The Temple of Jupiter, with the Temple of Bacchus in background, Baalbek, 1936. Courtesy the G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, Library of Congress

In Baalbek, Lebanon, across from the Roman ruins the city is known for, lies an old hotel called the Palmyra, its façade mantled in dark climbing vines. I first encountered its image when I was eight, in a yellowed old book: Histoire de Baalbek, my great-great-grandfather Mikhail Alouf’s chronicle of the city. The opening page, featuring a photograph of the six pillars of the Temple of Jupiter viewed from the…