'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎474] (561/905)

474
ba'albek.
[chap. xix.
the masses terminate with rocky pinnacles of a thousand shapes,
and, except that their colour is gray, the effect produced by
them is not unlike that of the celebrated mer de glace in
Switzerland.
Town among To the north-eastward of these pyramids a Mitaulis town of
Ba'albek. at about 100 wretched houses has been built in the fertile Bika,
amongst some of the most finished specimens of ancient archi
tecture which the world can produce. The splendid remains
at Ba'albek are, however, too well known to require more than
a brief notice of some of the most striking portions.
At a little distance the principal remains appear to tower
like the ridge of a hill above the elevated platform on which
they stand (see Plate LIV.) The latter is about 1100 feet from
east to west, with a width of nearly 700 feet from north to
south, and on it are several buildings, chiefly extending in the
former direction. At the eastern extremity, a handsome flight
The propy- of steps leads to a Corinthian propylseum of about 260 feet in
length, including the exhedrse, which are decorated with Co
rinthian pilasters at the extremities, and which have been con
verted into defensive towers. Beyond this portico there is
and courts. a hexagonal court of 144 feet diameter, independently of the
surrounding chambers, which are, however, in a ruinous state.
At the western side of this enclosure there is a gateway and
a sloping ascent into a grand quadrangular court, occupying
the central and highest part of the platform; it is 347 feet
from north to south, and 317 feet from east to west, indepen
dently of the surrounding apartments: some of these were
elegant semicircular alcoves of 30 feet in diameter; others
are of larger dimensions, and either square or quadrangular,
with light arched roofs. In the interior are several niches,
probably once containing small statues, or figures in relief, and
on the exterior there appears to have been a kind of colonnade
opening into the court, in the centre of which there is an
elevated platform of considerable extent, and on it some
remains of a structure, possibly one of the altars of Ba'al.
Beneath are two vaulted parallel passages extending from
the eastern to the western extremity, whose entrances are in
the hexagonal court below; and they are connected with each