Byblos

The town of Byblos (or Jubeil) was located on the coast of Canaan (about 40 km. north of modern Beirut). The principal settlement, known in the Akkadian language as Gubla, has a long history extending from the Neolithic to the late Bronze Age, when the population appears to have moved to a nearby site now covered by a modern village. The importance of Byblos lay in its function as a port, and from around the time of Egypt’s unification it was used by the Egyptians as a source of timber. The famous cedars of Lebanon, and other goods, passed through it, and Egyptian objects are found there from as early as the 2nd Dynasty (2890-2686 bc). The site included several religious buildings, such as the so-called Obelisk Temple, dedicated To Ba'alat Gebal, the ‘Lady of Byblos’ (a local form of Astarte, who was also identified with the Egyptian goddess Hathor), where one of the obelisks was inscribed with hieroglyphs.

Egyptian culture of the Middle Kingdom had an especially strong influence on the court of the Middle Bronze Age rulers of Byblos, and among the objects found in the royal tombs of this period are several bearing the names of the late 12 th-Dynasty rulers Amenemhat III and

IV. Egyptian objects included ivory, ebony, and gold, while local imitations used other materials and were executed in a less accomplished style.

In the New Kingdom, the city features prominently in the Amama Letters, since its ruler, Ribaddi, sought military assistance from the Egyptian pharaoh. On this occasion Byblos fell into enemy hands, but was later regained. A sarcophagus found with objects of Rameses II (1279-1213 Bc) and showing Egyptian influence is important for its later (tenth century bc) inscription for Ahiram, a local ruler, which is in early alphabetic characters. Various Egyptian artefacts found at Byblos itself attesting to strong royal diplomatic contacts between the pharaohs and the rulers of Byblos include a vessel bearing the name of Rameses II from the tomb of the above-mentioned Ahiram, inscribed door jambs of Rameses II from a temple, and fragments of statues of Osorkon I and II (the Osorkon I statue bearing a Phoenician inscription and dating to the reign of Abibaal).

The archaeological evidence therefore suggests a peak of Egypto-Byblian contact in the 19th Dynasty, followed by decline in the 20th and 2ist Dynasties (documented by the Tale of Wenamun, a quasihistorical description of a late 20th-Dynasty expedition to Byblos), and finally a resurgence of links in the 22nd and 23rd Dynasties. After the Third Intermediate Period, the importance of Byblos gradually appears to have declined in favour of the neighbouring ports of Tyre and Sidon.