The temple is 66 meters long, 35 meters wide, and 31 meters high, making it only slightly smaller than the Temple of Jupiter. The podium on which the temple sits is on an East-West axis. The peripheral wall is adorned by a colonnade of forty-two unfluted Corinthian columns with Ionic bases, nineteen of which remain upright. There are eight columns along each end and fifteen along each side, nearly 20 meters (66 feet) in height. These columns were probably erected in a rough state and then rounded, polished, and decorated in position. The columns support a richly carved entablature, which includes an architrave with a three-banded frieze decorated with alternating bulls and lions and a cornice ornamented with geometric and floral patterns.

Antiquity
The temple was most likely commissioned by Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned 138–161 CE). No historical records exist about the site until a 4th-century CE Greek conquest, by which time the temple was likely closed due to the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire. When the complex fell into disrepair, the Temple of Bacchus was possibly protected by the rubble of the rest of the site's ruins.

Modern Excavation and Preservation Efforts
It was not until 1898–1903 CE that a German expedition excavated two of the large temples and began reconstructions on the site. In 1920, with the proclamation of the State of Greater Lebanon, protections and repairs of the site were mandated by the Lebanese government.

Lebanese Civil War
In the mid-1970s, the Lebanese Civil War broke out, and protections of the site ceased as the al-Biqā region became a stronghold for Palestinian and Syrian forces. In 1984 CE, the ruins at Baalbek were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Preservation of the site resumed in the 1990s following the end of the war. The German Archaeological Institute's Orient Department has since conducted several archaeological excavations and research projects on the Temple of Bacchus and the larger temple complex.

circa 15 BCE

Monumental Entrance
The entrance was preserved as late as the 16th century, but the keystone of the lintel had slid 2 feet (1 meters) following the 1759 CE earthquakes. A column of rough masonry was erected in the 1860s/70s to support it. The earthquakes also damaged the area around the soffit's famed inscription of an eagle, which was entirely covered by the keystone's supporting column. Some historic Roman coins depict the structure of this temple alongside the Temple of Jupiter.

circa 15 BCE

Cella
Inside the temple, the cella is decorated with Corinthian pilasters flanking two levels of niches on each side. The parapets are adorned with dancing Maenads, supporting the attribution of the temple to Bacchus. The interior is divided into a 98 feet (30 meters) nave and a 36 feett (11 meters) adytum or sanctuary on a platform raised 5 feet (2 meters) above it and fronted by 13 steps.

circa 15 BCE

Relief Carvings
The temple is enriched by some of the most refined reliefs and sculpture to survive from antiquity. Notably, there are four sculptures carved within the peristyle believed to be depictions of Acarina, which would make them the first recognizable representations of mites in architecture.