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Also called
Byblos, it's one of the top contenders for the "oldest continuously inhabited
city" award. According to the Phoenician tradition it was founded by the
god El. Although its beginnings are lost in time, modern scholars say the
site of Byblos goes back at least 7000 years.
It was the Greeks
,some time after 1200 BC, who called the city "Byblos" (papyrus in greek)
because this commercial center was important in the papyrus trade.
Today Byblos
on the coast 37 km north of Beirut, is a prosperous place and a well modern
city. But within the old town, medieval Arab crusader remains are continuous
reminders of the past. Nearby are the extensive excavations that make Byblos
an important archeological site in the area.
We see here the harbor
of Jbeil.