Imperial Immortality

Baalbek to Beirut, Lebanon

Had Ibn Battuta seen the ruins of Baalbek floodlit at night, he might have managed to spare a word or two about them. The Mamluks were in power in 1326 and had made their own additions to the site, but Baalbek belonged to the ancient world; its gigantic proportions the ultimate in imperial power, wealth and might. The site was, like most other temple sites across the Middle East, a place of religious significance dating back to the third millennium BC, and in the first millennium it became a place of sacrifice. Between the 4th and 1st centuries BC the Ptolemies, who ruled this area, dedicated the site to the sun god calling it Heliopolis. But the transformation of Baalbek into the history books began under Augustus at the end of the 2nd century BC, although it took another 300 years for the completion of the complex, by which time Christianity had become the religion of the Roman Empire and Jupiter's pagan rites and symbols were abolished. The irony of Baalbek; despite is massive size and show of power, the gods to which it was dedicated became defunct not long after completion.

The Grand Courtyard with its porticoed surround and one of eight rectangular exedras - to the right is one of two ritual pools.

En route to Baalbek, Lebanon

Ibn Battuta did not go to Baalbek in the order I did, though I doubt he went in the order he says he did either. He arrived via Syria and the Mediterranean coast but the order of cities prior to that is unlikely and in some cases impossible. Bear in mind that he was writing from memory 30 years and more after the events. As I can barely remember what I did two days ago I forgive him his little lapses - if I lost my little black book as I thought I had done en route from Tripoli to Baalbek, I would be lost.

So Ibn B probably did not see the gorgeous Qadisha Valley - he may not have mentioned it anyway as it was an old Christian hermit haunt; they used to come and live in caves, many of which can still be visited, and monasteries and convents abound, dotted over the hillsides and on the valley floor.

Fall colors of the Qadisha Valley.
It is the first time I have been here in fall and as the road winds up into the mountains, the panoramic views are quite beautiful with terraced hillsides of fruit trees, figs and poplars in late autumnal hues of russet and yellow; fallen leaves hug the roadsides and crunch satisfyingly underfoot on the sidewalk, the skies are a perfect blue, a warm sun sits low in the sky but it is agreeably, and suitably for the season, ‘nippy’. By the time we get over Mount Lebanon to Baalbek it is positively chilly. After the sun sets it is bloody freezing.

The Mamluk City

Tripoli, Lebanon

The people I spoke to in Lebanon are fed up living with the lack of security. Bassam, a history teacher in Tripoli who used to be a professional tour guide, told me many young people look only to emigrate to try and make a better life elsewhere. People say nothing ever changes with the country; just when things appear to be stabilizing, something always happens to mess it up again. Other tour guides I know also bemoaned the lack of work. Tour operators who used to do inbound business are now doing outbound tourism or local conference planning as there are no tourists. It is not been easy over the last few years to make a living in tourism but lately it is impossible. The political situation is such that they make plans never knowing if they will ever come to fruition. This is only one tiny segment of the industry but it directly affects hotels, restaurants, cafes, shops and ultimately everything - people not earning don't spend. Living in Beirut is not cheap - restaurant and many consumer goods are in line with US prices but the average salary is not. And while there is a lot of money in the city, obvious just from the stream of expensive SUV’s and foreign cars, (I think Lebanon single-handedly ensures the survival of Mercedes-Benz), income distribution is uneven and a lot of people are barely getting by - especially in the south.

But back to 1326.......

The Phoenix

Beirut, Lebanon

And so like Ibn Battuta I arrived again in Beirut.

“We traveled next to the town of Beirut. it is a small place but with fine bazaars and its congregational mosque is of striking beauty. Fruit and iron are exported from there to Egypt.”

Beirut is no longer small - its population is about 1.3 million, many of its bazaars are now expensive haute couture boutiques and its exports are of the financial services variety. By the end of the civil war the city was a wreck, its reputation as the “Paris of the Middle East” in shreds. Many of its buildings especially those of Martyr’s Square and along the Green Line which divided Christian East and Muslim West Beirut, were pock-marked with shell and bullet-fire, windows were shattered, streets blocked by fallen masonry. But phoenix-like the city began re-building - in razing and clearing the center of the city vestiges of its historic past were uncovered and Roman baths, columns and mosaics have since been left in situ or moved to other parts of the city. Today the corniche or seafront, has elegant new buildings and shiny glass-sheathed towers, large swathes of Downtown have been re-built in honey-colored stone in the original French Beaux Arts-style, and streets like Rue Verdun and Rue Monot and quartiers like Gemmayze, Raouche and Ashrafiye have chic boutiques, restaurants, bars, cafes and nightclubs. The dynamic, party-loving city was re-born; the city was featured in glossy international fashion and lifestyle magazines - Beirut was back.

Ruins in the South

Beirut, Lebanon

Beirut is only 127 kilometers, (80 miles), from Damascus and the border at Mazra’a in Lebanon was busy with cars and buses disgorging hundreds of people traveling in both directions. There is a degree of tension between the two countries, Syria is larger and more powerful and it was only in the wake of the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister Rafik Hariri almost two years ago, and the subsequent international outcry, that the Syrian army finally left Lebanon where they had been since the time of the country’s civil war. Since then there have been more assassinations or attempted assassinations of politicians and jourmalists all of whom were ‘anti-Syrian’. Needless to say cars with Syrian plates travel less frequently across the border these days.

Not far from the border I got my first look at the damage done by Israel’s recent bombing; the highest bridge in the Middle East was in tatters, a huge central section blown away and twisted rebar dangling like black spaghetti against the blue sky.

Not going anywhere.
Peeling off the highway, we drove off in the direction of Karak Nuh, a small town near Zahle. Ibn Battuta traveled there from Beirut;

“We made an excursion from Beirut to visit the tomb of Abu Ya’qub Yusuf, who, they say, was one of the kings of the Maghrib. The tomb is at a place called Karak Nuh in the Biqa’ al-Aziz, and by it is a religious house at which food is provided for all who come and go.”

Karak Nuh gets its name from Noah’s tomb which is next to an old Mosque and is a site of pilgrimage for both Muslims and Christians. The tomb, like that of Daniel in Samarkand in Uzbekistan, is enormously long - 42 meters (138 feet) and despite this he was buried with his knees bent...... Quite why Ibn Battuta does not mentiont this astonishing story is not clear. Nor is the story of the tomb of Abu Yaqub Yusuf who was indeed Moroccan (Maghreb in Arabic) and died in Portugal so if he was buried here, nobody now remembers. We asked all available old people in the village and nobody had heard of the man......