Water > See > The Mountain
A long time ago, before the existence of the Greek or Hebrews, while Egypt was building the largest tombs the world would know, travellers from the scorched lands of the East came into sight of the Mountain of Lebanon. The season was winter, and snow lay on the sacred peaks: the strange sight impressed itself into their minds so that they would ever refer to this water-blessed land as LBN, "White".
Many centuries later the name was adopted into Arabic as Lubnan, French as Liban, English as Lebanon... For a short but illustrious time it was supplanted by a Greek nickname, that one referring to the color purple -- Phoenicia. Yet the Mountain always was and still is Lebanon.
Unless it is Lebanon that always was and still is the Mountain.
Scroll right to browse the gallery.
Left: The Valley of Qadisha, whose name means "the Holy Valley" in Aramaic.
Above: Now on the other side of the valley looking down towards the sea, in summer.
Right: The first view again from Bsharre, Gibran's village.
The tremendous presence and importance of the Mountain is difficult to comprehend
without referring to history and topography. Lebanon's shoreline is 2 or 3 miles
wide at its largest, as the country is almost solely made up from the harsh calcite
formations. Throughout history it has been a source of nourishment and protection.
From the Phoenicians to the Christians that were persecuted by the Arabs and Turks,
people have carved dwellings and churches into cliffs. Villages and monasteries were
perched in places exceedingly difficult to access, let alone to attack.
The terrain and politics both gave birth to the breed of Lebanese villagemen,
hardheaded and rough yet warm, who gave the Ottoman Empire such a hard time that
the Sultan grantd them special status and the permission to ring their church bells.
The Ottomans themselves referred to the area as simply "the Mountain", as if it and
its people were a single, large being, fierce and long indomitable.
Above: I took this picture on New Year's Eve 2001, at sunset. The place is Ehden, low in the Qadisha Valley, and the clouds are slowly ascending towards the Cedars.
Above: Fresh snow in Faraya.
During the 13th century, when Lebanon was under the rule of Sultan Baibars who
sieged in Cairo, snow was a much-appreciated delicacy at the court. Three ships
served to regularly transport snow from the mountains above Tripoli to Damiette,
from where sailed the Nile until Cairo. There it was carried by mules to the citadel
where it was kept in a special chamber, the Sharab-khaneh (roughly "drink-depot").
Every expedition was accompanied by an expert in snow handling, who would then
return to Tripoli with the mail.
Above: In winter snow covers the terraces that are cultivated during the warm season. This system allows villagers to turn the steep mountain slopes into surfaces where they can grow vegetables and fruit-bearing trees.
Above: Terraces in summer.
Right: Terraces in autumn.
A satirical verse by poet Abu Nuwas:
Instead of beating the drum to call to war,
Let us pinch the cords of the oud...
And our missiles for catapults will be
The apples of Lebanon.
The oud is a guitar-like and highly ornate
musical instrument.
Above: Villages in the Metn.
Right: Beyond Mount Lebanon, we catch a glimpse of Lake Qar3oun.
