From Damascus to Ez-Zebedânî via Helbûn. Starting from the Bâb Tâmâ (p. 360) we follow the Aleppo road and diverge from it to the left after 11 minutes. After 9 min. we avoid a path to the left, and after 14 min. emerge from among the gardens. About 1/4 hr. to the right is the village of Kâbûn. We reach (20 min.) the village of Berzeh. A Muslim legend makes this the birthplace of Abraham, or at least the point to which he and his servants penetrated in this direction (Gen. xiv. 15). Here we turn to the left, and in 8 min. reach the entrance of a gorge. In 33 min.
History. Ba'albek is the Heliopolis of Græco-Roman authors, but we possess no written records regarding the city earlier than the 3rd or 4th cent. of our era. The Greek name suggests that the place was connected with the worship of the sun, and Baal corresponds generally with the sungod. Coins of Heliopolis as early as the 1st cent. show that the town was a Roman colony. Coins of Septimius Severus (193-211), however, no longer bear the earlier device of a colonist with an ox, but the outlines of two temples.