Day 3: (September 15, 2017) Phoenician Template

Sites: Byblos - UNESCO World Heritage Site

After lecture by Dr. Joseph Rahme on the Phoenician template, we had a tour round Byblos.

Byblos was founded as Gebal by the Phoenicians. It is believed to have been continuously occupied between 8800 and 7000 BC. It is among the oldest cities in the world. It is located about 35 kilometers (23 miles) north of the capital Beirut in modern day Lebanon.

It was given its name by the Greeks, who imported papyrus from the city. The city has a history of being multi-cultural and closely related to the Mediterranean for millennia. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, retrieved on 10/9/2017 from https://www.ancient.eu/, the name of the city became the name given to books. This came about because papyrus, the writing material at that time, was one of the principal articles of trade in the area. The Greek took the name of the city as their word for book –biblos – and from their word for books named the scripture – Bible –ta biblia – which means ‘the books’. Byblos is among the cities listed as ‘oldest city in the world’ as it has been continuously inhabited for over 7,000 years.