Nahlé ( ), is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

situated northeast of

Baalbek Baalbek (; ; ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In 1998, the city had a population of 82,608. Most of the population consists of S ...

Baalbek District Baalbek District () is an administrative district in the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate of the Republic of Lebanon, having the city Baalbek as its capital. It is by far the largest district in the country comprising a total of . Major towns of the d ...

Baalbek-Hermel Governorate Baalbek-Hermel () is a governorate of Lebanon and is the largest by area in the country. It comprises the districts of Baalbek and Hermel, which in turn are subdivided into a total of 74 municipalities. The capital is at Baalbek. The governorate ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. It has the ruins of a Roman temple.

Name

The Lebanese town of Nahlé derives its name from the Arabic word “نحلة” (Nahleh), meaning “honeybee.” This interpretation reflects a connection to nature, potentially emphasizing the industrious and community-oriented qualities associated with bees. Additionally, Nahlé is known for its ancient history, including Roman-era ruins, suggesting that the name could also carry historical or cultural significance tied to its origins.

History

Nahle was probably founded during Roman rule of the region, that was called in the first century Roman Phoenicia. The 13th-century geographer

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...

listed Nahlah in his geographical dictionary, with its entry being "a village lying 3 miles from Ba'labakk". In 1838,

Eli Smith Eli Smith (September 13, 1801 – January 11, 1857) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. Biography Smith was born in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (née Whitney) Smith. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from A ...

noted ''Nahleh'' as a

Metawileh Lebanese Shia Muslims (), communally and historically known as ''matāwila'' (, plural of ''mutawālin''; pronounced as ''metouéle'' in Lebanese Arabic), are Lebanese people who are adherents of Shia Islam in Lebanon, which plays a major role ...

village in the

area. Actually Nahle is located above a valley.

Roman temple

There are the ruins of a

Roman temple Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in culture of ancient Rome, Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Architecture of ancient Rome, Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete ...

in the village that are included in a group of Temples of the Beqaa Valley. The temple foundations are made of gigantic blocks of stone, upon which sit the remains of a

podium A podium (: podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of a ...

. The podium has a long inscription written on it that is now almost impossible to read. The huge foundations indicate that there was a huge temple over these foundations during Roman centuries. This sanctuary consisted of two parts: an open air court and a large room with a ceiling where notches for the wooden beam still exist. Only a few courses of stone are still standing. During the

2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon On 1 October 2024, Israel invaded Southern Lebanon, marking the sixth Israeli–Lebanese conflict, Israeli invasion of Lebanon since 1978. The invasion took place after nearly 12 months of Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present), conflict ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

gave enhanced protection to 34 cultural sites in Lebanon including the temple at Nahlé to safeguard it from

damage Damage is any change in a thing, often a physical object, that degrades it away from its initial state. It can broadly be defined as "changes introduced into a system that adversely affect its current or future performance".Farrar, C.R., Sohn, H., ...

References

Bibliography

External links

Nahleh
Localiban

* ttp://almashriq.hiof.no/ddc/projects/mot/photobase/images/MT12/JPEG0184.html Photo of Nahle temple on the website of the American University of Beirutbr>Nahle on travelingluck.comNahle on WikimapiaPicture of Nahle temple foundation stones on alblebanon.com
{{Archaeological sites in Lebanon Populated places in Baalbek District Archaeological sites in Lebanon Ancient Roman temples Roman sites in Lebanon Tourist attractions in Lebanon