Page 12 - Byblos Menu

Origins

The city began as a small fishing
village called Gubal or Gebal

while the coastal region of the
land, which the Greeks named
Phoenicia, was known to the
inhabitants as Canaan. According
to the historian Durant, “Byblos
thought itself the oldest of all
cities; the god El had founded it

at the beginning of time, and to
Discovery of Purple
the end of its history it remained the religious
capital of Phoenicia.” As early as the 15th century
BC the citizens of Sidon and
By 3000 BCE the little village had grown to a
prosperous city through trade. Tyre, two cities on the coast
The cedars of Lebanon were highly prized by of Ancient Phoenicia, (present
other countries for use in construction, and day Lebanon), were producing
Byblos became the single most important purple dye from a sea snail
shipping port for timber to Egypt and called the spiny dye-murex.

elsewhere. Clothing coloured with the
Tyrian dye was mentioned in both the Iliad
Because papyrus was one of the principal of Homer and the Aeneid of Virgil. The deep,
articles in its trade, the Greeks took the name rich purple dye made from this snail became
of the city as their word for book - biblos - and known as Tyrian purple.
from their word for books named our Bible - ta
biblia - which means ‘the books’. The process of making the dye was long,
difficult and expensive. Thousands of the tiny
Byblos was also the first city to perfect
snails had to be found, their shells cracked, the
shipbuilding, and it is largely due to the
snail removed. Mountains of empty shells have
craftsmanship of the shipwrights of Byblos that
been found at the ancient sites of Sidon and
Phoenicians acquired their fame as sailors and
Tyre. The snails were left to soak, then a tiny
“princes of the sea” (as they are referred to in
gland was removed and the juice extracted
the biblical book of Ezekiel). It was primarily
and put in a basin, which was placed in the
through trade with Egypt that Byblos grew so
sunlight. There, a remarkable transformation
incredibly wealthy.
took place. In the sunlight the juice turned
The Egyptians flooded Byblos with material white, then yellow-green, then green, then
wealth but also with aspects of their culture violet, then a red which turned darker and
and Egyptian religion. darker. The process had to be stopped at
exactly the right time to obtain the desired
Byblos is among the cities listed as candidates
color, which could range from a bright crimson
for the distinction of ‘oldest city in the world’
to a dark purple, the colour of dried blood.
as it has been continuously inhabited for over
Then either wool, linen or silk would be
7,000 years. Byblos is listed by UNESCO as a
dyed. The exact hue varied between crimson
World Heritage Site.
and violet, but it was always rich, bright and
lasting.