Baal`bek (i. e. City of Baal, or the Sun), an ancient city of Syria, 35 m. NW. of Damascus; called by the Greeks, Heliopolis; once a place of great size, wealth, and splendour; now in ruins, the most conspicuous of which is the Great Temple to Baal, one of the most magnificent ruins of the East, covering an area of four acres.