Baalbek Stones

They are believed to have been intended for the nearby Jupiter Baal complex, possibly as an addition to the Trilithon; but, perhaps due to their size, they were never removed from their quarry.

[8] The Stone of the Pregnant Woman (Arabic: حجر الحبلي, romanized: Ḥajar el-Ḥible), also called the First Monolith, still lies in the ancient quarry at a distance of 900 metres (3,000 ft) from the Heliopolis temple complex.

[9] Although the smallest of the three monoliths, it is also the most famous due to its fine condition, the imposing angle at which it lies, and it never having been fully hidden by the earth.

In 1996, a geodetic team of the Austrian city of Linz conducted topographical measurements at the site which aimed at establishing the exact dimensions of the two monoliths and their possible use in the construction of the gigantic Jupiter temple.

One says the monolith is named after a pregnant woman who tricked the people of Baalbek into believing that she knew how to move the giant stone if only they would feed her until she gave birth.

[15] The Stone of the South (Arabic: حجر القبلي, romanized: Ḥajar el-Guble), also called the Second Monolith, was rediscovered in the same quarry in the 1990s.

The Stone of the Pregnant Woman before its current excavation
The blocks known as the Trilithon (the upper of the two largest courses of stone pictured) in the Temple of Jupiter Baal
Stone of the Pregnant Woman on an early 20th-century lantern slide
The Stone of the South, discovered at Baalbek in the 1990s and weighing 1,242 t
The Third Monolith in situ at Baalbek quarry, on the left beside the Stone of the Pregnant Woman