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Throughout
its whole length the Lebanese coastline seems to be sown
with memories of Byblos and with meditations upon it.
Byblos was the first town to rally to Alexander when he came
in 332 BC. The country was however greatly troubled by the
war that opposed the Pharaohs of Egypt to Alexander. A dense
network of constructions covered the site of Byblos. The
country came under the obedience of Rome in the year 63
before our era with the arrival of the armies of Pompeii.
The plan of the city was drastically altered. Byblos was
always a great religious centre. In the year 330,
Constantinople presided over the new destiny of the land.
After the separation of the Roman Empire of the East from
that of the West, Byblos became the seat of a bishopric, and
the number of its inhabitants increased considerably.
The Muslim conquest in 636 AD marked the beginning of the
Omayyad and Abbasid times, which despite an occupation which
lasted until 1098 left but few traces in Byblos. The caliph
Moawiya installed a Persian colony in the town and attached
it to the province of Damascus. The port was closed, and
Muslim society began to adapt itself to the customs left
from the Byzantines. Trade with Europe was considerably
reduced and the town declined, becoming an easy prey for the
Crusaders. A long period of torpor followed, lasting until
the advent of the Lebanese Republic and of the investigators
led by Mr. Dunand. |
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