Open this page in a new tab

Sidon

Fig. 3

Sidon and Zire (from [31]). In the foreground, Sidon’s outer harbour lies in the shadow zone of Zire island. The promontory of Sidon separates two coves, the northern harbour and Poidebard’s Crique Ronde.

Marriner et al (2006)


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
Introduction and History

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 Sidon enjoyed its apogee during the sixth to fifth centuries BC, at which time it superseded Tyre as Phoenicia’s principal naval base.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, Aerial Views, Plans, and Paintings
Maps, Aerial Views, Plans, and Paintings

Maps

Normal Size

  • Fig. 2 Sidon’s coastal bathymetry
    Fig. 2

    Sidon’s coastal bathymetry

    Marriner et al (2006)
    from Marriner et al (2006)

Magnified

  • Fig. 2 Sidon’s coastal bathymetry
    Fig. 2

    Sidon’s coastal bathymetry

    Marriner et al (2006)
    from Marriner et al (2006)

Aerial Views

Normal Size

  • Fig. 3 Aerial Photograph of
    Fig. 3

    Sidon and Zire (from [31]). In the foreground, Sidon’s outer harbour lies in the shadow zone of Zire island. The promontory of Sidon separates two coves, the northern harbour and Poidebard’s Crique Ronde.

    Marriner et al (2006)
    Sidon and Zire from Marriner et al (2006)
  • Sidon in Google Earth
    Sidon

    click on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth

Magnified

  • Fig. 3 Aerial Photograph of
    Fig. 3

    Sidon and Zire (from [31]). In the foreground, Sidon’s outer harbour lies in the shadow zone of Zire island. The promontory of Sidon separates two coves, the northern harbour and Poidebard’s Crique Ronde.

    Marriner et al (2006)
    Sidon and Zire from Marriner et al (2006)
  • Sidon in Google Earth
    Sidon

    click on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth

Plans

Site Plans

Normal Size

  • Fig. 1 Location of cores
    Fig. 1

    Sidon’s ancient harbour areas and location of cores

    Marriner et al (2006)
    from Marriner et al (2006)

Magnified

  • Fig. 1 Location of cores
    Fig. 1

    Sidon’s ancient harbour areas and location of cores

    Marriner et al (2006)
    from Marriner et al (2006)

Area Plans

Harbour

Normal Size

  • Fig. 1.3 Plan of
    Figure 1.3

    Plan of the inner harbour at Sidon

    (after Poidebard & Lauffary 1951)

    Raban et al. (2009)
    the inner harbour at Sidon from Raban et al. (2009)

Magnified

  • Fig. 1.3 Plan of
    Figure 1.3

    Plan of the inner harbour at Sidon

    (after Poidebard & Lauffary 1951)

    Raban et al. (2009)
    the inner harbour at Sidon from Raban et al. (2009)

Paintings

Normal Size

  • Painting of Sidon from 1857
    Painting of Sidon from 1857 by C.M.W. van de Velde

    click on image to examine a high res magnifiable version in a new tab

    Charles William Meredith van de Velde's in Le Pays d'Israel - Public Domian from Wikipedia

Magnified

  • Painting of Sidon from 1857
    Painting of Sidon from 1857 by C.M.W. van de Velde

    click on image to examine a high res magnifiable version in a new tab

    Charles William Meredith van de Velde's in Le Pays d'Israel - Public Domian from Wikipedia

Cores
Cores

  • Fig. 4 Sedimentology of core BH I
    Fig. 4

    Sedimentology of core BH I (northern harbour).

    Marriner et al (2006)
    (northern harbour) from Marriner et al (2006)
  • Fig. 5 Molluscan macrofauna from
    Fig. 5

    Molluscan macrofauna from core BH I (northern harbour).

    Marriner et al (2006)
    core BH I (northern harbour) from Marriner et al (2006)
  • Fig. 6 Ostracod microfauna
    Fig. 6

    Ostracod microfauna from core BH I (northern harbour)

    Marriner et al (2006)
    from core BH I (northern harbour) from Marriner et al (2006)
  • Fig. 7 Sedimentology of core
    Fig. 7

    Sedimentology of core BH IX (northern harbour).

    Marriner et al (2006)
    BH IX (northern harbour) from Marriner et al (2006)
  • Fig. 8 Molluscan macrofauna
    Fig. 8

    Molluscan macrofauna from core BH IX (northern harbour).

    Marriner et al (2006)
    from core BH IX (northern harbour) from Marriner et al (2006)
  • Fig. 9 Ostracod microfauna
    Fig. 9

    Ostracod microfauna from core BH IX (northern harbour).

    Marriner et al (2006)
    from core BH IX (northern harbour) from Marriner et al (2006)
  • Fig. 10 Sedimentology of
    Fig. 10

    Sedimentology of core BH XV (northern harbour).

    Marriner et al (2006)
    core BH XV (northern harbour) from Marriner et al (2006)
  • Fig. 11 Molluscan macrofauna from
    Fig. 11

    Molluscan macrofauna from core BH XV (northern harbour).

