Tradition states that it was built by Solomon; and for the truth of this the Jews quote the following passage from the Book of Chronicles[137]:--"Also he (Solomon) built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fencied cities, with walls, gates, and bars; and _Baal-ath_." For the greater confirmation, it is thought that Balbec is meant when Solomon says--"the tower of Lebanon, that looketh towards Damascus." The Arabs go even so far as to assert, that this city was built by the king as a residence for the Queen of Sheba; and Sir William Ouseley quotes a passage, wherein it is mentioned that a tradition in Persian implies, that Solomon often passed his day at Balbec, and his night at Istakr. The names Heliopolis and Balbec are words of different languages, which have nearly the same signification. The sun was worshipped by the ancient inhabitants of the country, under the name of Baal. Balbec signifies the vale of Baal; and Heliopolis the city of the sun. That Balbec derived, not only its religion, but its very name, from Heliopolis in Egypt, is rendered certain by a passage in Macrobius:--"In the city called Heliopolis, the Assyrians worship the sun with great pomp, under the name of the Heliopolitan Jove; and the statue of this god was brought from a city in Egypt, also called Heliopolis, where Senumens or Senepos reigned over the Egyptians, by Opios, ambassador from Delebor, king of the Assyrians, together with some Egyptian priests, of whom Partemetis was the chief, and it remained long among the Assyrians before it was removed to Heliopolis." The same author adds, "that he declines giving the reason for this fact, or telling how the statue was afterwards brought to the place, where in his time it was worshipped, more according to the Assyrian than the Egyptian rites, as circumstances foreign to his purpose." As Balbec has never been the seat of a monarch, antiquaries are greatly at a loss to conceive how the expense of these magnificent structures could have been supplied by private or municipal liberality. The orientals, however, explain the prodigy by a never-failing expedient,--they were constructed by the fairies or genii! That these temples did not exist when Pompey went through Heliopolis to Damascus is probable, because the writers of that time, who mention less remarkable structures with admiration, take no notice of any such building; and it is certain that they did exist in the time of Caracalla; because Heliopolis is to be seen on many of his coins; and vows in favour of him and his empress are recorded in two inscriptions, the remains of which are still to be seen on the pedestals of the columns of the great portico of the temple. That Heliopolis was constituted a colony by Augustus Cæsar, is rendered probable, by some medals which still remain, and in which it is called, "Colonia Julia Augusta;" but it was not till the time of Septimius Severus that the temple was impressed on the reverse of the coins.