Byblos, whose name comes from a Greek word meaning "book," was a city on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, about 25 miles from the modern-day city of Beirut. Byblos was also known as Gebal. Together with such nearby cities as Tyre and Sidon, Byblos was part of Phoenicia, a region that roughly corresponds to the borders of Lebanon.
The first traces of human settlement at Byblos date back to about 5000 B.C. Over the Centuries the settlement developed into a prosperous port city.
The people of Byblos were Canaanite in origin, and their religion centered on Baal and other gods. They also worshipped a local goddess, Baalat Gebal, as the city's protector, and they built a massive temple to her about 2800 B.C.
Trade with the Egyptians and other ancient peoples was the chief source of wealth for Byblos. Cedarwood from coastal forests was one of the city's major exports. In King Solomon's time, in the 10th century B.C., Byblos was a thriving community. The Bible describes how "Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Gebalites did the stonecutting and prepared the timber" for building the temple (1 Kings 5:18).
Byblos remained important until after the fall of the Roman Empire. But the city had deteriorated by the 12th century A.D., when the Crusaders destroyed its buildings to obtain stones for their castles.
Fascinating fact:
Some archeologists consider the site of Byblos/Gebal to be the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the world. Today, the Lebanese city of Jubayl sits atop the ruins of Byblos.
