Temple of Bel

The Temple of Bel, also known as the "Temple of Baal" was a historic building in Palmyra, Syria. The temple, which was constructed in AD 32 and served as the focal point of Palmyra's religious activity, was dedicated to the Mesopotamian deity Bel, who was worshiped there in a triad with the lunar god Aglibol and the sun god Yarhibol. The temple would have been shut down between May 25, 385, and March 19, 388, during Maternus Cynegius' campaign against the Eastern temples, which was part of the late Roman Empire's persecution of pagans. Before they were further devastated by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in August 2015, its ruins were thought to be among the finest maintained at Palmyra.

The Temple of Bel was constructed on a site where stratification from the third millennium BC indicates human habitation. A previous temple that is frequently referred to as "the first temple of Bel" and "the Hellenistic temple" was located in the region during pre-Roman times. The temple displayed an amazing fusion of Greco-Roman and ancient Near Eastern design. The temple ruins were located inside a large portico-lined precinct. It was rectangular in form and its foundation was a paved court encircled by a large wall that was 205 meters (673 feet) long and had a propylaeum. A bas-relief sculpture of the seven planets known to the ancients, surrounded by the twelve signs of the Zodiac, as well as carvings of a procession of camels and veiled women, were prominent features of the northern chamber. Stairwells leading to rooftop terraces may be located on three of the building's corners.