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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 Sidon enjoyed its apogee during the sixth to fifth centuries BC, at which time it superseded Tyre as Phoenicia’s principal naval base.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
Posidonius Quake - ~199 BCE (?)

Discussion

Discussion

Eusebius' Martyr Quake - 2 April (303 - 306 CE)

Discussion

Discussion

502 CE Fire in the Sky Quake

Discussion

Discussion

551 CE Beirut Earthquake

Discussion

Discussion

August to September 1157 CE Hama and Shaizar Quake(s)

Discussion

Discussion

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
Posidonius Quake - 2nd century BCE

Effect                                 Location Image(s) Description
  • Liquefaction ?
  • Landslide
  • Subsidence
  • Minor Casualties
 Sidon
  • "And in Phoenicia, says Poseidonius, on the occasion of an earthquake, a city situated above Sidon was swallowed up, and nearly two-thirds of Sidon itself was engulfed too, but not all at once, so that no considerable destruction of human life took place. The same operation of nature extended also over the whole of Syria, but with rather moderate force; and it also passed over to certain islands, both the Cyclades and Euboea, with the result that the fountains of Arethusa (a spring in Chalcis) were stopped up, though after many days they gushed up at another mouth, and the island did not cease from being shaken in some part or other until a chasm in the earth opened in the Lelantine Plain and vomited forth a river of fiery lava." - Strabo citing Posidonius

  • "Thucydides tells us that, about the time of the Peloponnesian War, the island of Atalanta, either wholly, or, at any rate, for the most part, was swallowed up. You may take Posidonius for witness that the same thing happened to Sidon." - Seneca the Younger citing Posidonius

Eusebius' Martyr Quake - 303-306 CE

Effect                                 Location Image(s) Description
  • Collapsed Walls
  • Casualties
 Sidon
  • "In a horrible earthquake at Tyre and Sidon, many edifices were ruined and an immense number of people were crushed." - Jerome's translation of the 2nd part of Chronicon by Eusebius

  • "An earthquake in Syria followed in which many thousands of men in Tyre and Sidon were killed by falling buildings." - Orosius

Fire in the Sky Quake - 502 CE

Effect                                 Location Image(s) Description
  • Collapsed Walls
 Sidon
  • "Furthermore, some days later some Tyrians and Sidonians came to us and told us that parts of their cities, i.e., part of Tyre and part of Sidon, also fell down on the same day as the fire appeared and Ptolemais was flattened." - Pseudo Joshua the Stylite

  • "A mighty earthquake took place and Ptolemais (Acco) was overturned as well as Tyre and Sidon." - Pseudo‑Dionysius of Tell-Mahre

551 CE Beirut Quake

Effect                                 Location Image(s) Description
  • Collapsed Walls
  • Casulaties (due to collapsed walls)
 Sidon
  • "a severe and tremendous earthquake occurred throughout the land of Palestine, in Arabia and in the land of Mesopotamia, Antioch, Phoenice Maritima and Phoenice Libanensis. In this terror the following cities suffered: 'Tyre, Sidon, Berytus, Tripolis, Byblus, Botrys and parts of other cities. Large numbers of people were trapped in them. ... The emperor sent money to all the provinces and restored parts of these cities. " - Johannes Malalas

  • "there was a violent earthquake ... Berytus [Beirut], the jewel of Phoenicia, was completely ruined and its world famous architectural treasures were reduced to a heap of rubble, practically nothing but the bare pavements of the buildings being left. ... Many of the local inhabitants were crushed to death under the weight of the wreckage, as were many cultivated young men of distinguished parentage who had come there to study the Law. ... the professors of law moved to the neighbouring city of Sidon and the schools were transferred there, until Berytus was rebuilt. ... The restored city was very different from what it had been in the past, though it was not changed beyond recognition, since it still preserved a few traces of its former self. But this rebuilding of the city and the subsequent return of the schools was not to take place for some time yet." - Agathias of Myrina

