Editing Baalbek (section)

===Early modernity===
[[File:1856 Kiepert Map of Lebanon - Geographicus - Lebanon-kiepert-1856.jpg|thumb|Baalbek & environs, {{circa|lk=no|1856}}]]In 1516, Baalbek was conquered with the [[Ottoman Syria|rest of Syria]] by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] sultan [[Selim the Grim]].{{sfnp|''EI''|1913|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zJU3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA544 544]}} In recognition of their prominence among the [[Shia Islam|Shiites]] of the [[Beqaa Valley]], the Ottomans awarded the [[sanjak of Homs]] and local ''[[iltizam]]'' concessions to Baalbek's [[Harfush clan|Harfush family]]. Like the Hamadas, the Harfush emirs were involved on more than one occasion in the selection of Church officials and the running of local monasteries.<br /> Tradition holds that many Christians quit the Baalbek region in the eighteenth century for the newer, more secure town of [[Zahlé]] on account of the Harfushes' oppression and rapacity, but more critical studies have questioned this interpretation, pointing out that the Harfushes were closely allied to the Orthodox Ma'luf family of Zahlé (where indeed Mustafa Harfush took refuge some years later) and showing that depredations from various quarters as well as Zahlé's growing commercial attractiveness accounted for Baalbek's decline in the eighteenth century. What repression there was did not always target the Christian community per se. The Shiite 'Usayran family, for example, is also said to have left Baalbek in this period to avoid expropriation by the Harfushes, establishing itself as one of the premier commercial households of [[Sidon]] and later even serving as consuls of Iran.<ref>Stefan Winter (11 March 2010). ''The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule, 1516–1788''. Cambridge University Press, Page 166.</ref>

From the 16th century, European [[history of tourism|tourists]] began to visit the colossal and picturesque ruins.{{sfnp|Cook|1914|p=[http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/cook1914bd1/0639 556]}}{{sfnp|''EB''|1878|p=178}}{{efn|Notable visitors{{sfnp|''EB''|1878|p=178}}{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} included [[Martin von Baumgarten|Baumgarten]] (1507),{{sfnp|Baumgarten|1594}} [[Pierre Belon|Belon]] (1548),{{sfnp|Belon|1553}}{{sfnp|Belon|1554}} [[André Thévet|Thévet]] (1550),{{sfnp|Thevet<!--sic-->|1554}} [[Melchior von Seydlitz|von Seydlitz]] (1557),{{sfnp|Sedlitz|1580}} [[Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł|Radziwiłł]] (1583),{{sfnp|Radziwiłł|1601}} [[Francisco Quaresmio|Quaresmio]] (1620),{{sfnp|Quaresmio|1639}} [[Balthasar de Monconys|Monconys]] (1647),{{sfnp|Monconys|1665}} [[Jean de la Roque|de la Roque]] (1688),{{sfnp|de la Roque|1722}} [[Henry Maundrell|Maundrell]] (1699),{{sfnp|Maundrell|1703}} [[Richard Pococke|Pococke]] (1738),{{sfnp|Pococke|1745}} [[Robert Wood (antiquarian)|Wood]] and [[James Dawkins (antiquarian)|Dawkins]] (1751),{{sfnp|Wood|1757}} [[Constantin François de Chassebœuf, comte de Volney|Volney]] (1784),{{sfnp|Volney|1787}} [[Robert Richardson (travel writer)|Richardson]] (1818),{{sfnp|Richardson|1822}} [[Francis Rawdon Chesney|Chesney]] (1830),{{sfnp|Chesney|1850}}{{sfnp|Chesney|1868}} [[Alphonse de Lamartine|Lamartine]] (1833),{{sfnp|Lamartine|1835}} [[Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont|Marmont]] (1834),{{sfnp|Marmont|1837}} [[Charles G. Addison|Addison]] (1835),{{sfnp|Addison|1838}} [[Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford|Lindsay]] (1837),{{sfnp|Lindsay|1838}} [[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Robinson]] (1838{{sfnp|Robinson|1841}} & 1852),{{sfnp|Robinson|1856}} [[John Wilson (missionary)|Wilson]] (1843),{{sfnp|Wilson|1847}} [[Louis Félicien Joseph Caignart de Saulcy|De Saulcy]] (1851),{{sfnp|De Saulcy|1853}} and [[Heinrich Frauberger|Frauberger]] (19th c.).{{sfnp|Frauberger|1892}}}} [[William Bodham Donne|Donne]] hyperbolised "No ruins of antiquity have attracted more attention than those of Heliopolis, or been more frequently or accurately measured and described."{{sfnp|''DGRG''|1878|p=1037}} Misunderstanding the temple of Bacchus as the "Temple of the Sun", they considered it the best-preserved [[Roman temple]] in the world.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} The Englishman [[Robert Wood (antiquarian)|Robert Wood]]'s 1757 ''Ruins of Balbec''{{sfnp|Wood|1757}} included carefully measured engravings that proved influential on British and Continental [[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical architects]]. For example, details of the Temple of Bacchus's ceiling inspired a bed<ref>{{cite web |last=Coote |first=James |title=Adam's Bed: 16 Varieties of (Im)propriety |url=http://www.utexas.edu/architecture/center/center9%20copy/coote.html |publisher=Center for American Architecture & Design, University of Texas School of Architecture |location=Austin |access-date=5 May 2009 |archive-date=2 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100902070011/http://www.utexas.edu/architecture/center/center9%20copy/coote.html }}</ref> and [[Osterley House|ceiling]] by [[Robert Adam]] and its portico inspired that of [[St George's, Bloomsbury|St George's]] in [[Bloomsbury]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stgeorgesbloomsbury.org.uk/ |title=St George's Church Bloomsbury |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071104133047/http://www.stgeorgesbloomsbury.org.uk/hist.htm |archive-date=4 November 2007 |access-date=25 July 2009 }}</ref>

During the 18th century, the western approaches were covered with attractive groves of [[walnut tree]]s,{{sfnp|Volney|1787|p=224}} but the town itself suffered badly during the [[Near East earthquakes of 1759|1759 earthquakes]], after which it was held by the [[Metawali]], who again feuded with other Lebanese tribes.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} Their power was broken by [[Jezzar Pasha]], the rebel governor of [[Acre Province (Ottoman Empire)|Acre]], in the last half of the 18th century.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} All the same, Baalbek remained no destination for a traveller unaccompanied by an armed guard.{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}} Upon the pasha's death in 1804, chaos ensued until [[Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt]] occupied the area in 1831, after which it again passed into the hands of the Harfushes.{{sfnp|''EI''|1913|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zJU3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA544 544]}} In 1835, the town's population was barely 200 people.{{sfnp|Addison|1838}} In 1850, the Ottomans finally began direct administration of the area, making Baalbek a [[kaza]] under the [[Damascus Eyalet]] and its governor a [[kaymakam]].{{sfnp|''EI''|1913|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zJU3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA544 544]}}