SIDON

Arabic Sayda, also spelled Saida, or Sayida, ancient city on the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon and the administrative centre of al-Janub (South Lebanon) muhafazah (governorate). A fishing, trade, and market centre for an agricultural hinterland, it has also served as the Mediterranean terminus of the Trans-Arabian Pipeline, 1,069 mi (1,720 km) long, from Saudi Arabia, and the site of large oil-storage tanks. Sidon, one of the oldest Phoenician cities, was founded in the 3rd millennium BC and became prosperous in the 2nd. It is frequently mentioned in the works of the Greek poet Homer and in the Old Testament; and it was ruled in turn by Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Alexander the Great, the Seleucids of Syria, the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, and the Romans. At that time Sidon was famous for its purple dyes and glassware. Herod I the Great embellished the city, and Jesus visited it. During the Crusades, Sidon changed hands several times and was destroyed and rebuilt. Under Ottoman rule, it flourished almost continuously for 400 years from the year 1517, especially in the 17th century under Fakhr ad-Din II, a semi-independent Druze amir. The French developed Sidon as the port for Damascus; in 1791, however, the Ottoman governor of Lebanon, Ahmad al-Jazzar, drove the French merchants from its gates, thereby largely killing its trade. In 1837 the city was ravaged by an earthquake but was rebuilt. A large necropolis has yielded numerous sarcophagi (stone coffins), including those of two Sidonian kings of the Phoenician period, Eshmunazar and Tennes, and the famous Alexander sarcophagus, depicting battle and hunting scenes, now at Istanbul. Other ruins include two crusader castles and the Phoenician Temple of Eshmun (Eachmoun). A highway and railroad connect Sidon with Beirut, 25 mi north. The city has a sizable Christian (Maronite) community. Many residents are Palestinian refugees. Pop. (1982 est.) 80,000.