Baalbek: View of the monolith known as the "Stone of the Pregnant Woman"

The 'Stone of the Pregnant Woman' (Arabic: Hadjar el Hibla\u200E) or Stone of the South is a Roman monolith. Together with another ancient stone block nearby, it is among the very largest monoliths ever quarried by men. The two building blocks were intended for the close-by Roman temple complex \u2212 possibly as an addition to the so-called trilith \u2212 whose monolithic gigantism remained unparalled in antiquity and beyond.\u000a\u000aGreco-Roman site in Lebanon, a large and important ancient city; was identified with worship of Baal, a Semitic sun-god (thus the name Heliopolis); most buildings were erected under reign of Roman Antoninus Pius 138-161. Its remains chiefly comprise the vast Sanctuary of Jupiter Heliopolitanus (begun ca. 1st century BCE), the exceptionally well preserved 'Temple of Bacchus' (2nd century CE) and an elegant circular temple perhaps dedicated to Venus (3rd century CE). The ancient city lay on the caravan route from Damascus and Palmyra to the Phoenician coastal cities and was occupied from prehistoric times, although it did not become important until the Hellenistic period (323-27 BCE).