Nahle, Lebanon
# Nahle, Lebanon

Nahle (Arabic: نحله Nahlah)), is a village situated 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) northeast of Baalbek in Baalbek District, Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, Lebanon. It has the ruins of a roman temple.

## Name

The name "Nahlah" means "honey bee".

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

In 1838, Eli Smith noted Nahleh as a Metawileh village in the Baalbek area.

Actually Nahle is located above a deep and very pretty valley. It is noteworthy to pinpoint that the slopes of this village are studded with the familiar burial chambers often found near Roman/Byzantine sites.

## Roman temple

There are the ruins of a Roman temple 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. 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, but the temple maintains its dignity despite crowding by modern village residences.

