town or village

Sidon

• Today Saida

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In ancient writers

• Herodotus, Histories 7.96 — In Xerxes' fleet of 480 BC the most seaworthy ships were furnished by the Phoenicians, and among them by the Sidonians.
• Strabo, Geography 16.2.22 — Sidon lies on a fine natural harbour on the mainland; it and Tyre rival each other in size, fame and antiquity, and the poets celebrated Sidon more, though which is the capital of Phoenicia is disputed.
• Strabo, Geography 16.2.24 — The Sidonians excel in the arts and cultivate astronomy and arithmetic, born of commerce and night sailing; Strabo studied Aristotle with the Sidonian philosopher Boethus.

History

Sidon, today Saida in Lebanon, lies on the Phoenician coast about 40 km south of Beirut and 40 km north of Tyre, on a headland sheltered by small offshore islets that made two harbours. People lived here from prehistoric times; excavations at the College Site since 1998 have uncovered the Bronze Age town and its burials, with goods from Egypt. In the fourteenth century BC its ruler Zimredda appears in the Amarna letters.

In Genesis Sidon is the firstborn of Canaan, and both the Bible and Homer call the Phoenicians Sidonians: Solomon said that none could hew timber like the Sidonians, and Homer praises Sidonian robes and silver. Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and Elijah lodged with a widow at Zarephath, a town belonging to Sidon. In 701 BC King Luli fled from Sennacherib to Cyprus, in 677 BC Esarhaddon took and destroyed the city, and the next year its king Abdi-Milkutti was beheaded; the prophets spoke against Tyre and Sidon alike.

Under the Persians Sidon was the leading Phoenician city and furnished the finest ships of Xerxes' fleet. Its kings built a temple of the healing god Eshmun outside the city, and the inscribed sarcophagi of Tabnit and Eshmunazar II come from their tombs. Sidon rebelled against Artaxerxes III under King Tennes and was burned, in the mid-fourth century BC (the exact year is disputed). In 333 BC it opened its gates to Alexander, and the carved Alexander Sarcophagus was found in its royal cemetery.

Under the Ptolemies, the Seleucids and then Rome, Sidon minted its own coins and was known for glass and purple dye. People from around Tyre and Sidon came to Jesus; he went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, where a Syrophoenician woman begged him to cast the devil out of her daughter, and he said that Tyre and Sidon would have repented at his works. On his voyage to Rome Paul was allowed to visit friends at Sidon. Eusebius names Zenobius, a presbyter of the church at Sidon, among the martyrs of the Great Persecution.

Scripture: Gen 10:15; 1 Kgs 5:6; 1 Kgs 16:31; 1 Kgs 17:9; Ezek 28:21–22; Jer 47:4; Mark 3:8; Mark 7:24–31; Matt 11:21–22; Acts 27:3

Checked against its sources; not yet read by a historian.

Verses (37)

Gen 10:19

And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.

Gen 49:13

Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.

Josh 11:8

And the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them, and chased them unto great Zidon, and unto Misrephoth-maim, and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward; and they smote them, until they left them none remaining.

Josh 13:4

From the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that is beside the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the borders of the Amorites:

Josh 19:28

And Hebron, and Rehob, and Hammon, and Kanah, even unto great Zidon;

Judg 1:31

Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob:

Judg 10:6

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.

Judg 18:7

Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.

Judg 18:28

And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.

2 Sam 24:6

Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan, and about to Zidon,

1 Kgs 11:1

But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;

1 Kgs 17:9

Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

1 Chr 22:4

Also cedar trees in abundance: for the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David.

Ezra 3:7

They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.

Isa 23:2

Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.

Isa 23:4

Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.

Isa 23:12

And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.

Jer 25:22

And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,

Jer 27:3

And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah;

Jer 47:4

Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.

Ezek 27:8

The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.

Ezek 28:21

Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,

Ezek 28:22

And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.

Joel 3:4

Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;

Zech 9:2

And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.

Matt 11:21

Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Matt 11:22

But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

Matt 15:21

Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.

Mark 3:8

And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.

Mark 7:24

And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.

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King James Version

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