No. 56

Byblos

Where

Lebanon

Built by

Phoenicians

Era

5000 BCE onward

Known for

Among the oldest continuously lived-in towns, with early alphabet inscriptions.

How it ended

Never fully abandoned; other ports outgrew it.

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Background

Byblos ( BIB-loss; Ancient Greek: Βύβλος), also known as Jbail, Jebeil, Jbeil or Jubayl (Arabic: جُبَيْل, romanized: Jubayl, locally Jbeil [ʒ(ə)beːl]), is an ancient city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. The area is believed to have been first settled between 8800 and 7000 BC and continuously inhabited since 5000 BC. During its history, Byblos was part of numerous cultures including Canaanite, Egyptian, Phoenician, Assyrian, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Umayyad, Abbasid, Genoese, Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman. Urbanisation is thought to have begun during the third millennium BC when it developed into a city, making it one of the oldest cities in the world, if not the oldest. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.