History
Carved in Stone
When Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II marched through
Lebanon over 3,000 years ago, he left three inscriptions in the
rock above what is now Nahr-el-Kalb (Dog River).
Over the centuries other foreign expeditions followed his example,
marking their passage through this difficult place by carving their
exploits in stone. Today 17 such inscriptions or steles can be visited,
all on the south bank except for one on the north bank. Each inscription
is numbered, and a stairway leads to those located higher up on
the cliff.
The single stele on the opposite side of the river was the work
of the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC). Nebuchadnezzar
aslo left two copies of the same inscription at Wadi Brissa near
Hermel.
Five steles mark expeditions made by Assyrian kings, one of whom
was Assarhaddon (680-627 BC). In Roman times the third Gallic Legion
under Emperor Caracalla (211-217 AD) left a stele marking road work
carried out here.
There are two inscriptions in Greek. One is illegible but the other
commemorated more roads and engineering work. This was accomplished
in 382 by Proclus, Byzantine governor of Phoenicia under Theodose
the Great (379-395). Another stele commemorates the expedition that
Napoleon II sent to Lebanon in 1860-1861.
The pointed Arab bridge nearby is also the subject of an inscription
advising us that Mamluke Sultan Barqouq (1382-1399) either built
or rebuilt it, This bridge, destroyed and repaired many times during
its history, was last renovated by Emir Bechir II in 1809.
The 20th century also has its share of inscriptions. One records
that French troops under General Gouraud took in Damascus in 1920.
Two others dating 1919 and 1930
mark one event. The first stele noted that the British Desert
Corps took Damascus, Homs and Aleppo in October 1918. The other
relates the same story, but names Australian, New Zealand, Indian,
and French contingents, as well as the "Arab troops of King
Hussein", Shereef of Mecca.
The British and French occupation of Beirut and Tripoli in October
1918 is recorded in another inscritption. Besides the 19 stele
before Lebanon's independence, we have one marking the evacuation
of foreign armies from Lebanon on December 31, 1946, and a monument
to the French war dead.
Finally, the bridge with three arches not far from the old Arab
bridge was built by Wassa Pasha, mutassarrif of Mount Lebanon
between 1883 and 1892.
|
|
