Most of you have visited the city of Baalbeck but probably haven’t seen these 2000-year-old Roman monoliths.
The Stone of the Pregnant Woman, together with other nearby stone blocks, are among the largest monoliths ever quarried. The building blocks were presumably intended for Jupiter temple but they never made it out of the quarry.
There are multiple stories behind the name. One says it’s named after a pregnant woman who tricked the people of Baalbeck into believing that she knew how to move the giant stone if only they would feed her until she gave birth, while others say that the name reflects an ancient belief that a woman who touches the stone experiences an increase in fertility.
The second monolith was discovered in the same quarry in the 1990s. With its weight estimated at 1242 tons, it surpasses the dimension of the “Stone of the Pregnant Woman”. The third ancient monolith was discovered in 2014 by Lebanese archaeologists and the “German Archaeological Institute”. Its weight is estimated at around 1650 tons, making it “the biggest boulder known from antiquity“.
Early 20th century – Oregon State University Archives 
A 1920 photo by the American Colony to Jerusalem 
A 1915 photo – Library of Congress
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