    Marriner et al (2006)
    core BH XV (northern harbour) from Marriner et al (2006)

Textual Chronology
1759 CE Safed and Baalbek Earthquakes

Discussion

Discussion

1837 CE Safed Quake

Discussion

Discussion

Tusnamigenic Chronology
Tsunamis in the 1st millennium BCE

Marinner et al. (2006) and Carayon et al. (2011) reported on 15 cores taken around the northern harbour and four around the Cirque Ronde. No tsunamigenic evidence was identified in these 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 suggests that, as at Tyre, any evidence of a 1st millennium BCE tsunami may have been removed through dredging.

551 CE Beirut Quake Tsunami

Marinner et al. (2006) and Carayon et al. (2011) describe 15 sediment cores recovered from the northern harbour and four from the Cirque Ronde. The published core descriptions contain no reference to tsunamigenic deposits.

Textual Seismic Effects
1759 CE Safed and Baalbek Earthquakes

Effect                            Location Image(s) Description(s)
  • Collapsed Walls (houses completely or partially destroyed)
  • Casualties
  • Aftershocks
 Sidon
  • "F. Ch. R.

    From the gardens of Seyde, December 28, 1769.

    GENTLEMEN,

    Since October 30, a furious shock at 3:45 in the morning made us fear a fate like the one in Lisbon [JW: the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake]. We feel the continuing tremors day and night. There was another one on November 25, which was stronger and longer than the first. The two earthquakes ruined the city of Seyde [Sidon], such that I doubt she can recover, given the poverty of the country and the unhelpful and unwilling government. There is no house that has not been completely or partially destroyed. The Khan was extremely damaged, especially on the sunset and midday side; it is uninhabitable here and in many other places. My house is in the same condition; all rooms were damaged. Several houses had to be demolished; some were damaged. We all left town on October 30 to take refuge in the countryside, under tents that the Pasha loaned me. We spent 48 days there and, obliged to return the tents to the Pasha, we did with recognition of about two hundred piastres. We had huts built, which were very costly, and in which we will have to winter, albeit with much inconvenience and risk due to the plague, which is now in Acre and environs, and will surely soon come here.


    I have already had the honor of pointing out to you that the earthquakes still continue. We haven't had a 24 hour stretch without tremors and today we felt some. These tremors are felt throughout Syria. ...

    Thank God none of us got hurt. But, we all had a beautiful scare. Happy to still be here! We believe that the dryness of the earth contributed to these shocks; we sigh after the rain. The rains are heavy, with continuous thunderstorms and for four days, the earth won't stop shaking. We are in even more disorder than the earth. All our cabins are flooded. One cabin longer than a square plank is slightly less flooded and is all the shelter I have for myself, my wife, my four children, including one on the breast, and my servants. One cannot imagine a more unfortunate situation.
    " - Letter from the French Consulate in Saida

  • "A first earthquake occurred on October 30, 1759 (the author writes: "October 19", because it follows the Julian calendar), which struck particulalrly hard in Safed in Galilee. He is suisr (aware ?) of numerous aftershocks in the following days, and troubles of the population such that they deserted the towns and villages and fled to the fields. A new, more violent shock occurred on November 25 (the 14th in the old style Julian Calendar) and aggravated the damage. Due (?) days later, in December, the author gives the following assessment of the disaster, the precision of which varies according to the proximity of the location:

    ... There are 18 dead in the surrounding Maronite and Druze villages, 2 dead in Qoutuli (Greek village dependent on the monastery), 5 in Saida, one in Deir-el-Qamar, finally 55 dead in the Metouali village of Kfar-Hatta and a few in Mukhtara, where the Sheikh's palace was destroyed. " - Boutros Jalfaq

  • "Ayalon (2014:94) reports that after the earthquakes, a petition dated 15 Rabi‘ al-Thani 1173 (5 December 1759) was sent from Saida (Sidon) to Istanbul, asking for tax reductions for that year and the next. The petition was approved six weeks later (BOA, C. DH., 11626)." - Petition from Sada (Sidon)

  • "30 Oct. 1759 CE Earthquake

    From this time, we had daily accounts of earthquakes from Damascus, Tripoly, Seidon, Acri, and all along the coast of Syria; but so exaggerated in some circumstances, and so inaccurate in all, that we only knew in in general, that Damascus, Acri, and Seidon, have suffered injury from the earthquake, though less than was at first given out.

    25 Nov. 1759 CE Earthquake

    great part of the Frank kane [khan ?] was over­thrown, and some of the Europeans narrowly escaped with their lives." - Patrick Russell (Aleppo)

  • "30 Oct. 1759 CE Earthquake

    Tripoli in Syria, Seyde [Sidon], and Saint-Jean d'Acre were badly damaged." - La Gazette de France

1837 CE Safed Quake

Effect                            Location Image(s) Description(s)
  • Collapsed Walls (collapsed houses
  • Cracked Walls
  • Fatalities (due to collapsed walls)
 Sidon

Textual Intensity Estimates
1759 CE Safed and Baalbek Earthquakes

Effect                                                       Location Image(s) Description(s) Intensity
  • Collapsed Walls (houses completely or partially destroyed)
  • Casualties (due to collapsed walls)
  • Aftershocks
 Sidon
  • "F. Ch. R.

