The Valley.
Finding the
Phoenician town Gi-’ in the Lebanon .
The
location of the next town in the list of Esarhaddon is pretty sure and easy to
find.
The third
city of Esarhaddon
is called Gi-’. It must be the present-day al-Giyye between the Ras Nabi Younès
and the Ras es Saadiyat. 16.5 km north of Sidon .
In reality it is some km further away. Its
site and the nearby Nabe Younus are usually identified with Porphyreon,
although the fourth-century Bordeaux Itinerary locates Parp(h)irion at eight
Roman miles or 12 km from Sidon .
Porphyreon is already mentioned by Ps.Scylax and Polybius, who agree in
locating the city between Beirut and Sidon .
Ps.Scylax
par.104 (87).
Polybius V.68.6.
The
importance of the site in later years appeared when 6th century AD
mosaics were discovered on its territory. That is c.1300 years later!
See:
Dussaud (1868-1958). In 1895-1901 he made five journeys to the Lebanon and Syria . His findings came in his
book Topographie historique de la Syrie, Paris
1927.
See also
the article of E.Honigmann (ZDPV47,
1924).
There can
be no doubt about the location of Porphyreon, but the distance given by the
Bordeaux Itinerary ought to be corrected from VIII to at least XI miles.
Ps.Scylax
does not mention its harbour, but Polybius reports that a fleet was anchored
near Porphyreon in 218 BC, what implies the presence of a harbour or anchorage.
Besides the distance from Beiroet to al-Giyye in coastal sailing may be
estimated at about 35 km, which implies that a stop at Porphyreon would respond
to the nautical practice of that time.
The
Neo-Assyrian spelling Gi-’ of the city name, compared with the present day name
of al-Giyye suggests interpreting this toponym as the West-Semitic noun gy’ :
VALLEY.
This
ordinary name once again show to us, that the Phoenicians used very common
names for geographical sites.
The Greek
name would allude to the purple industry based on the molusses Purpura
haemastoma and Murex brandaris, found in great quantities in this part of the
Phoenician coast and yielding the deep crimson dye.
The Hebrew
prophet Jonah was
said to have landed on its shores when he was spat out of the giant fish
described in the Old Testament, and a temple was built which stands
until today. Many invaders passed through Porphyreon such as
Tohomtmos the Egyptian who landed his soldiers on its natural seaport in order
to fight the North. Alexander the Great relaxed on its shore
preparing for the attack on Tyre .
St Peter and St Paul
also walked through Jieh several times.
Archaeology
See:
Wikipedia.
Ancient
Records of Assyria, D.Luckenbill, nr 512, p.205. Prisma B, col. II + Prisma S,
col. III. Chicago
1927.
Adjusted
excerpt from Itinararia Phoenicia ,
E.Lipinski, Ola 127, Studia Phoenicia XVIII, Leuven ,
2004, p.17+18.
ncfps
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