Iaat


Iaat is a town and municipality located in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, famed for its Corinthian column: this is a single column of unknown date, approximately half way between Baalbek and Qasr el Banat, with a cartouche on the 6th drum but no inscription.

the Iaat column data

The column stands 18 meters and is installed on a four-step base. The location of the Pillar is 4 miles northwest of the Baalbek ruins, between the towns of Baalbek and Chlifa. At one point, a plaque was installed on the northern side of the monument. However, it has been removed and no other history is known of the column. The column is believed in local legend to be related to Saint Helena.
George F. Taylor classified it among a group of Temples of the Beqaa Valley and noticed that the position of the Iaat column was equidistant between the temples of Baalbek and Qasr el Banat. Whilst technically not being a temple, Taylor suggested that the column might have been placed by the Romans where it is as a victory column to mark the site of a great ancient battle. He also noted a cartouche on the sixth cylinder of the column.