Drafting and Designing - Roman Architectural Drawings and their Meaning for the Construction of Heliopolis/Baalbek, Lebanon

Oct 23, 2026

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For the monumental Roman temples of Baalbek, numerous architectural questions about construction methods remain unresolved despite exceptional preservation. Architectural drawings etched into stone surfaces were discovered during excavation work from the 1940s to 1975 and in recent years, enabling answers. This study compiles and identifies scarcely published drawings, including a reduced-scale partial floor plan that informs new theories about constructing the hexagonal forecourt to the Jupiter sanctuary and explains abstraction before execution.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Roman architectural drawing purposes and notation

Preparing drawings: architects and foremen

Baalbek drawings and etching characteristics

Research Programme

Published Drawings

Drafting and Designing. Roman Architectural Drawings and their Meaning for the Construction of Heliopolis/Baalbek, Lebanon Daniel Lohmann German Archaeological Institute, Aachen, Germany ABSTRACT: For the monumental Roman temples of Baalbek, although preserved exceptionally well, many questions about the construction methods remain unanswered. With the discovery of numerous architectural drawings etched into stone surfaces in the course of the excavation works of the 1940s until 1975, and now recently in the last years, some of these questions can be answered. For the first time, these scarcely published drawings are compiled and identified entirely now. A recently discovered and documented reduced scale partial floor plan drawing suggests new theories about the construction of the hexagonal forecourt to the Jupiter sanctuary. This case shows the degree of abstraction in designing as a first theoretical step before practical construction starts. Details of this outstanding etching show an alternative design, and appear in an unsuitable scale for execution. On the other hand, several discovered full scale drawings of construction details explain the practical construction process used to dimension and assemble the giant ashlars used for the construction of the Baalbek temples. In combination with the rooms and wall surfaces that were used to etch the lines into, the drawings help to progress our understanding of the former appearance as well as the construction process of Baalbeks temples substantially. INTRODUCTION The field of Roman architectural construction drawings is far from being well known, and only little research has dealt with this subject. The technical difficulties of the master builders responsible for Roman temples and sanctuaries were challenging. Especially in Baalbek, where techniques were used that caused enormous logistic and practical efforts, Roman construction drawings help to get a better comprehension of the antique construction process today. The town of Baalbek in the elevated Bekaa plain in today’s Lebanon occupies the spot of the antique city of Heliopolis, where construction of monumental Roman temples and sanctuaries began in the first century before Christ, and lasted until the third century A. D. Drawings from Italy, Asia Minor and the Maghreb underline the purpose and characteristics of Roman drawings. Three main purposes of representation, design and construction preparation give insight to aspects of the work of the architects of Roman architecture. While representation purposes are only found in examples elsewhere in the Roman Empire, the other two technical characteristics of drafting and designing can be explained by the etchings of Baalbek. Notation characteristics of architectural drawings correspond to Vitruv’s distinction between the Species (architectural drawings) called Ichnographia and Orthographia (Vitruvius Pollio 2001, pp.25). The first describes the reduced scale plan of a structure, intended to display the Dispositio, the arrangement of the building, mostly intended to design a building beforehand. This is opposed to the second, which is a breakdown of a building or a part in its vertical projection or elevation, in order to plan its Symmetria, the regularity and harmony of details with the whole. We can assume that the desinging process was carried out by the architects on drawings in smaller size, usually on paper. The practical preparatory sketches however were later drawn by the foremen on site, close to the spot they were intended for. While the use of preparatory score lines and scratch axes on the building are commonly known throughout the field of Roman Architecture research, discoveries and research of entire drawings are few and far between. This especially applies to Baalbek, where score lines are to be found on all of the antique monuments, and with outstanding precision on the fragments and remains of the Jupiter temple and sanctuary. All of B

FAQs

Why are Roman construction drawing methods still not fully understood for Baalbek?

Even with exceptionally well-preserved monumental temples, many questions about the construction methods were historically left unanswered.

What new evidence enabled progress in understanding Baalbek’s construction process?

Architectural drawings etched into stone surfaces were discovered during excavation work from the 1940s to 1975 and again in recent years, and previously scarcely published drawings were compiled and identified.

How do reduced-scale and full-scale drawings contribute differently to the study?

A reduced-scale partial floor plan suggests design abstraction as a theoretical step before practical construction. In contrast, full-scale drawings of construction details explain how the giant ashlars were dimensioned and assembled for the Baalbek temples.

Oct 23, 2026

Upload by acoobca