Names

Transliterated Name Source Name
Sidon English
Sayda Arabic صيدا
Saida Modern Arabic صيدا
Ṣaydūn Classical Arabic صَيْدونْ
Ṣidon Syriac ܨܝܕܘܢ
Sidṓn Greek Σιδών
Sidon Latin
Colonia Aurelia Pia Sidon Roman colony
Sagittus Crusader Latin
Saete, Sayette, or Sagette Crusader French
Ṣīdūn Phoenician
Djedouna Papyrus Anastasi I
Ṣīḏōn Biblical Hebrew צִידוֹן
Introduction

Marriner (2006) provides the following background information
The Sidone-Dakerman area chronicles a long history of human occupation stretching back to the Neolithic [67]. Canaan’s oldest city according to Genesis, the tell occupies a modest rocky promontory that overlooks a partially drowned sandstone ridge and two marine embayments. During the Iron Age, this geomorphological endowment allowed Sidon to evolve into one of Phoenicia’s key city-states, producing and transiting wealthy commodities to trading partners in Assyria, Egypt, Cyprus and the Aegean. This trading ascendancy is corroborated by the Old Testament’s use of the term Sidonian to encapsulate all Phoenicians. Sidon enjoyed its apogee during the sixth to fifth centuries BC, at which time it superseded Tyre as Phoenicia’s principal naval base.
Issam Ali Khalifeh in Meyers et al (1997) notes that the historical name for Sidon is probably derived from sayd, Semitic for fishing. and that Sidon's history, including the glorious Phoenician period, Assyrian and Persian domination, and Greek and Roman rule, is fairly well known from written sources, local finds, and archaeological work in Sidon and neighboring areas.

Maps and Plans Core Data Chronology
Tsunamis in the 1st millennium BCE

Marinner et al (2006) and Carayon et al (2011) reported on 15 cores taken around the northern harbor and four around the cirque ronde. There is no mention of tsunamogenic evidence in the cores. Marinner et al (2006:1521) noted that in Unit B2 (Closed Phoenician to Roman harbours) persistent age-depth anomalies concur analogous data in Tyre’s ancient harbour where strong chronostratigraphic evidence for dredging has been detailed from the Roman period onwards. This may indicate that, like at Tyre, any evidence of a 1st millennium BCE tsunami may have been removed by dredging.

551 CE tsunami

Marinner et al (2006) and Carayon et al (2011) reported on 15 cores taken around the northern harbor and four around the cirque ronde. There is no mention of tsunamogenic evidence in the cores.

Notes and Further Reading
References

Marriner, N., et al. (2006). "Geoarchaeology of Sidon's ancient harbours, Phoenicia." Journal of Archaeological Science 33(11): 1514-1535.

Carayon, N. and N. Marriner (2011). "Geoarchaeology of Byblos, Tyre, Sidon and Beirut." Rivista di studi fenici XXXIX: 55-66.

Bibliography from Meyers et al (1997)

Chehab, Maurice. "Tombs pheniciennes Majdalouna." Bulletin du Musee de Beyrouth 4 (1940): 37-53 . Phoenician tombs and their contents in the environs of Sidon.

Contenau, Georges. "Mission Archeologique a Sidon, 1914. " Syria 1 (1920): 198-229, 287-317 . Still a good reference as the first attempt to excavate in Sidon.

Contenau, Georges. "Deuxieme Mission Archeologique a Sidon, 1920, " Syria 4 (1923): 261-281 ; 5 (1924): 9-23, 123-134 .

Dunand, Maurice. "Rapport preliminaire sur les fouilles de Sidon." Bulletin du Musee de Beyrouth 19 (1966): 103-105 ; 20 (1967): 27-44; 22 (1969): 101-107 , The primary sources for archaeology atthe site.

Guigues, P, E. "Lebe'a, Kafer-Garra, Qraye: Necropoles de la region sidonienne." Bulletin du Musee de Beyrouth 1 (1937): 35-76; 2 (1938): 27-72; 3 (1939): 53-63. Useful reference for excavations in the environs of Sidon.

Jidejian, Nina. Sidon through the Ages. Beirut, 1971 . The history of Sidon.

Poidebard, Antoine, and Jean Lauffray. Sidon: Amenagements antiques du Port de Saida. Beirut, 1951 . The only useful source on the port excavations.

Renan, Ernest. Mission de Phenicie. Paris, 1864. Pioneering work at the necropolei of Sidon.

Saidah, Roger. "Chronique fouilles de Sidon." Bulletin du Musee de Beyrouth 20 (1967): 162-165 .

Saidah, Roger. "Archaeology in the Lebanon, 1968-1969. " Berytus 18 (1969): 119-142 . Covers the archaeological activities in the city itself, the Temple of Eshmun, the necropolei, and the Chalcolithic settlement.