  • "From Berytus we came to Sidon, [now Saida] which itself was partly ruined, and which is near to the slope of Lebanon. The people in it are very wicked." - The Anonymous Itinerarium (erroneously) attributed to Antoninus of Piacenza

  • "a great and terrible earthquake happened ... many cities of the Phoenician littoral collapsed, viz. Tyre, Sidon, Berytus, Tripolis, Biblus (sic.) and Botrys, and other cities" - Fragmenta Historica Tusculana

  • "In the month of Haziran (June) of this year, a severe and powerful earthquake occurred, in addition to the other ones. Numerous cities collapsed, as did the cities of Phoenicia — that is Arabia and Palestine, Beirut, Tripolis, Tyre, Sidon, Sarepta, Byblos, Antarados, and the rest of their towns, villages and districts fell and were ruined. Because of sins, many people were buried in their houses in the wrath, as were the cattle and other things." - Pseudo‑Dionysius of Tell-Mahre

  • "there was a severe and frightful earthquake throughout Palestine, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Phoenicia. The following cities suffered: Tyre, Sidon, Berytos, Tripolis, and Byblos ... The emperor sent money for restoring what had fallen in these cities. The sea retreated one mile towards the deep and many ships were lost. Later, at God's command, it returned to its own bed." - Theophanes

August to September 1157 CE Hama and Shaizar Quake(s)

Effect                                 Location Image(s) Description
  • Damaged (collapsed walls)
  • Ruined (collapsed walls)
 Sidon
  • "The cities of Sidon, Beirut, Tripoli, Acre, Tyre and all the citadels of the Franks were damaged." - Ibn al‑Athir

  • "Sidon, Beirut, Tripoli, Acre, Tyre and all the Frankish strongholds were ruined, and the poets of the time composed numerous verses on this catastrophe." - Ibn Taghri Birdi

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
Posidonius Quake - 2nd century BCE

Effect                                 Location Image(s) Description Intensity
  • Liquefaction ?
  • Landslide
  • Subsidence
  • Minor Casualties
 Sidon
  • "And in Phoenicia, says Poseidonius, on the occasion of an earthquake, a city situated above Sidon was swallowed up, and nearly two-thirds of Sidon itself was engulfed too, but not all at once, so that no considerable destruction of human life took place. The same operation of nature extended also over the whole of Syria, but with rather moderate force; and it also passed over to certain islands, both the Cyclades and Euboea, with the result that the fountains of Arethusa (a spring in Chalcis) were stopped up, though after many days they gushed up at another mouth, and the island did not cease from being shaken in some part or other until a chasm in the earth opened in the Lelantine Plain and vomited forth a river of fiery lava." - Strabo citing Posidonius

  • "Thucydides tells us that, about the time of the Peloponnesian War, the island of Atalanta, either wholly, or, at any rate, for the most part, was swallowed up. You may take Posidonius for witness that the same thing happened to Sidon." - Seneca the Younger citing Posidonius
  • VII+?
  • IV+
  • VI+
  • ?
This evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VII (7) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).

Eusebius' Martyr Quake - 303-306 CE

Effect                                 Location Image(s) Description Intensity
  • Collapsed Walls
  • Casualties (due to collapsed walls)
 Sidon
  • "In a horrible earthquake at Tyre and Sidon, many edifices were ruined and an immense number of people were crushed." - Jerome's translation of the 2nd part of Chronicon by Eusebius

  • "An earthquake in Syria followed in which many thousands of men in Tyre and Sidon were killed by falling buildings." - Orosius
  • VIII+
  • VIII+
This evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VIII (8) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).

Fire in the Sky Quake - 502 CE

Effect                                 Location Image(s) Description Intensity
  • Collapsed Walls
 Sidon
  • "Furthermore, some days later some Tyrians and Sidonians came to us and told us that parts of their cities, i.e., part of Tyre and part of Sidon, also fell down on the same day as the fire appeared and Ptolemais was flattened." - Pseudo Joshua the Stylite

  • "A mighty earthquake took place and Ptolemais (Acco) was overturned as well as Tyre and Sidon." - Pseudo‑Dionysius of Tell-Mahre
  • VIII+
This evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VIII (8) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).

