Questing the Most Impressive Ancient Religious Temples in the World
What is the largest temple ever built on earth and do these man-made structures reveal secrets relating to the cosmos? To begin the quest for the largest religious temple, one needs to establish what exactly a temple actually is. In ancient Greece a temple was a delineated space where rituals were performed, but today the word is generally used to describe not a sacred space, but structures reserved for religious and spiritual activities. However, not every religion uses the word ‘temple’. Western Christian traditions call their holy spaces churches, chapels and cathedrals and true temples are mainly found in Eastern and South American cultures.
Largest Stone Blocks: Baalbek
Also called Heliopolis (Sun city) or Baalbek, the vast and impressive archaeological site located in northeastern Lebanon is home to two of the largest temples in the ancient world. The hilltop of Tell Baalbek has been continually occupied over the last 8,000 to 9,000 years and at the beginning of the first century BC a mega-structure was raised, that took Roman builders over two centuries to complete; three temples dedicated to Jupiter, Bacchus and Venus covering over seven square kilometers (2.70 square miles).
Baalbek temple complex boasts two of the largest Roman temple ruins: The Temple of Bacchus, as shown in this photograph and the Temple of Jupiter. (CC BY-SA 3.0)
