SIDON

a fondat alte colonii, una dintre acestea fiind Leptis (situat la est de actualul oraș Tripoli).
În secolele IX-VII î.H. Orașul a cunoscut o nouă perioadă de prosperitate în timpul dominației perșilor ahemeneizi (secolele VI-IV î.H.). Perșii au împrumutat de multe ori corăbii de la fenicieni, deoarece aveau nevoie pentru războiul cu grecii. Astfel, orașul a beneficiat de multe beneficii în această perioadă. Locuitorii Sidonului s-au revoltat însă, în secolul IV î.H., dar au fost învinșide regele persan Artaxerxes al III-lea, peste 40.000 de oameni murind în această conflagrație. Orașul a fost cucerit de Alexandru Macedon în anul 332 î.H., apoi a intrat în componența Regatului Seleucid, până în anul 111 î.H., când își va câștiga independența. În anul 63 î.H., orașul va fic cucerit din nou, de către romani. În perioda Imperiului Bizantin ,mai exact în anul 551 d.H. școala de Legi din Beirut a fost afectată de un cutremur și a trebuit săs se refugieze în orașu Sidon. El a continuat să fie un oraș liniștit timp de însă un secol, până la cucerirea musulmană din anul 636 d.H.
În anul 1111 Sidonul a fost asediat de către cruciatul Balduin. În secolul XV Sidonul a fost un important port în Damasc, și înflorit și mai mult în secolul XVII, când a fost reconstruit de Fakhreddine al II-lea. Astăzi ,intrarea în Sidon este pe un drum larg împărțit și căptușit cu palmieri. Cum vă apropiați, reperele principale sunt Castelul de Mare și instalațiile moderne. Sidon (whose name in classical Arabic is: صَيْدونْ (Saydoon)) has been inhabited since very early in prehistory. The archaeological site of Sidon II shows a lithic assemblage dating to the Acheulean, whilst finds at Sidon III include a Heavy Neolithic assemblage suggested to date just prior to the invention of pottery.[1] It was one of the most important Phoenician cities, and may have been the oldest. From here, and other ports, a great Mediterranean commercial empire was founded. Homer praised the skill of its craftsmen in producing glass, purple dyes, and its women's skill at the art of embroidery. It was also from here that a colonizing party went to found the city of Tyre. Tyre also grew into a great city, and in subsequent years there was competition between the two, each claiming to be the metropolis ('Mother City') of Phoenicia. Glass manufacturing, 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. In AD 1855, the sarcophagus of King Eshmun’azar II was discovered. From a Phoenician inscription on its lid, it appears that he was a "king of the Sidonians," probably in the 5th century BC, and that his mother was a priestess of ‘Ashtart, "the goddess of the Sidonians." [2] In this inscription the gods Eshmun and Ba‘al Sidon 'Lord of Sidon' (who may or may not be the same) are mentioned as chief gods of the Sidonians. ‘Ashtart is entitled ‘Ashtart-Shem-Ba‘al '‘Ashtart the name of the Lord', a title also found in an Ugaritic text. Sidon Sea Castle, built by the Crusaders in AD 1228
In the years before Christianity, Sidon had many conquerors: Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, and finally Romans. Both Jesus and Saint Paul are said to have visited it too (see Biblical Sidon below). The city was eventually conquered by the Arabs and then by the Ottoman Turks. Like other Phoenician city-states, Sidon suffered from a succession of conquerors. At the end of the Persian era in 351 BC, it was invaded by the emperor Artaxerxes III and then by Alexander the Great in 333 BC when the Hellenistic era of Sidon began. Under the successors of Alexander, it enjoyed relative autonomy and organized games and competitions in which the greatest athletes of the region participated. In the Necropolis of Sidon, important finds such as the Alexander Sarcophagus, the Lycian tomb and the Sarcophagus of the Crying Women were discovered, which are now on display at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum in Istanbul.[3]
