Ras Baalbek ( ar, رأس بعلبك) is a village in the northern
Beqaa Valley
The Beqaa Valley ( ar, links=no, وادي البقاع, ', Lebanese ), also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ, and Becaa and known in classical antiquity as Coele-Syria, is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon. It is Lebanon's most important ...
in
Lebanon.
History
Ras Baalbek is 500 metres west of a
Neolithic rock shelter called
Ras Baalbek I
Ras Baalbek I ( ar, رأس بعلبك) is a rock shelter east of Ras Baalbek in the northern Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. It sits north of the Wadi Teniyet er-Râs valley at a height of . It was first discovered by Lorraine Copeland and Peter Wes ...
.
To the east there are ruins that are alleged to be the remains of a
Roman aqueduct. Inhabitants of the village have confirmed it was once called "Connaya," suggesting a link to the ancient settlement of Conna, mentioned in the work of
Antonius.
Notable features include the monastery of "Our Lady of Ras Baalbek" (''Deir Saidat ar-Ras'') and two
Byzantine churches. One church is in the centre of the village and the other lies by the Roman aqueduct.
In 1838,
Eli Smith
Eli Smith (born September 13, 1801, in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (Whitney) Smith, and died January 11, 1857, in Beirut, Lebanon) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from Andov ...
noted Ras Baalbek's population as being predominantly
Catholic Christian.
In 2014, the war with
ISIS in the nearby village of
Arsal resulted in the residents of Ras Baalbek forming a militia to protect the village. The militias were allied to the
Lebanese Armed Forces. In September 2016 the Lebanese Army attacked Islamic State positions near Ras Baalbek.
Demographics
Around 15,000 people live in Ras Baalbek. The population is entirely Christian, mainly
Roman Catholic, having switched from
Orthodox Christianity in 1721.
The village is fashion designer
Zuhair Murad
Zuhair Murad ( ar, زهير مراد) (born in July 1971) is a Lebanese fashion designer. He was born in 1971 in Ras Baalbek, Lebanon.
Biography
Zuhair Murad was born to a Melkite Catholic family in Ras Baalbek. Shortly after high school, M ...
's hometown.
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Ras Baalbek websiteRas Baalbek
{{Portal, Lebanon, History, Asia
Populated places in Baalbek District
Great Rift Valley
Coloniae (Roman)
Populated places established in the 6th millennium BC
Melkite Christian communities in Lebanon