SIDON

Syrian seaport city.

Sidon (in Arabic, Sayda, Saida, or Sayida) was an ancient Mediterranean seaport city founded by the Phoenicians during the third millennium b.c.e. and ruled in turn by Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Alexandrian Greeks, Syrian Seleucids, Egyptian Ptolemys, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, and Ottomans. Located on the coast of present-day southwestern Lebanon, its name derives from sayd (fishing in Semitic languages), referring to murex marine snail (Murex brandaris) fishing, from which the famous purple dye was extracted. Sidon is mentioned in ancient writings, including the Egyptian Amarna letters, inscriptions in the city of Ugarit, and in Homer's Iliad. The city's golden age was during the seventeenth century c.e., under Amir Fakhr al-Din II, when Sidon became a dynastic capital and a center for the dyeing and silk industries. Fakhr al-Din built castles, gardens, and inns to house foreign tradesmen. During this period, religious coexistence among Christians and Muslims was marked, and it is still reflected in Sidon's Great Mosque of Umar and the Maronite church, whose foundations date to Roman times. Rebuilt after a disastrous 1837 earthquake, Sidon remains a commercial, fishing, and agricultural market center for citrus fruit and vegetables. A petroleum refinery plant, light industry, and fishing provide important sources of livelihood for Sidon's 140,000 inhabitants (as of 2000), the majority of whom are Sunni Muslims.

george e. irani
updated by charles c. kolb