XiMi '1754. j ICOlUMBlA^ UNIVERSITY 1893.1 h Press SIDON A STUDY IN ORIENTAL HISTORY BY FREDERICK CARL EI8ELEN Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of Philosophy Columbia University Nftu fork i00r Tgfts /. IX 1) Copyright 1907 By The Macmillan Company Set up and printed from the type Published, May, 1907 GRATEFULLY DEDICATED TO PROFESSOR RICHARD J. H. GOTTHEIL, Ph.D. TEACHER AND FRIEND 160781 NOTE The Mediterranean Sea is the natural meeting place of the various influences that have proceeded from three continents. The life of those cities that have taken a prominent part in developing the countries on its littoral must always be of interest to the student of history. Each city mirrors not only the general influences that were at work, but adds thereto its special quota of peculiar force. The role played by the Phoenicians, during the generations of their power and influence, as mediators be- tween conflicting interests gives to their history a certain attrac- tion. One of the chief centres of their power was the city of Sidon, and in the present volume of the Columbia University Oriental Series, Dr. F. C. Eiselen has studied the history of that city from the earliest times down to the present day. For this purpose he has gathered together the various references to be found regarding Sidon upon Assyrian and Egyptian monu- ments, in Hebrew literature, in the classical authors, in the records of pilgrims and in the historical works of Mohammedan writers. On account of the nature of the sources, his account of the life of the city must at times be disconnected. Future excavations will undoubtedly enrich our knowledge in regard to Sidon, and the discovery of ancient documents written by neighboring peoples will fill up many of the gaps. As far as our knowledge reaches at present, Dr. Eiselen has carefully brought together all that is to be found, and has laid down the general lines of development along which the city passed, first to its glory and then to its decline. Richard Gottheil. April, 1907. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Preliminary Studies. 1. Topography of Sidon 1 2. The Name Sidon 10 3. Is Sidon Older than Tyre? 16 II. The Political History of Sidon. 1. The Founding of Sidon 27 2. History of Sidon to the Close of the Tel-el- Amarna Period 33 3. To the Destruction of Sidon by Esarhaddon.... 40 4. To the Destruction of Sidon by Artaxerxes Ochus 55 5. To the Beginning of the Crusades 68 6. The Period of the Crusades 82 7. To the Present Day 102 III. Colonies, Commerce and Industries 110 IV. The Religious History of Sidon 124 V. Antiquities and Inscriptions 138 Appendix I.—The Kings of Sidon 155 Appendix II.—The Coins of Sidon 157 Appendix III.—Antiquities from Sidon 164 I. PRELIMINARY STUDIES CHAPTER I TOPOGRAPHY OF SIDON In the wider sense the term Phoenicia was applied by the ancients to the whole territory extending along the eastern shore of the from Mediterranean, the Gulf of Issus, which separ- ates Cilicia from Syria, to the desert between Palestine and 1 Egypt. In a narrower sense it was used by the Greeks and Romans to designate a strip of the coast land, about 200 miles long and from two to fifteen miles wide. On the east this tract is bounded by the Lebanon Mountains, from which flow the streams that water the plain. The northern and southern limits are more difficult to determine, as they varied from time to time. Generally speaking, the territory extended from a few miles beyond the Eleutheros in the north, to Mount Carmel in the south, a little more than two degrees of latitude. The is territory mostly level, cut here and there by headlands which into the project Mediterranean; as a result, the long and narrow maritime plain may be conveniently divided into smaller from sections, called, beginning the south, after the principal cities located in them, the Plain of Acco, the Plain of Tyre, the Plain of the Plain of 3 Sidon, Beyrut, etc. Following this division, the Plain of Sidon may be reckoned from the Ras $arafand, a little north of 3 Sarafand, northward to the Ras-al-Jajunieh, a distance of about ten miles. 1 Historia Pliny, naturalis, IX, 12, calls the Mediterranean Sea from Cilicia to Egypt, Phcenicium mare. 2 Rawlinson, Hist, of Phoen., p. 6ff. 3 The Biblical Sarepta. 