Temple of Jupiter

The Temple of Jupiter was the largest temple ever constructed by the Roman empire, by quite some margin. It’s far bigger than any temple which was ever built in Rome. Unfortunately, it’s also the least complete part of Baalbek – only six of its original 54 columns are still intact; the rest either fell down in earthquakes or were pinched by builders over the centuries. Indeed, some ended up being carted back to Constantinople by the Byzantines and used in the construction of Hagia Sophia.

Again, none of the pictures I’ve taken do the Temple of Jupiter any justice. The columns are the widest and tallest free-standing columns in the world. Apparently, they haven’t been bettered before or since.

The first part of the inscription (IOMH) is short for ‘Jupiter Optimus Maximus Heliopolitanus’. Literally translated, that means something like ‘Jupiter is a solar God of the higest rank’, although a more meaningful translation would be ‘Jupiter is the Sun God and the God of all Gods’.

I've absolutely no idea what the stone says after that, given that I don't know any Latin...

Baal was the local Semitic God of Gods, and was worshiped at Baalbek well before the Romans came (hence the name of the complex). Although monotheism started to make inroads during the Roman era, plenty of Levantines still worshiped the old Semetic pagan Gods. The Roman empire thus conflated Jupiter and Baal throughout the Middle East in an attempt to fuse its own culture with local customs.