Sidon

Sidon (modern SAIDA), an ancient Phoenician city which was situated in a plain on the coast of the Mediterranean, about 20 miles N. of Tyre. It was probably the earliest Phoenician settlement, and attained great commercial prosperity before the Jewish immigration, being subsequently eclipsed by its off-shoot Tyre. Cyrus and Alexander successively conquered it, and the Egyptians, Romans, and Turks became its masters. The existing village lies W. of the ruins of the city, and belongs to the Pashalik of Acre.