Summarize
There were many great cities that the Phoenicians lived in. Phoenician city-states each had their own form of government. One of the oldest cities known, Byblos, dated back to 7000 B.C. Byblos in one of the most archaeologically rich places on the earth, because it has been around for such a long period of time. Byblos was a very strong Naval Power in its day, just as Tyre and Sidon were. Tyre was a major seaport from about 2000 B.C. through the Roman age. This was a city built on an Island. It is known most for being a mass producer of purple dye and being the center of the industry. Sidon was another very important city. In about the 10th century B.C., Tyre became the leader of all of Phoenicia. Sidon means fishing. Sidon was the third greatest Phoenician city-state ever. This city was known for being the center of the glass industry. Most Phoenician cities were located along the coast of modern day Syria and near the Mediterranean sea.
Tyre
The foremost place gained by Tyre was retained until the final downfall of the Phoenician cities. Tyre became to the other towns almost what Rome was to Italy. At least, she was their acknowledged leader, and her name was extended by the Greeks to all the region around. Our modern name Syria is probably only a softened form of Tyria, or the lands of Tyre. The worship of Tyre's special deity, Melkarth, and Phoenician Hercules, became the most wide-spread religion in the ancient world. His shrines dotted the Mediterranean and were planted by colonists even beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. The mountains on either side of Gibraltar were named the Pillars of Melkarth, or, as the Greeks called them, the Pillars of Hercules; for the legends of Melkarth, his labors, and his wanderings, were ascribed by the Greeks to Hercules, their own similar deity.
Byblos
Byblos bears exceptional testimony to the beginnings of Phoenician civilization. From the Bronze Age, it provides one of the primary examples of urban organization in the Mediterranean world.
The Phoenicians, who considered Gublu (the Gebal of the Bible) to be one of their oldest cities, were in no way wrong: the site of Byblos has been continuously inhabited since the Neolithic period. The oldest human settlement, some 7,000 years old, appears to have been a fishing village whose numerous monocellular huts have been rediscovered.
Towards 3200 BC, a new spatial organization took form: the mound was covered with houses with stone walls, while the inhumation urns, until that time placed within the living area, were shifted to the periphery of the agglomeration where various types of funerary rituals may be observed in the large necropolis. Towards 2800, Gebal appeared as a highly structured city: enclosed by a massive fortified wall (whose construction, legend attributes to the god El), it comprised a main street and a network of smaller streets.
The Phoenicians, who considered Gublu (the Gebal of the Bible) to be one of their oldest cities, were in no way wrong: the site of Byblos has been continuously inhabited since the Neolithic period. The oldest human settlement, some 7,000 years old, appears to have been a fishing village whose numerous monocellular huts have been rediscovered.
Towards 3200 BC, a new spatial organization took form: the mound was covered with houses with stone walls, while the inhumation urns, until that time placed within the living area, were shifted to the periphery of the agglomeration where various types of funerary rituals may be observed in the large necropolis. Towards 2800, Gebal appeared as a highly structured city: enclosed by a massive fortified wall (whose construction, legend attributes to the god El), it comprised a main street and a network of smaller streets.
Sidon
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.
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, the "holy city" of Phoenicia, enjoyed relative freedom and organized games and competitions in which the greatest athletes of the region participated.
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.
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, the "holy city" of Phoenicia, enjoyed relative freedom and organized games and competitions in which the greatest athletes of the region participated.
