Ras Baalbek () is a village in the northern

Beqaa Valley The Beqaa Valley (, ; Bekaa, Biqâ, Becaa) is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon and its most important farming region. Industry, especially the country's agricultural industry, also flourishes in Beqaa. The region broadly corresponds to th ...

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 ...

History

Ras Baalbek is 500 metres west of a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

rock shelter called Ras Baalbek I. 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

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 language, Danish, Dutch language, Dutch, Finnish language, Finnish, Latin language, Latin, Norwegian language, Norwegian, and Swedish language, Swedish name used in Gre ...

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

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

churches. One church is in the centre of the village and the other lies by the Roman aqueduct. 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 Ras Baalbek's population as being predominantly Catholic Christian.

Demographics

Around 6,000 people live in Ras Baalbek. The population is entirely Christian, mainly

Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...

, having switched from

Greek Orthodoxy Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Roma ...

in 1721.

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