city state · Anatolia and the Levant
Sidon
Origins
Sidon stood on a promontory with offshore islets forming a harbour on the southern Lebanese coast. Inhabited since prehistory, it was a Canaanite port in the Amarna age, and in Homer and the Bible Sidonians means Phoenicians in general, a sign of its early prestige.
Rule and society
Its kings ruled a merchant city famous for glass and purple cloth, and honoured the healing god Eshmun at a great sanctuary outside the city. Under the Achaemenid Empire Sidon was the leading Phoenician city and supplied the core of the Persian fleet; the inscribed sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II survives.
Decline and legacy
Esarhaddon of the Assyrian Empire razed the city in 677 BCE, and Artaxerxes III burned it again after King Tennes rebelled. In 332 BCE Sidon opened its gates to Alexander of the Macedonian Empire, who installed Abdalonymus as king, ending its independent history.
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (4)
- Sidon was a vassal of Egyptian Empire New Kingdom1450 BCE – 1150 BCE
- Sidon was conquered by Assyrian Empire677 BCE
- Sidon was a vassal of Achaemenid Empire539 BCE – 332 BCE
- Sidon was conquered by Macedonian Empire333 BCE
More states of Anatolia and the Levant →
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Sidon. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sidon
- MLA
- “Sidon.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sidon. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Sidon.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sidon.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Sidon’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sidon (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