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Sidon, on the coast 48 kilometers south of Beirut, is one
of the Famous names in ancient history. But of all of Lebanon's cities
this is the most mysterious, for its past has been tragically scattered
and plundered.
In the 19th century, treasure hunters and amateur archaeologists made
off with many of its most beautiful and important objects, some of
which can now be seen in foreign museums.
In this century too, ancient objects from Sidon
(Saidoon is the Phoenician name, Saida in Arabic), have turned up
on the world's antiquities markets.
Other traces of its history lie beneath the concrete of modern constructions,
perhaps buried forever.
The challenge for today's visitor to Sidon then is to recapture a
sense of this city's ancient glory from the intriguing elements that
still survive. |
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| The largest city in south Lebanon, Sidon is
a busy commercial center with the pleasant, conservative atmosphere
of a small town. Since Persian times this was known as the city of
gardens and even today it is surrounded by citrus and banana plantations.
A long and glorious history
There is evidence that Sidon was inhabited
as long ago as 4000 B.C., and perhaps as early as Neolithic times
(6000 - 4000 B.C.). The ancient city was built on a promontory facing
an island, which sheltered its fleet from storms and served as a
refuge during military incursions from the interior. In its wealth,
commercial initiative, and religious significance, Sidon is said
to have surpassed all other Phoenician city states.
Sidon's Phoenician period began in the 12th -
10th century B.C. and reached its height during the Persian Empire
(550 - 330 B.C.). The city provided Persia, a great land power,
with the ships and seamen to fight the Egyptians and the Greek,
a role that gave it a highly favored position. The Persians maintained
a royal park in Sidon and it was during this time that the temple
of Eshmoun was built.
Glass manufacture, Sidon's most important enterprise
in the Phoenician era, was conducted on a vast scale and the production
of purple dye was almost as important. The small shell of the Murex
trunculus was broken in order to extract the pigment that was so
rare it became the mark of royalty.
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View of Sidon
(19th century engraving) |
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Like other Phoenician city states,
Sidon suffered from a succession of conquerors.
At the end of the Persian era in 351 B.C., unable to resist
the superior forces of Artaxerxes III, the desperate Sidonians
locked their gates and set fire to their city rather than to
submit to the invader. More than 40,000 died in the conflagration.
After the disaster the city was too weak to oppose the triumphal
march of Alexander the Great in 333 B.C. It sued for peace and
the Hellenistic age of Sidon began.
Under the successors of Alexander, Sidon, |
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the "holy city" of Phoenicia, enjoyed relative
freedom and organized games and competitions in which the greatest
athletes of the region participated.
When Sidon, like the other cities of Phoenicia,
fell under Roman domination, it continued to mint its own silver coins.
The Romans also built a theater and other major monuments in the city.
During the Byzantine period when the great earthquake of 551 A.D.
destroyed most of the cities of Phoenicia, Beirut's school of Law
took refuge in Sidon. The town continued quietly for the next century,
until it was conquered by the Moslems in 636.
In 1111 Sidon was besieged and stormed by the Crusader
Baldwin, who was soon to become King of Jerusalem. Under Frankish
rule, the city became the chief town of the Seigniory of Sagette and
the second and the four baronies of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem surrendered to Saladin in 1187, but it
was re-occupied for a hundred years when the Crusader Templars recaptured
it briefly. They abandoned it for good in 1291, after the fall of
Acre to the Mamluke forces.
In the 15th century, Sidon was one of the ports
of Damascus and it flourished once more during the 17th century when
it was rebuilt by Fakhreddine II, then ruler of Lebanon. Under his
protection and encouragement, French merchants set up profitable business
enterprises in Sidon for trade between France and Syria. By the beginning
of the 19th century, however , Sidon was relatively obscure and remained
so until the mid-20th century when it developed into an important
commercial and agricultural center.
Archaelogical Excavations
Early French excavations led by Ernest Renan
in the late 19th century uncovered the large necropolis of Magharat
Abloun outside the city. The royal necropoli at nearby Ayaa and
Ain el-Helwe were found shortly thereafter.
In 1937 Middle Bronze Age tombs were opened in
several mountain villages overlooking Sidon and at this time a number
of archaeological surveys were conducted in and around the city.
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Sidon Today
The entrance to Sidon from the north is on
a wide divided highway lined with palm trees. As you approach,
the landmark Crusader Sea Castle and modern port installations
are immediately visible. The busy main street is full of small
shops of every kind, including patisseries, whose oriental delicacies
are stacked in little pyramids.
Sidon is famous for a variety of local sweets
which you can watch being made in the old souk or in shops on
the main street. |
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The particular specialty of Sidon is
known as "senioura," a delicious crumbly cookie.
A growing city with a modern seaport, Sidon
is the South's commercial and financial center. In prewar days
it was a terminal and a refinery for Tapline, and now its huge
storage tanks are used for the import and local distribution
of fuel. The commercial port, the third largest in Lebanon,
accommodates small freighters. Sidon is also the seat of government
for South Lebanon. |
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V I S I T I N G T H E S I T E
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The old section of modern Sidon developed at the end of the
Crusader period. Here the visitor will enjoy wandering along
the sea front to the Crusader Sea Castle, and looking around
the old souks, “khans” (caravansaries) and other medieval remnants.
