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 ...

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 the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

History

Ras Baalbek is 500 metres west of a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

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 Wesco ...

. To the east there are ruins that are alleged to be the remains of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

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 Antonius is a masculine given name, as well as a surname. Antonius is a Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Latin, Norwegian, and Swedish name used in Greenland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, part of the Republic of Karelia, Estonia, Belgium, Netherla ...

. Notable features include the monastery of "Our Lady of Ras Baalbek" (''Deir Saidat ar-Ras'') and two

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

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 And ...

noted Ras Baalbek's population as being predominantly

Catholic Christian The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. In 2014, the war with

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

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 Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, having switched from

Orthodox Christianity Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Chu ...

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, Mu ...

's hometown.

References

Bibliography

External links

Ras Baalbek website

Ras 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