Liz and Jim Patton

October 10, 2010

It’s finally the muezzin that does it. I’ve been awake for a couple of hours, hoping that the last molecules of ambien will pull me back into sleep, when the nasal chant begins, floating through the window at 5 AM.

Over a city that seemed as unremarkable last night as any of the score I’ve come into after a 24-hour airplane/airport odyssey. I had expected scarred buildings, burned out hulks, curfew-deserted streets to comprise Beirut. For the years of my young adulthood this was the center of Middle East troubles, where every small community had hunkered down to fight the next one, and the major religions and countries of the world fueled the violence with money, arms and troops, sacrificing a country and generations of its people. Yet it was plain and dull as we drove through.

We met the driver last night. He’s from Syria, doesn’t particularly know Lebanon, doesn’t particularly speak English. At breakfast, Jim and Audrey and I plan our two days here, since we have no guide. It’s a rough start for Audrey, who had to deal with a bathroom festooned with peeling paint. When she called to complain they told her that it was due to be fixed in a few weeks. We settle down to plans – today in Beirut, historical areas in the morning, current city sights in the afternoon – and then go meet Fayez with guidebooks and maps in hand. It was a hoot.

Fayez: “Do you want to see a museum?”

Jim, Liz, Audrey: “No, we want you to drop us off on Rue Weygand near the Souks Project. Then in three hours pick us up on Rue Gerard near the Place des Martyrs.”

F: “Maybe you want to see Corniche. It is lovely. Mediterranean Sea. Right there.”

J, L, A: “Ummh, no. Can you just take us to the al-Omari Mosque?”

F: “Maybe you want to drive out of Beirut, to Baalbek?”

J, L, A: (more slowly now): No. Drive to Rue Weygand.” (This is the main street of town.)

F: “Rue Weygand? I don’t know it.”

L: Holding up the map. “Here, see it here.”

F: “I’m sorry M’am, I don’t know map of Beirut. I don’t read English.”

L: “Then just take us to the AL. OMARI. MOSQUE.”

Fayez gets out of the car to ask directions, then comes back and begins to drive confidently.

A: “Is it close?”

F: “No, it’s open I think.”

Fayez drops us off at the Al Amin Mosque (almost the right one) which is like a small version of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Liz and Audrey don long black abiyahs and scarves and wait for an important male visitor to leave before we can go in. We spend the next hours seeing the sites listed in the Guide. St. George’s Cathedral (the actual spot, it turns out, where he slew the dragon) is a Maronite church dating back to the Crusades, cardo maximus is the ruins of a Roman era market, and, at last, the Al Omari mosque, built in the 12^th century by crusaders as the Church of St. John the Baptist. It is mostly memorable for the special black robes that Audrey and Liz wear – pointed hoods here that make them homesick for the witchery of Christine O’Donnell.

The downtown itself is newly rebuilt since the Civil War (1975-1992.) The Place d’Etoile and the newly rebuilt Beirut Souks, (reminiscent of Paris and Rodeo Drive) are brand new, beautifully architected high end stores and restaurants, standing virtually empty in the hot sunshine. When Fayez picks us up again, we want to see something more real, reflective of the city today. We drive to the area around the fancy new Phoenician Intercontinental, where a clutch of burned out buildings remain – most notably the old Holiday Inn – floor upon floor of empty cement rooms and garages, riddled with bullet holes.

October 12, 2010

Byblos (Jbail locally) lies 1 ½ hours up the Mediterranean Coast. It is a real wonder! Dating from ~6000 BC (!) it has been occupied by 17 different civilizations, including the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Amorites, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Turks, Muslims, Crusaders and French. There are relics from all of these periods, over 8000 years: kitchen tools, weapons, storage jars used to bury the dead, temples and royal tombs. The relationship with Egypt was especially strong, exporting Cedar and importing papyrus. The linear alphabet, the most significant invention of the Phoenicians, was developed here during this period as a more practical way to record trade transactions than cuneiform script.

Most of this history of Byblos was unknown until, in 1860, a Frenchman found some Roman artifacts. An intense effort of excavation took place in the 1920’s, displacing many homes and digging 18 m down to lay bare all of these eras. In addition to sarcophagi that showed the first use of the alphabet and statuary of kings were remnants of houses, and six sets of walls around the small town, going outward as successive eras took place. Fascinating!

After we returned to Beirut we visited the American University of Beirut (AUB), particularly interesting to Liz since her father was involved in construction there in the ‘60’s. It has a lovely location on the Mediterranean. The buildings are all new – it was completely rebuilt after the Civil War. The campus is heavily guarded by the army and identification was required enter the gate and walk around.

October 13, 2010

We begin our drive out of Beirut at ~ 10AM to find the city at a standstill – military everywhere tanks on the street, helicopters overhead. Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is coming to town today. By 10:45 we are still circling packed roads trying to find a way out; we finally break clear after 11 and drive to Baalbek.

The area around Baalbek has been populated since c 4000BC with people trying to raise families and make a living on the shores of the Litani and Al-Aasi rivers. Alas, it was at the center of two major trade routes, so the Phoenicians came to rule it in the 3^rd M BC. Around the 1^st M BC, they built a temple to Baal. Worshippers of Baal and his sister Anith were bloodthirsty and licentious; prostitution of young girls was practiced in the temple, making raising a family riskier.

Several hundred years later Alexander the Great drove out the Phoenicians and renamed the city Heliopolis. The Baalbekians had to become “Greek” until Julius Caesar came through in 47 BC to found a Roman colony named after his daughter Julia. It became the premier Roman city in the Middle East and a major center of paganism centered around a colossal temple to Jupiter which was built over 200 years by 100,000 slaves. The Baalbekians became Roman pagans.

In 324 AD, Constantine the Great became emperor, paganism was suppressed, the emples were turned into Basilicas and Christianity grew, at least until 361 when Julian the Apostate took the throne. Basilicas were reconverted to temples. Those who had turned Christian were punished, young Christian girls were made temple prostitutes and many were martyred. Paganism rebounded, until 379 when Theodosius took the throne of Rome and the tide reverted again to Christianity. Most of the Baalbekians, still trying to raise their families and stay out of trouble, became Christian; the few that didn’t were forced by Justinian in 527 to be baptized. To make it emphatic, he ordered the temple torn down and the large temple stones shipped out of town.

The city was safely Christian until Arabs invaded and many became Muslim. Despite this acquiescence, there was a long period of invasions, sackings, lootings and devastation by Arabs and, in 1000, by the Mongolian Tamerlaine. Eventually the Ottomans came and chased everyone else away. They stayed in power until WWI when Lebanon became a French protectorate.

The ruins of Baalbek are testimony to much of the history of this last 6000 years and all the glorious powers that ruled. Meanwhile, the local people continue to try to raise their children, make a living, and keep their heads down.

*****

The military are everywhere in Beirut. The soldiers are serious, constantly watching, and they carry weapons.

About 25% of women are covered – the percentage is higher outside Beirut. Interestingly, at AUB, the covered students wore the same tight jeans and tight shirts as the other women, hung around with them (they seemed totally mixed,) just happened to be wearing tight scarves that covered their hair and neck.

There is a lack of confidence in Lebanon, and most young people are trying to leave. Currently there are 4M Lebanese in the country and 18 M living outside of it. Most of them left in the early years of the 20^th century, and many of them live in Brazil. In the book store at AUB there were t-shirts for sale that said “Future Ex-Pat” and “In-Transit.”

There are signs in English everywhere, and many US chains: Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Applebee’s, etc.