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The Sea Castle |
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1 - The Sea Castle
Is a fortress built by the Crusaders in the
early 13th century on a small island connected to the mainland
by a causeway. A climb to the top leads to the roof where there
is a good view of the port and the old part of the city.
Today the castle consists primarily of two
towers connected by a wall. In the outer walls Roman columns
were used as horizontal reinforcements, a feature often seen
in fortifications built on or near former Roman sites. The west
tower is the better preserved of the two. |
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fortress show it to be one of great beauty, but little remains
of the embellishments that once decorated its ramparts. After
the fall of Acre to the Mamlukes all the sea castles were destroyed
to prevent the Crusaders from re-establishing footholds on the
coast. |
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Resthouse |
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2 - A government Resthouse on the waterfront
next to the castle offers good food and refreshment. Situated
in a restored medieval building, the Resthouse is set in a landscaped
seaside terrace.
The interior has vaulted ceilings and medieval decor. There
is also a fine patio with a fountain. Open from noon until 4
PM and from 7 PM -12 PM. |
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3 - The Souks
Between the Sea Castle and the Castle of
St. Louis stretches the old town. Not far from the Sea Castle
is the picturesque vaulted souk of Sidon, where workmen still
ply their trades.
On the edge of the souk is a traditional coffee house where
male clientele meet to smoke the narguileh (water pipe) and
drink Turkish coffee. Fishermen sell their latest catch at the
market near the port not far from the souk's entrance.
The Souks
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4 - Khan El Franj
The Khan El Franj is one of the many khans
or caravansaries built by Fakhreddine II for merchants and goods.
This is a typical khan with a large rectangular courtyard and
a central fountain surrounded by covered galleries.
The center of economic activity for the city in the 19th century,
the khan also housed the French consulate. Today it is being
renovated to serve as Sidon's cultural center. |
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Khan El Franj |
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5 - The Great Mosque
South of the souk on the way to the Castle
of St. Louis, is the Great Mosque, formerly the Church of St.
John of the Hospitalers. The four walls of this rectangular
building (recently restored to their natural beauty) date to
the 13th century.
Originally a fortress-like Crusader compound with its own chapel,
it is still an imposing structure, especially viewed from the
seaside. |
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The Great Mosque |
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6 - Qalaat El Muizz or The Castle of St.
Louis
The Castle of St. Louis was erected on the emplacement
of a Fatimid fortress during the Crusade led by French King Louis
IX, popularly known as St. Louis.
Built in the mid-13th century, the present state
of the castle makes it easy to observe various stages of the restoration
carried out in the Mamluke era, particularly work done in the 17th
century by Emir Fakhreddine II. At the foot of the hill are a dozen
or so Roman columns scattered on the ground.
7 - Murex Hill
To the south of the citadel is a mound of debris
called Murex Hill. This artificial hill (100 meters long and 50
meters high) was formed by the accumulation of refuse from the purple
dye factories of Phoenician times. Mosaic tiling found at the top
of the mound suggests that Roman buildings were erected there. The
hill today is covered by houses and buildings as well as a cemetery.
Broken murex shells can still be seen on the lower part of the hill,
but because of extensive construction, it is increasingly inaccessible
to the public.
8 - Old Ports
The ancient Egyptian Port, so called because
it faced south towards Egypt, is located opposite the Castle of
St. Louis and Murex Hill. An active harbor in Phoenician times,
it has silted up over the centuries. Today the north channel harbor
is used only for local fishing boats because Fakhreddine filled
it in during the 17th century to deny entry to the Turkish fleet.
What remains of this harbor goes back to the Roman era.
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The Necropoli of Sidon.
The three main necropoli of Sidon lie beyond
the ancient city limits and were in use until the late Roman and
early Christian eras. These are the necropolis of Magharat Abloun,
the royal necropolis of Ayaa below the present village of Helalie,
and the necropolis of Ain el Helwe to the southeast. Located in
what are now residential areas, no excavations are in progress at
any of these sites.
South of the city an ancient cemetery known as
Dekerman was used until this century. It is also an archaeological
site, with an extensive collection of objects, mostly sarcophagi
and tombs in situ, as well as fragments, inscriptions and sculptures.
A number of circular Chalcolithic (4000 B.C.) foundations can also
be seen here.
If you have time
The Temple of Eshmoun.
At the right of the bridge on the Awali River
just before reaching Sidon, is a spot known as "Bustan el Sheikh,"
site of the Temple of Eshmoun. This important monument goes back
to the Persian period (6th century B.C.) when Sidon was at its zenith.
As the god of healing, Eshmoun was identified
with Asklepios, the Greek god of medical arts. Each Phoenician city
state had its own gods, and Eshmoun was one of the favorite of Sidon
during its golden age, the 6th and the 5th centuries B.C. Additions
were made to the temple in subsequent eras and it remained a sacred
shrine and place of pilgrimage well into the first centuries A.D.
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