What is a Roman god's temple doing in a place with 'Baal' in the name?
The short version is simply that the Romans exported their state religion to areas they conquered, but they didn't try to completely obliterate place names and existing culture in most places. This temple fell into disrepair and was covered by other rubble before it would have been taken over as a church or mosque, and the sheer size of the complex it was part of meant it wasn't fully harvested for building material. It was excavated around 1900.
What is a Roman god's temple doing in a place with 'Baal' in the name?
The short version is simply that the Romans exported their state religion to areas they conquered, but they didn't try to completely obliterate place names and existing culture in most places. This temple fell into disrepair and was covered by other rubble before it would have been taken over as a church or mosque, and the sheer size of the complex it was part of meant it wasn't fully harvested for building material. It was excavated around 1900.
Also, lucky you! Today, you get to learn about Roman public religion and quasi-official syncretism!
Cool.