Deir el kalaa

Deir el Kalaa ("Monastery of the Fortress") is a multi-period archaeological site at 800 metres elevation in Beit Mery, Lebanon. It contains the ruins of the third largest Roman temple in Lebanon after Baalbek and Niha, built in the 2nd century AD and dedicated to Jupiter Balmarcod. Inscriptions referencing emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Septimius Severus were discovered on site. A second smaller temple, possibly dedicated to Juno, was partially reassembled in the 1960s. A Byzantine church with 6th-century mosaics was found within Roman bath ruins. In 1748, the Antonin Maronite Order built a monastery atop the temple remains.