    From the gardens of Seyde, December 28, 1769.

    GENTLEMEN,

    Since October 30, a furious shock at 3:45 in the morning made us fear a fate like the one in Lisbon [JW: the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake]. We feel the continuing tremors day and night. There was another one on November 25, which was stronger and longer than the first. The two earthquakes ruined the city of Seyde [Sidon], such that I doubt she can recover, given the poverty of the country and the unhelpful and unwilling government. There is no house that has not been completely or partially destroyed. The Khan was extremely damaged, especially on the sunset and midday side; it is uninhabitable here and in many other places. My house is in the same condition; all rooms were damaged. Several houses had to be demolished; some were damaged. We all left town on October 30 to take refuge in the countryside, under tents that the Pasha loaned me. We spent 48 days there and, obliged to return the tents to the Pasha, we did with recognition of about two hundred piastres. We had huts built, which were very costly, and in which we will have to winter, albeit with much inconvenience and risk due to the plague, which is now in Acre and environs, and will surely soon come here.


    I have already had the honor of pointing out to you that the earthquakes still continue. We haven't had a 24 hour stretch without tremors and today we felt some. These tremors are felt throughout Syria. ...

    Thank God none of us got hurt. But, we all had a beautiful scare. Happy to still be here! We believe that the dryness of the earth contributed to these shocks; we sigh after the rain. The rains are heavy, with continuous thunderstorms and for four days, the earth won't stop shaking. We are in even more disorder than the earth. All our cabins are flooded. One cabin longer than a square plank is slightly less flooded and is all the shelter I have for myself, my wife, my four children, including one on the breast, and my servants. One cannot imagine a more unfortunate situation.
    " - Letter from the French Consulate in Saida

  • "A first earthquake occurred on October 30, 1759 (the author writes: "October 19", because it follows the Julian calendar), which struck particulalrly hard in Safed in Galilee. He is suisr (aware ?) of numerous aftershocks in the following days, and troubles of the population such that they deserted the towns and villages and fled to the fields. A new, more violent shock occurred on November 25 (the 14th in the old style Julian Calendar) and aggravated the damage. Due (?) days later, in December, the author gives the following assessment of the disaster, the precision of which varies according to the proximity of the location:

    ... There are 18 dead in the surrounding Maronite and Druze villages, 2 dead in Qoutuli (Greek village dependent on the monastery), 5 in Saida, one in Deir-el-Qamar, finally 55 dead in the Metouali village of Kfar-Hatta and a few in Mukhtara, where the Sheikh's palace was destroyed. " - Boutros Jalfaq

  • "Ayalon (2014:94) reports that after the earthquakes, a petition dated 15 Rabi‘ al-Thani 1173 (5 December 1759) was sent from Saida (Sidon) to Istanbul, asking for tax reductions for that year and the next. The petition was approved six weeks later (BOA, C. DH., 11626)." - Petition from Sada (Sidon)

  • "30 Oct. 1759 CE Earthquake

    From this time, we had daily accounts of earthquakes from Damascus, Tripoly, Seidon, Acri, and all along the coast of Syria; but so exaggerated in some circumstances, and so inaccurate in all, that we only knew in in general, that Damascus, Acri, and Seidon, have suffered injury from the earthquake, though less than was at first given out.

    25 Nov. 1759 CE Earthquake

    great part of the Frank kane [khan ?] was over­thrown, and some of the Europeans narrowly escaped with their lives." - Patrick Russell (Aleppo)

  • "30 Oct. 1759 CE Earthquake

    Tripoli in Syria, Seyde [Sidon], and Saint-Jean d'Acre were badly damaged." - La Gazette de France
  • VIII+
  • VIII+
  • ?
This archeoseismic evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VIII (8) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).

1837 CE Safed Quake

Effect                            Location Image(s) Description(s) Intensity
  • Collapsed Walls (collapsed houses
  • Cracked Walls
  • Fatalities (due to collapsed walls)
 Sidon
  • VIII+
  • V+
  • VIII+
This archeoseismic evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VIII (8) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).

Notes and Further Reading
References

Articles and Books

Carayon, N. and N. Marriner (2011) Geoarchaeology of Byblos, Tyre, Sidon and Beirut, Rivista di studi fenici 39: 55–66

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

Raban, A., Artzy, M., Goodman, B., and Gal, Z. (eds.) (2009) The Harbour of Sebastos (Caesarea Maritima) in its Roman Mediterranean Context, BAR International Series 1930, Archaeopress

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.

Wikipedia Pages

Sidon