2 TOPOGRAPHY OF S1DON The plain itself is very narrow, hardly ever more than two miles in width; it is well watered and very fertile. The water is supplied chiefly by three streams, coming from the mountains immediately east of the plain, the Nahr-al-Auwaly in the north, just inside of the Ras-al-Jajunieh, the Nahr Senik, which flows into the Mediterranean immediately south of Sidon, and the Nahr-az-Zaherany, about two and a half miles north of Sarepta. The water supply is supplemented by several fountains, among them the Ain-al-Kanterah and the Ain-al-Burak 1 between Sarepta and the Nahr-az-Zaherany. With this abundant water supply irrigation of the less favored spots becomes quite easy, and it is practiced extensively. The result is everywhere abund- ant fertility and beauty, of which writers in all ages speak with much enthusiasm. In the latter part of the fifth century A.D. 2 ' ' Achilles Tatius describes a grove near Sidon, thickly planted with plane trees, through which flowed a stream of water, cold and transparent as that which proceeds from newly melted snow." The Arabic historians and geographers allude to it again and again. Idrisi, writing c. 1154, speaks of Sidon as 3 surrounded by gardens and trees; Yakut, c. 1225, states that there are large quantities of vegetables grown around the town ;* 6 and Ibn Batuta, 1355, calls it "a town full of fruit trees." Of more recent travelers Robinson writes: "The beauty of Sidon consists in its gardens and orchards of fruit trees, which fill the plain and extend to the foot of the adjacent hills The environs exhibit everywhere a luxuriant verdure, and the fruits of Sidon are reckoned among the finest in the country."" Similarly Porter: "The gardens and orchards of Sidon are 1 Renan, Mission de Phenicie, pp. 524, 665. 2 De Clitophontis et Leucippes amoribus, I, near beginning. 3 Nuzhat al-MuUdk, ed. Gildemeister, p. 15; translation of Jaubert, p. 354. 4 Mu'jam al-bulddn, ed. Wustenfeld, III, p. 439. 8 Tuhjat an-nuzzar, ed. Defremery and Sanguinetti, I, p. 131; cp. also John Poloner, Palestine Pilgrim Texts, Vol. VI, p. 29; Jacques de Vitry, P. P. T. f Vol. XI, C. 25; Burchard of Mt. Zion, P. P. T., Vol. XII, pp. 13, 14. Marino Sanuto, Book III, Part VI, C. 6. 8 Biblical Researches in Palestine, 2d edit., II, p. 479. THE PLAIN OF SIDON 3 charming. Oranges, lemons, citrons, bananas, and palms grow luxuriantly, and give the environs of the old city a look of eternal spring. Sidon is one of the few spots in Syria where 1 nature's luxuriance has triumphed over neglect and ruin." And Benzinger writes: "The magnificent gardens which form a broad belt around the town, especially on the north, are the pride of Sidon. Oranges and lemons are largely cultivated and exported; almonds and apricots, bananas and palms also grow here. ' n In this fertile plain stands the present town of Saida, in north- ern latitude 33° 34' 5", eastern longitude, from Greenwich, 35° 3 22' 34". It is situated on the northwestern slope of a small promontory, which projects here, in a southwesterly direction, for a short distance into the sea. The modern town, which extends about 900 yards from northeast to southwest, and 4 somewhat less than 500 yards from east to west, stands close upon the shore. Evidently, after the Crusades, the few sur- vivors clustered around the principal harbor of the ancient town, which was north of the promontory, and there the new city grew up gradually. The city has two harbors, but only one, the one in the north, is now in use. Down to the seventeenth century A.D. it was a very excellent harbor, but in the early part of that century the Druse Emir Fakhr-addin, who sought to wrest Syria from the Turks, ordered it to be filled up in part, so as to prevent the landing 5 of the Turkish fleet, and at present only small boats can enter. The harbor is well protected in the west by a rocky island, which runs along the harbor about 250 yards. The north side is protected by a chain of small islands and reefs, which extend in a northeasterly direction about 600 yards. The present entrance is immediately west of the most easterly of these islands, which is connected with the city by a 1 The Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 275. 2 Badeker, Palestine and Syria, ed. 1898, p. 313. 3 Ritter, Geogr. und Stat. Lex., II, art. Saida, says 34° 22' 34". 4 5 According to the map in Badeker. See below, p. 106. 4 TOPOGRAPHY OF SIDON 1 bridge. The result is a convenient harbor about 500 yards long and about 200 yards wide. The natural defenses in the west and north were strengthened in very early times by walls built of huge blocks along the reefs and islets, remains of which fortifi- 2 cations may still be seen. The modern bridge connecting the island in the north with the city may have been preceded in 3 antiquity, before the time of Alexander the Great, by a strong wall.