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58

Byblos

Byblos
The site of ancient Byblos lies on the Lebanese coast
about 25 miles north of Beirut. It has been continuously occupied since the late Neolithic Period (c. 5000
b.c.e.), and its tradition claims that it is the oldest city
in the world. The Greeks gave the name Byblos to the
site because they imported Egyptian papyrus, or byblos,
through the city. The Egyptians called it Kebeny, but the
name of the city was Gubal to its inhabitants, and later
Gebal. Byblos persists as the name of the archaeological
site, but the town’s name in Arabic is Jebeil.
For centuries the location of the ancient city was
forgotten until discovered by the French scholar Ernest
Renan in 1860. It lay under the town of Jebeil, the walls
of its houses containing inscribed stones from the city’s
ancient past. Between 1919 and 1924 Pierre Montet’s
excavations revealed the tombs of nine ancient rulers of
Byblos. Maurice Dunand succeeded Montet, conducting excavations from 1925 to 1975.
The fourth-century c.e. geographer Strabo described
Byblos as a “city on a height only a short distance from
the sea.” It had an excellent geographical situation where
trade routes from north and south met. The city was
built on a promontory, behind which the mountains of
Lebanon came closest to the sea, providing easy access
to vast forests of cedar wood and reserves of copper ore.
On either side of the promontory were bays that provided natural harbors, the larger one to the south. On the
north side lay the upper town, or acropolis, holding the
palaces and temples. The harbors were not particularly

large but quite capable of handling the goods that flowed
in and out of Byblos. Exports included Canaanite wine
and oil and the all-important timber.
The earliest example of the Phoenician alphabet
(c. 1000 b.c.e.) is found on the sarcophagus of King
Ahiram of Byblos. Remains from nearly 3,000 years
of contact with Egypt survive, including artifacts inscribed with names of pharaohs from all periods. Trade
was disrupted around 2300 b.c.e. by Amorite tribes
from the desert invading the coastal plain and attacking Byblos. The city soon recovered and entered on a
period of great prosperity that lasted until the coming of the Sea Peoples in the 13th century b.c.e. The
Iron Age (1200–586 b.c.e.) ushered in the Phoenician
age of Byblos: the blend of the coastal Canaanites and
the Sea Peoples. After 1000 b.c.e. the city was never
completely independent of the great powers, Assyria,
Babylon, and Persia.
Byblos always put trade first and submitted to
its overlords, including Alexander the Great, to

whom it surrendered and was spared. After Alexander’s conquest the city slowly adopted Greek culture
and language. The arrival of the Romans in 64 b.c.e.
brought three centuries of peace and prosperity to the
city, along with the building of temples, theaters, and
baths. Byzantine imperial rule brought a Christian
bishop to the city, but there are few remains from this
period. In 636 c.e. the city passed under Arab rule
until taken by the crusaders in 1104. Around 1215
the crusaders built the Church of St. John the Baptist.
In 1289 the city surrendered to the Mamelukes, and
in the 15th century Byblos was taken over by the Ottoman Turks, under whose rule Jebeil operated as an
obscure fishing port.

See also Egypt, culture and religion; Phoenician
colonies.
Further reading: Gibson, John C. L. Textbook of Syrian
Semitic Inscriptions, Vol. 3 Phoenician Inscriptions. Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1982; Herm, Gerhard. The Phoenicians.
New York: Book Club Associates, 1975; Markoe, Glenn E.
Peoples of the Past: Phoenicians. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.
John Barclay Burns

Byzantine-Persian wars
In the third century c.e. the Sassanid dynasty replaced
Parthian rule in the Persian Empire. Rome and Persia
soon ran into conflict over disputed territorial claims,
particularly in the Caucasus region. Diocletian stabilized the frontier by forcing the Persians from the region and establishing suzerainty in 299 c.e. Hostilities
resumed when the Persians invaded Armenia, trying to
regain dominance, and continued throughout much of
the fourth century. In 363 Emperor Julian the Apostate was killed fighting the Persians. Afterward Rome
yielded territory, including Armenia. Relations remained
tense (and sometimes hostile) for decades until conflict
resumed in the early fifth century. Another factor that
led to conflict was religion.
The Eastern Roman Empire was set on Christianity,
while the Sassanid Empire was set on Zoroastrianism. When the Persians began to persecute Christians,
Theodosius II declared war, which resulted in another
treaty. In 442 relations were ameliorated when both
faced the scourge of the Huns and mobilized for defense. Peace was broken in 502 when the Persians demanded tribute and invaded Syria and Armenia.