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Business
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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.
Archaeological 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 S
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. |
Old prints of the
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.
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The
Souks |
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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