Heliopolis (Roman Phoenicia)
temple complex grew up from the early part of the reign of Augustus in the late 1st century until the rise of Christianity in the 4th century. The 6th-century chronicles of John Malalas of Antioch, which claimed Baalbek as a "wonder of the world" credited most of the complex to the 2nd-century Antoninus Pius. By that time, the complex housed three temples on Tell Baalbek: one to Jupiter Heliopolitanus (Baʿal), one to Venus Heliopolitana (Ashtart), and a third to Bacchus. On a nearby hill, a fourth temple was dedicated to the third figure of the Heliopolitan Triad, Mercury (Adon). Ultimately, the site vied with Praeneste in Italy as the two largest sanctuaries in the Western world.