When Sidon 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. In the reign of Elagabalus a Roman colonia was established there, and it was given the name of Colonia Aurelia Pia Sidon. During the Byzantine period, when the great earthquake of AD 551 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 Arabs in AD 636. Sidon with a view of the Mediterranean coast
On 4 December 1110 Sidon was captured a decade after the First Crusade by King Baldwin of Jerusalem and King Sigurd of Norway. It then became the centre of the Lordship of Sidon, an important seigneury in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Saladin captured it from the Crusaders in 1187, but German Crusaders restored it to Christian control in the Crusade of 1197. It would remain an important Crusader stronghold until it was finally destroyed by the Saracens in 1249. In 1260 it was again destroyed by the Mongols. The remains of the original walls are still visible. After Sidon came under Ottoman Turkish rule in the early 16th century, it regained a great deal of its earlier commercial importance. After World War I it became part of the French Mandate of Lebanon. During World War II the city, together with the rest of Lebanon, was captured by British forces fighting against the Vichy French, and following the war it became a major city of independent Lebanon. Following the Palestinian exodus in 1948, a considerable number of Palestinian refugees arrived in Sidon, as in other Lebanese cities, and were settled at the large refugee camps of Ein el-Hilweh and Mieh Mieh. At first these consisted of enormous rows of tents, but gradually houses were constructed. The refugee camps constituted de facto neighborhoods of Sidon, but had a separate legal and political status which made them into a kind of enclaves. At the same time, the remaining Jews of the city fled, and the Jewish cemetery fell into disrepair, threatened by coastal erosion. Sidon ou Saïda en arabe (en phénicien Sydwn ou Saidoon, en grec ancien, Σιδών, , en arabe, صيدا Saydā) est une ville du Liban. Elle fut dans l'antiquité la capitale incontestée de la Phénicie. La ville était construite sur un promontoire s'avançant dans la mer. Ce fut le plus grand port de la Phénicie sous son roi Zimrida, au xviiie siècle. Elle est aussi appelée Sagette ou Sayette durant les Croisades(nom donné par les Francs) et Sidon dans la Bible. Son nom signifie « pêcherie ». Elle possède une longue et riche histoire et traversa les siècles avec des destinées diverses au contact des différents peuples qui la contrôlèrent, les Phéniciens, les Assyriens qui la ruinèrent en 677 av. J.-C., les perses Achéménides, les Macédoniens, les Séleucides, les Romains et plus t**d les Croisés, les Arabes, les Ottomans, et les Français. La ville moderne est aujourd'hui l'une des plus importantes du Liban.
صيدا ثالث أكبر المدن اللبنانية وأكبر مدن محافظة الجنوب و تعتبر صيدا احدى أقدم مدن العالم , تقع على ساحل البحر الأبيض المتوسط شمال صور بحوالي 40 كم. و 50 كم جنوبي العاصمة بيروت[1]. صيدا مدينة قديمة ذات شهرة تاريخية واسعة يشهد عليها مرفؤها وقلعتها. وعرفت في العقد الأخير من القرن الماضي بعد الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية نمواً مدنياً متسارعاً أدى إلى تضخمها وتمددها نحو العديد من القرى المجاورة التي أصبحت جزءاً من مجالها.
تلعب المدينة دوراً استقطابياً على مستوى محافظة الجنوب، باعتبارها مركز المحافظة، كما يوفر لها موقعها المميز ان تكون صلة وصل بين الجنوب وبيروت وقد ازدادت أهميتها بعد تنفيذ الأوتوستراد الجنوبي. وتتمركز في صيدا الدوائر الرسمية والمتاجر والمصارف والمؤسسات التعليمية والاستشفائية والصناعية الرئيسية، كما يؤمن لها مرفؤها فرصاً اضافية للنمو والاستقطاب
تعتبر صيدا الحاضرة وريثة صيدون الفينيقية، وتقع على ساحل البحر المتوسط في جنوب لبنان على مسافة 45 كيلومتراً إلى الجنوب الغربي من بيروت و40 كيلومتراً إلى الشمال من صور، ولا يتطابق موقع صيدا الحالي مع موقع صيدون الفينيقية التي كانت تمتد نحو الشرق أكثر (الدليل على ذلك أنّ معظم الآثار الفينيقية المكتشفة وُجدت في القياعة، الهلالية وأخيراً في تلة شرحبيل بن حسنة) بينما انحصرت صيدا قديما بأسوارها حتى اواسط القرن التاسع عشر، ثم أخذت بالانتشار نحو الشمال والشرق عبر البساتين التي تغطي سهلها. يبلغ عدد سكانتها ما يقارب الـ250 الف نسمة، وذلك حسب التقديرات المحلية لغياب الإحصاءات الرسمية.