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The Library of Congress

In May Roberts reached the ancient ruins of Baalbek, about 50 miles east of modern Beirut. He spent several days sketching the 43-foot-high stone portal of the Temple of Bacchus (shown here), “the magnificence of which it is impossible to convey any idea…The grand doorway is of immense size, formed of vast stones, and sculptured with the richest decorations.” A persistent fever derailed Roberts’s plans to visit Damascus and Palmyra, and so he sailed home, arriving in London at the end after an absence of 11 months.