The Ancient Port of BYBLOS

 

     "The promontory of Jbeil on the northern coast of Lebanon, squeezed between the mountains and the sea, was the place where from the 7th millennium BCE a human community of fisherman and agriculturalists gave rise to one of the most durable settlements of the Levant."

The Egyptians called it Kepny (kpn), the Mesopotamian empires referred to Gubla (Akkadian), and neighbouring Phoenicians knew it as Gebal  (gbl). These names probably stem from the root-syllables gib meaning 'well' and el or 'god', after a deep fresh-water well in the centre of the headland. There was a Bronze Age temple constructed immediately west of this vital resource.

The ancient site is more commonly named Byblos, after its Greco-Roman title, and follows the Greek word for 'papyrus'. The city became famous for its importation of this original paper-making reed from the Nile River in Egypt and then distributing the precious rolls all over the Mediterranean. This corresponded with a significant increase in the use of alphabetic scripts and byblos became the Roman term for 'book' (e.g. the Bible or 'book of books).

     "According to Philo of Byblos [64-141 AD], who mentions the Phoenician priest Sancuniaton, who is in turn quoted by Eusebius of Cesarea [264-340 AD], Byblos was the oldest city in the world, directly founded by the god Chronos."

In archaeological terms, Byblos began in the Neolithic period, when fishermen erected simple shelters on the rise above the seashore. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic [8800-6500 BCE] these were rectangular houses with flat plastered floors, and found objects included idols made from large elongated and smooth stone pebbles with incised eyes. In the Pottery Neolithic [6500-5300 BCE] their huts devolved to 'hemi-ground' dwellings with rough dirt floors, but found objects included painted and incised pottery, animal figurines, and flint sickle-blades and points, suggesting some domestication of animals and harvesting of grains.

The Early Chalcolithic [5300-4300 BCE] and Late Chalcolithic [4300-3600 BCE] periods saw the appearance of curvilinear architecture, with interior corners at right-angles but rounded exterior walls. Also emerging at this time were 'distinguished adult' burials in big jars or pithoi, and the introduction of copper metal items alongside pierced flints, churns, and violin-shaped figurines (female-fertility symbols?).

In Early Bronze Age I [3600-3100 BCE] there was the beginning of public architecture, beyond the needs of personal shelter, with the earliest temple constructed next to the central well. The influence of trade is seen for the first time with stamp-seals made of clay, stone, bone and ivory, portraying geometric and animalistic motifs. These items hint at proto-administrative practices, the tell-tale signs of ownership and identifying goods for exchange and accounting. 

The start of considerable commerce is confirmed by Egyptian sources during Early Bronze II and III [3050-2300 BCE]. The records of Pharaoh Snefru (founding pharaoh of 4th Dynasty,) boast of "Bringing forty ships filled [with] cedar logs [as՝]", for "Shipbuilding [of] cedar wood [as՝], one ship 100 cubits [long]", and "Making the doors of the royal palace [of] cedar wood [as՝]." The actual ship of Pharaoh Khufu (successor of above), was discovered buried next the Great Pyramid at Giza. It is 142 feet long, 19 feet wide, 5.8 feet deep, and is made predominantly of Lebanese cedar (Cedrus libani). 

     "From the end of the 3rd millennium and in the 2nd millennium textual and iconographic evidence describes the ancient sea trade, the ships, the traded goods, and more particularly, the exploitation of the hinterland forests and the export of timber from the Levant to ancient Egypt, the kingdom of Israel, the Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires."

By the Middle and Late Bronze [2300-1200 BCE] the earlier settlement had been completely transformed into the major mercantile port-city along the Phoenician coast. Surrounded by strong semi-circular land-facing walls and secured by two main defensive  gates, it withstood an episode of violent destruction in the late 2nd millennium that reduced its competitors to economic recession, but retained its own dominant trading position with Ur III in Mesopotamia and the Middle Kingdom in Egypt.  

One measure of Byblonian success are the nine big excavated tombs and carved stone sarcophagi that were contained beneath the floors of the extensive Palace of the Lords of the City. Those few that were not looted in antiquity revealed rich grave goods, appropriately elitist and reflecting diplomatic connections and approval at the highest diplomatic levels. Byblos occupied an important niche for the leaders of the ancient world, supplying the best timber, resins, shellfish dyes, olive oil, wine and valuable metalcraft and pottery. 

REFERENCES:

L. Nigro, 2020, 'Byblos, An Ancient Capital of the Levant', La Revue Phenicienne, (Theme II)

M. Francis-Allouche & N. Grimal, 2019, 'Honouring the Lady of Byblos', The life and legacy of Honour Frost, pp 109-138

N. Liphshitz & G. Biger, 1991, 'Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) in Israel during Antiquity', Israel Exploration Journal, 41:1/3, 167-175