551 CE Beirut Quake

  • Earthquake Archeological   
    Earthquake Archeological Effects Chart

    Click on image to open in a new tab

    Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013)
    Effects from Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)
  • Simple MMI Intensity Scale
    Simple MMI Intensity Scale

    Click on image to open in a new tab
  • More Subjective MMI Intensity Scale
    More Subjective MMI Scale

    Click on image to open in a new tab
Effect                                 Location Image(s) Description Intensity
  • Collapsed Walls
  • Casulaties (due to collapsed walls)
 Sidon
  • "a severe and tremendous earthquake occurred throughout the land of Palestine, in Arabia and in the land of Mesopotamia, Antioch, Phoenice Maritima and Phoenice Libanensis. In this terror the following cities suffered: 'Tyre, Sidon, Berytus, Tripolis, Byblus, Botrys and parts of other cities. Large numbers of people were trapped in them. ... The emperor sent money to all the provinces and restored parts of these cities. " - Johannes Malalas

  • "there was a violent earthquake ... Berytus [Beirut], the jewel of Phoenicia, was completely ruined and its world famous architectural treasures were reduced to a heap of rubble, practically nothing but the bare pavements of the buildings being left. ... Many of the local inhabitants were crushed to death under the weight of the wreckage, as were many cultivated young men of distinguished parentage who had come there to study the Law. ... the professors of law moved to the neighbouring city of Sidon and the schools were transferred there, until Berytus was rebuilt. ... The restored city was very different from what it had been in the past, though it was not changed beyond recognition, since it still preserved a few traces of its former self. But this rebuilding of the city and the subsequent return of the schools was not to take place for some time yet." - Agathias of Myrina

  • "From Berytus we came to Sidon, [now Saida] which itself was partly ruined, and which is near to the slope of Lebanon. The people in it are very wicked." - The Anonymous Itinerarium (erroneously) attributed to Antoninus of Piacenza

  • "a great and terrible earthquake happened ... many cities of the Phoenician littoral collapsed, viz. Tyre, Sidon, Berytus, Tripolis, Biblus (sic.) and Botrys, and other cities" - Fragmenta Historica Tusculana

  • "In the month of Haziran (June) of this year, a severe and powerful earthquake occurred, in addition to the other ones. Numerous cities collapsed, as did the cities of Phoenicia — that is Arabia and Palestine, Beirut, Tripolis, Tyre, Sidon, Sarepta, Byblos, Antarados, and the rest of their towns, villages and districts fell and were ruined. Because of sins, many people were buried in their houses in the wrath, as were the cattle and other things." - Pseudo‑Dionysius of Tell-Mahre

  • "there was a severe and frightful earthquake throughout Palestine, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Phoenicia. The following cities suffered: Tyre, Sidon, Berytos, Tripolis, and Byblos ... The emperor sent money for restoring what had fallen in these cities. The sea retreated one mile towards the deep and many ships were lost. Later, at God's command, it returned to its own bed." - Theophanes
  • VIII+
  • VIII+
This evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VIII (8) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).

August to September 1157 CE Hama and Shaizar Quake(s)

Effect                                 Location Image(s) Description Intensity
  • Damaged (collapsed walls)
  • Ruined (collapsed walls)
 Sidon
  • "The cities of Sidon, Beirut, Tripoli, Acre, Tyre and all the citadels of the Franks were damaged." - Ibn al‑Athir

  • "Sidon, Beirut, Tripoli, Acre, Tyre and all the Frankish strongholds were ruined, and the poets of the time composed numerous verses on this catastrophe." - Ibn Taghri Birdi
  • VIII+
  • VIII+
This evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VIII (8) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).

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