Description : Labweh (Arabic: اللبوة), Laboué, Labwe or Al-Labweh is a village at an elevation of 950 metres (3,120 ft) on a foothill of the Anti-Lebanon mountains in Baalbek District, Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, Lebanon. It is famous because of the archaeological remains, like a Roman temple converted in a Byzantine fortress. The Neolithic settlements represented at Labweh have been found dating to at least the 7th millennium BC. It has been suggested that it was known to the Egyptians as Lab'u, to the Assyrians as Laba'u and as Lebo-hamath to the Hebrews. This has been associated with the "entrance of Hamath" mentioned in the Books of Kings and the Book of Ezekiel, noted as the Northern border of King Solomon's territory, but subsequently lost to the Syrians. Jeroboam II, king of Israel, is said to have "restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea)". Labweh in the original Syriac tongue means "heart" or "center", it also has been suggested to come from the Arabic for "lion" or "lioness". The village has several archaeological sites of interest including three old caves with Roman-Byzantine sarcophagi and the remains of a temple. There are also remains of a Byzantine bastion and a Roman dam suggested to date to the reign of Queen Zenobia. Legend suggests that channels were carved through the rock to send water to her lands in Palmyra, Syria. In 1838, Eli Smith noted Lebweh as a Metawileh village in the Baalbek District.
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