Editing Sidon (section)

===Iron Age===
{{Main|Phoenicia|Canaan|King of Sidon}}
[[File:Protome from Eshmun Sanctuary.jpg|thumb|Persian style bull [[protome]] found in Sidon gives testimony of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] rule and influence. Marble, 5th century BC]]
Sidon was one of the most important [[Phoenicia]]n cities, and it may have been the oldest. From there and other ports, a great Mediterranean commercial empire was founded. [[Homer]] praised the skill of its craftsmen in producing glass, purple dyes, and its women's skill at the art of embroidery. It was also from here that a colonising party went to found the city of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]]. Tyre also grew into a great city, and in subsequent years there was competition between the two, each claiming to be the metropolis ('Mother City') of [[Phoenicia]].

During the Phoenician era, Sidon thrived on two pivotal industries: glass manufacturing and [[Tyrian purple|purple dye]] production. The city's glass production operated on an extensive scale, while the manufacturing of purple dye held nearly equal importance.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Jacoby |first=David |title=Trade, Commodities, and Shipping in the Medieval Mediterranean |year=1997 |at=pp.&nbsp;455&nbsp;ff and notes&nbsp;[17]–[19] |article=Silk in Western Byzantium before the Fourth Crusade}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite book |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1991 |isbn=0-195-04652-8 |location=New York, NY & Oxford, UK |page=1701 |article=Porphyrogennetos}}</ref> The magnitude of Sidon's purple dye production was evident through a considerable mound of discarded ''[[Murex trunculus]]'' shells discovered near the southern harbor.<ref name=":02" /> These shells were broken to extract the precious pigment, so rare that it became synonymous with royalty.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

In AD 1855, the sarcophagus of King [[Eshmunazar II|Eshmun’azar]] II was discovered. From a Phoenician inscription on its lid, it appears that he was a "king of the Sidonians," probably in the 5th century BC, and that his mother was a priestess of [[Astarte|‘Ashtart]], "the goddess of the Sidonians."<ref>Thomas Kelly, Herodotus and the Chronology of the Kings of Sidon, [[Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research]], no. 268, pp. 39–56, 1987</ref> In this inscription the gods [[Eshmun]] and [[Baal|Ba‘al]] Sidon 'Lord of Sidon' (who may or may not be the same) are mentioned as chief gods of the Sidonians. ‘Ashtart is entitled ''‘Ashtart-Shem-Ba‘al,'' '‘Ashtart the name of the Lord', a title also found in an [[Ugaritic]] text.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sugimoto |first=David T. |date=2014 |title=Transformation of a Goddess |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/520f9c9be4b0210b06eba019/t/6078ad41f497d45a67b1c316/1618521411692/Transformation+of+a+goddess-astarte.pdf}}</ref>

[[Nebuchadnezzar II]] subjugated the city to be part of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]].{{sfn|Tucker|2019|p=876}} Sidon's navy played a significant role in the [[Battle of Salamis]] in 480 BC, aligning with the Persian fleet against the Greeks. From the mid-fifth century BC onward, warships became a prominent feature on the city's coinage.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Gates |first=Charles |title=Ancient cities: the archaeology of urban life in the ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece and Rome |date=2011 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-83057-4 |edition=2nd |location=London |pages=197, 190, 191}}</ref> At the end of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] era, in 351 BC, Phoenicia was invaded by [[Artaxerxes III]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Waldemar |first=Heckel |title=Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great |date=2008 |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=9781405154697 |pages=172}}</ref>