Ancient Lebanon

The area now known as Lebanon first appeared in recorded history around 3000 B.C. as a group of coastal cities and a heavily forested hinterland. The early inhabitants, Canaanites lived in the narrow East-Mediterranean coast and the parallel strip mountains of Lebanon.

Each of the coastal cities was an independent kingdom noted for the special activities of its inhabitants. Tyre and Sidon were important maritime and trade centers; Gubla (later known as Byblos and now as Jubayl) and Berytus (present-day Beirut) were trade and religious centers.

Around 2800 BC Canaanites traded cedar timber, olive oil and wine from Byblos for metals and ivory from Egypt.

The study led by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in England shows that most of the Lebanese ancestry is Phoenician, a maritime culture that flourished for almost 3000 years (c. 3200–539 BC).

It was said that the links go further back to the Canaanites, the historic and biblical people – who include the Phoenician people. They have invented the first alphabet where the Latin alphabet derives from. Also, the Phoenicians were among the first people that produced wine.

The Phoenicians mastered the art of navigation and dominated the Mediterranean Sea trade for over 500 years.

This civilization has left a huge impact in Lebanon. Famous for building cities, the Phoenicians have left an architectural heritage wherever they went.

Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Phoenician cities in the 4th century BCE meant that the Levant came under Hellenistic rule. In Lebanon, philosophy flourished under the influence of the Greeks. Diodoros of Tyre, a member of the Peripatetic school, is a well-known philosopher.

In 64 BC Roman general Pompey added Seleucid Syria and Lebanon to the Roman Empire. Lebanon was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century and remained under its rule for the next 400 years. Lebanon became a republic in 1926 and achieved independence in 1943.
Ancient Lebanon

Ancient city of Sidon

The Phoenicians were the descendents of Canaan, the grandson of Noah, and occupied a tract of country, which was bounded on the north and east by Syria, on the south by Judea and on the west by the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians earned the reputation of being the best seamen in the world.

Phoenicia was divided into several small kingdoms, of which the most considerable were those of Sidon, Tyre, and Arad. Sidon was a major seaport with two deep harbors. In Homer also (1000-800 BC) frequent mention is made of the merchants and skilful artist of Sidon.

Sidon, the eldest son of Canaan, founded the city which bore his name. While Eustathius declares that Sidon was built by Belus and named after his daughter Side.

In the ninth century Sidon, which had become a vassal of Tyre, resumed her independence, but Assyria had now in 880 BC stretched her hand over Phoenicia and in 842 BC both sites, Tyre and Sidon including northern kingdom of Israel paid their tribute.

Despite its woes at the hands of the Assyrians, Sidon remained a wealthy and prosperous city, until Sidonians became tired of paying tribute and rebelled. In 679-8 BC Sidon revolted against Assyria and was destroyed.

In the early sixth century BC Sidon got caught in the middle of a dispute between Egypt and Babylonia and in 587 BC it was captures by Nebuchadnezzar.

In the Persian period, Sidon have been the main and the most prosperous of the Phoenician cities, but later suffered from the aftermaths of the Tennes revolt in 351 BC.

Three times the city of Sidon was captured by the Crusaders and three times it was captured by the Muslim armies.
Ancient city of Sidon