Baalbek, in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, preserves some of the largest and best-preserved Roman temple ruins standing anywhere. The Temple of Jupiter once rested on columns more than twenty metres tall, six of which still stand.
The neighbouring Temple of Bacchus survives in remarkable condition, its carved entrance, columns and interior decoration giving a clear picture of the ambition of Roman religious architecture.
Known in antiquity as Heliopolis, the site had been sacred long before the Roman period, and remains one of the most impressive archaeological landscapes in the Arab world.