[292] Byblus is said by _Strabo_ (xvi. 2) to have been situated on a height not far from the sea. It was reported to be the oldest city in the world. It possessed a considerable extent of territory, including Berytus, and was an independent State for a long period, the last king being deposed by Pompey. On a Byblus coin of Alexander’s time appears the name _Einel_, which is the king Enylus mentioned by _Arrian_ (ii. 20). Byblus was the chief seat of the worship of Adonis, or Thammuz, who was supposed to have been born there. In the Bible it appears under its Hebrew name _Gebal_ (mountain-district). The inhabitants of Gebal are said in Ezek. xxvii. 9 to have been skilled in building ships. In Josh. xiii. 5 the northern boundary of the Holy Land is said to reach as far as the land of the Giblite, or inhabitant of Gebal. In 1 Kings v. 18 the word translated in our Bible _stone-squarers_ ought to be rendered _Giblites_. The Arabs still call the place Jebail. Cf. Milton (_Paradise Lost_, viii. 18). [293] Sidon, or in Hebrew _Tsidon_ (fortress), is called in Gen. x. 15, 19 the firstborn son of Canaan, _i.e._ it was the first city founded by the Canaanites or Phoenicians. It lay about twenty miles south of Tyre, on a small promontory two miles south of the river Bostremus. We read in _Homer_ that it was famous for its embroidered robes and metal utensils, and from other ancient writers we find that it manufactured glass and linen and also prepared dyes. Before the time of David it fell under the rule of Tyre; but when Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, invaded Phoenicia, it revolted from Tyre and submitted to the invader. It was governed by its own kings under the Babylonian and Persian empires; and under the latter power it reached its highest prosperity, surpassing Tyre in wealth and importance. In the expedition of Xerxes against Greece, the Sidonians furnished the best ships in the whole fleet, and their king obtained the highest place under Xerxes in the council. But they revolted against Ochus, king of Persia, and being betrayed to him by their own king Tennes, they burnt their city and ships. It is said that 40,000 persons perished in the fire and by the sword, B.C. 351. (_Diodorus_, xvi. 43-45). No doubt this barbarous treatment of Ochus induced the Sidonians to take the side of Alexander. The city was already built and again flourishing when that king appeared on the scene. Near the site of the ancient city is the present town of Saida, with a population of about 5,000. Cf. Homer (_Iliad_, vi. 289; xxiii. 741); _Lucan_, iii. 217. [294] At Sidon, Alexander deposed the reigning king Strato, a friend of the Persians; and a poor man, named Abdalonymus, distantly related to the regal family, was put into his place (_Curtius_, iv. 3, 4). _Diodorus_ (xvii. 47) tells the same story, but applies it to Tyre, probably by mistake.