What you see in the photo is probably the largest man-made monolith on Earth. It is approximately 19.6 meters long and weighs 1,650 tons. It is located in Baalbek, Lebanon, and has existed at least since Roman times, if not much earlier (some say 5,000 years ago, but no precise dates exist). The size and weight of this "monster" astound modern engineers. They wonder how their "colleagues" from thousands of years ago managed to build and transport something similar.
Even more surprising is that this monolith is not unique in that area. Nearby is the so-called "Temple of Jupiter." The upper part of the temple is undoubtedly Roman, there's no doubt about that. But the Roman temple stands on a "base" built with gigantic stones. It consists of 27 gigantic limestone blocks at the base. Three of them, weighing 1,000 tons each, are known as "Thriliton," and act as a kind of "belt" enclosing all the blocks. This construction tells us that for the builders, carving and moving blocks weighing over 1,000 tons was not at all prohibitive. They evidently knew how to do it, without it creating major problems.
The legends of Baalbek, allegorically, tell us that even the peoples of the distant past knew that "uncommon" things happened in that area. There are many legends regarding Baalbek: according to some ancient Arabic manuscripts, the altar belonged to Nimrod, the legendary Babylonian king mentioned in the Bible, who ordered its reconstruction after the flood, and the reconstruction was entrusted to the Giants. Other ancient texts trace it back to Cain, who founded it 133 years after the creation of man, and in this case too, the Giants are mentioned, who, according to tradition, populated it. Cain built Baalbek to seek refuge from the fury of Yahweh.
It's likely that the ancient inhabitants of that area used allegorical figures like Cain, the Giants, and Yahweh to describe things they couldn't understand. And even today, we struggle to understand how it's possible that ordinary humans used 1,650-ton "monsters" as "bricks" (and not as obelisks, as the Romans did, for example). Why did they need to do such a thing? How did they move them with such easy wax? How did they carve them with such precision?
Many now believe that in various parts of the Earth, including the Mediterranean basin, ancient civilizations once existed, likely wiped out by climate change. The city of Nan Madol, the Great Pyramid, and Gunung Padang are likely among them. And they leave us breathless.