Bakka, Bekka or Beka ( ar, بكّا) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

situated east of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

in the

Rashaya District Rashaya District ( ar, قضاء راشيا) is an administrative district in the Beqaa Governorate of the Republic of Lebanon. Most of Rachaya's population are Druze with a Sunni and Shia and Christian Christians () are people who follow ...

of the

Beqaa Governorate Beqaa ( ') is a governorate in Lebanon. Districts Since 2014, Beqaa Governorate contains three districts: * West Beqaa * Rashaya * Zahle A law was passed in 2003 to separate Baalbek District and Hermel District from Beqaa Governorate to form a ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. The population of the village is Sunni.

Wadi Bakka

The Wadi Bakka or Wadi Bekka runs alongside the village. The

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...

was the scene of the Battle of Wadi Bakka where a Druze uprising was put down by

Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt Ibrahim Pasha ( tr, Kavalalı İbrahim Paşa; ar, إبراهيم باشا ''Ibrāhīm Bāshā''; 1789 – 10 November 1848) was an Ottoman Albanian general in the Egyptian army and the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Wāli and unrecognised Kh ...

during the 1838 Druze revolt.

Roman temple

There are the ruins of a

Roman temple Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete state. Today they remain "the most obvious symbol of ...

in the village that are included in a group of

Temples of Mount Hermon The Temples of Mount Hermon are around thirty Roman shrines and Roman temples that are dispersed around the slopes of Mount Hermon in Lebanon, Israel and Syria. A few temples are built on former buildings of the Phoenician & Hellenistic er ...

.Tallon, Maurice., “Sanctuaires et itinéraires romains du. Chouf et du sud de la Béqa,” Mélanges de l'université Saint Joseph 43, pp. 233-50, 1967. George Taylor classified it as a prostylos temple and noted that the north and south walls remained standing and the podium floor had survived. The site has been heavily damaged by local construction of houses over the site. The temple featured an underground crypt that was accessible via one of the houses that had been built over it. George Taylor divided up the Temples of Lebanon into three groups, one group of Temples of the Beqaa Valley lies north of the road from

to Damascus. Second, there is the group in the area south of the same road, including the

Wadi al-Taym Wadi al-Taym ( ar, وادي التيم, Wādī al-Taym), also transliterated as Wadi el-Taym, is a wadi (dry river) that forms a large fertile valley in Lebanon, in the districts of Rachaya and Hasbaya on the western slopes of Mount Hermon. It ad ...

and the western flank of Mount Hermon. Third, the group in the area west of a line drawn along the ridge of Mount Lebanon. There are relatively few temples along Lebanon's coastal plain. The Temples of Mount Hermon in Taylor's second group included Bakka and Ain Harcha, Aaiha,

Deir El Aachayer Deir El Aachayer ( ar, ديرالعشاير) is a village north of Rashaya, in the Rashaya District and south of the Beqaa Governorate in Lebanon. The municipality is located on the border frontier of the Kaza of Rashaya, one of eight mohafazats ...

, Dekweh, Yanta,

Hebbariye Hebbariye, Hebbariyeh, Hebbariya or Hebariya ( ar, هبّارية) is a village and municipality situated in the Hasbaya District of the Nabatieh Governorate in Lebanon. It is located on the southwestern slopes of Mount Hermon near the Lebanon� ...

, Ain Libbaya,

Nebi Safa Nebi Safa, Nabi Safa, Neby Sufa, An Nabi Safa, An Nabi Safa' or En Nabi Safa also known as Mazraet Selsata or Thelthatha is a village in the Kfar Mishki municipality situated west of Rashaya in the Rashaya District of the Beqaa Governorate in Leb ...

Aaqbe Aaqbe, Akbeh, Aqbe, Akbe, Aaqabet, el-Aaqbe, Akraba, Aaqabet Rashaya or Akabe (العقبه) is a village and municipality situated west of Rashaya in the Rashaya District of the Beqaa Governorate in Lebanon. Roman temple The village contains th ...

, Khirbet El-Knese, Mejdal Anjar, Mdoukha. Edward Robinson suggested that word ''bakka'' could have derived from the later

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

meaning of ''crowd''. Others have linked it to the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

word ''bikha'' meaning ''plain''.

References

External links

Bakka on Localiban
* ttp://www.discoverlebanon.com/en/panoramic_views/roman-temples-lebanon.php Roman Temples on discoverlebanon.combr>Bekka Roman temple on www.lebanon.com Bakka on Geody.com Bakka municipality on Wikimapia
{{Roman Archaeological sites in Beirut & Lebanon Populated places in Rashaya District Sunni Muslim communities in Lebanon Archaeological sites in Lebanon Ancient Roman temples Roman sites in Lebanon Tourist attractions in Lebanon