons stones precisely cut and laid in place. The Romans thought is was a sacred place and built their most magnificent temple there. #Architecture