Arab. Dmnt'ir, half-way between Zidon and Berytus, down to Zarepliath, 8 miles S. of Zidon.
i. Early Ascendencv. — Zidon is considered to have been the most ancient of the Phoenician cities. On her coins she claims to be the mother of Hippo, Citium, and Tjre, and the name of Zidon is mentioned in the Egyptian records as far 'back as B.C. 1500. It is referred to as a city in Gu 10", and Josephus {Ant. I. x. 2) states that it received its name from the eldest son of Canaan (Gn 10"). According to another derivation it owed its name, like Bethsaida of Galilee, to the fishing carried on in its waters. This is in agreement with the allusion to Zidon in Anast. Pnp. i. to the ell'ect that the fish at Zidon were as numerous as grains of sand. Zidon appears to have taken the lead in the develojiment of industrial exchange among both the civilized and barbarous nations bordering on the middle and eastern divisions of the Medi- terranean. In this way the vessels of Tyre on their longer and more perilous voyages still con- tinued to be spoken of as vessels of Zidonian commerce. When the Phoenician trattic in cloth, brass, slaves, etc., is referred to in the Homeric poems, it is to Zidon, not Tyre, that reference ia made {11. vi. 2m', xviii. 743 ; Ocl. iv. 618, xiv. 272- 285, xvi. 117, 402, 404). Vergil {yEn. i. 446) in the same way calls Dido Zidonian, though he mentions Tyrian colonists, and gives his hero a Tyrian steers- man, Palinurus. It may have been in this sense, a-s referring to the general protectorate of Zidon, that it is spoken of in Gn 49'^ as reaching down to tlie border of Zebulun. This early pre-eminence of Zidon continued from the time of Egyptian decline after Ramses II. down to the unsuccessful conflict with the Philistines (B.C. 1252), provoked by the seizure of Dor as a dj'eing station. For an account of the colonial expansion of the Phoenicians see art. Phcexicia.
ii. Political History. — The public fortunes of Zidon were closely connected with those of Arvad and Tyre. These and the other Phoenician cities, although constantly attacked by one or other of tlieir powerful military neighbours, seldom united under any leadership for the welfare of all. The town of 'Tripoli is said to have been occupied by residents originally belonging to three seijarate Phoenician towns, and to have been named from their three permanentlj" separate quarters. They some- times, however, combined against one of their own cities, as when Alexander sailed down upon devoted Tyre with a fleet of over 200 vessels, chiefly Phoe- nician, collected from the ports of Zidon, Cyprus, and Rhodes. One reason for such independence was that each town wa.s nominally under the pro- tection of its own deity, who, as his name, Ba'al- Zidon, 'Lord of Zidon,' or Melkarth, ' King of the city,' implied, was expected to defend its rights and promote its fortunes. In the case of lyre and Zidon, commercial jealousy also had an im- portant influence.
{I) Zidon under Assi/ria. — Zidon came into relationship with Assyria by acknowledging the suzerainty of Asliur-bani-pal in B.C. 877. Tliia position of nonunal depen(lence, with permission to trade with Assyria, soon changed into a more exacting tributary relationship under Shalma- ne.ser U. and Tiglath - pileser, and led to open rebellion in the reign of Shalm.aneser iv. (B.C. 727), and to the complete subjugation of the country by Sennacherib in n.C. 701. About B.C. 676 Esar- haddon conquered Zidon, and, after beheading its king, 'Abd-Melkarth, demolishing the citadel and palace, and killing most of the inhabitants, trans- ported the remainder of the population to Assyria, and called the town 'Ir-Esarhaddon (' city of Esar- haddon ').
(2) Zidon under Babylon. —Tho authority ol
ZIDON
ZILLAH
981
Assyria came to an end with the Scythian invasion (B.C. G30-61U) and the attack <if tlie Medes in tlie year 606. The interval of respite gave the I'Ikj;- nicians an opportunity of consulting for their own better protection against Babylon and Egypt, and at this time Zidon and the other cities agreed to follow the leadership of Tyre (Ezk 21'). The alliance seems to have e.\tenaed beyond the coast towns to I'Mom, Moab, and Ammon ; and Jeremiah was instructed to give the Lord's nies.sage to the deputation sent to Jerusalem (Jer 27'). When Pharaoh • neco marched out of Egypt to invade Mesopotamia in D.C. tiUS, kin" Josiahof .lerusalem, in fidelity to the cause of Babylon, eiuleavoured to arrest 1iim, and lo.'^t his life in doing so. Soon after, when in G0.5, at the great battle of Car- chemish, Nebuiliadnu/zar defeated Neco, Phoenicia ■was overrun and laid waste by the savage soldiery of Babylon. So cruel was their treatment of the conquered cities that the yoke of Egypt seemed light in comparison, and in 598 they all rebelled, including Judipa. Another invasion followed, with its attendant sufferings. Judoea hastened to sub- mit (2 K 24'- ", 2 Ch 36«), but Tyre justified the hegemony committed to her by enduring a long siege, .submitting to Nebuchadnezzar in 585. By this humbling of Tyre (Ezk 28), Zidon was brought once more to the front, and maint.iined her position as chief of the cities till the overthrow of the Bab. kingdom by the Persians under Cyrus in 538.