city state · Anatolia and the Levant

Beirut

1500 BCE – 1150 BCE (approx.) · capital Beirut

Beirut, a Late Bronze Age Canaanite port known from the Amarna letters, ancestor of the modern Lebanese capital.

Origins

Biruta grew on a promontory on the central Lebanese coast, settled since prehistory. By the 15th century BCE it was a small walled port town under the overlordship of the Egyptian Empire New Kingdom.

Rule and society

Its ruler Ammunira wrote to the pharaoh in the Amarna letters, promising loyalty and sending reports. When Rib-Hadda of Byblos was driven out of his city by a rebellion, he took refuge in Beirut. Excavations in the city centre after the civil war uncovered its Bronze Age walls.

Decline and legacy

The Canaanite town shared the decline of the coast in the 12th century BCE, and in the Iron Age remained in the shadow of Sidon and Tyre. It later grew into the Roman colony of Berytus.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Beirut. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/beirut
MLA
“Beirut.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/beirut. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Beirut.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/beirut.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Beirut’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/beirut (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