Byblos

Byblos was a state in Levant (Middle East) that lasted from c. 2800 to 1200 BCE, about 1,600 years. Its people spoke Semitic languages (Akkadian, Amorite, Aramaic, Hebrew, Phoenician, Ge'ez, Amharic, Tigrinya).

Port city that shipped Lebanese cedar to the pharaohs from the Old Kingdom onward. Its rulers wrote to Egypt in the Amarna letters, and it went on to become a leading Phoenician city.

See Byblos on the interactive timeline

Facts

Dates

c. 2800 to 1200 BCE

Duration

1,600 years

Type

State

Region

Levant, Middle East

Language family

Semitic

Capital

Byblos (Gubla)

Became

• Phoenician city-states c. 1200 to 332 BCE

Events in Middle East during its time

• 2334 BCE Sargon founds the Akkadian Empire
• 2004 BCE Elamites sack Ur
• 1754 BCE Code of Hammurabi
• 1595 BCE Hittites sack Babylon
• 1274 BCE Battle of Kadesh

Neighbours in Middle East

• Old Babylonian Empire 1894 to 1595 BCE
• Hittite Empire (New Kingdom) c. 1400 to 1180 BCE
• Akkadian Empire c. 2334 to 2154 BCE
• Ebla c. 3000 to 1600 BCE
• Old Elamite period c. 2700 to 1500 BCE
• Mari c. 2900 to 1761 BCE
• Phoenician city-states c. 1200 to 332 BCE
• Middle Assyrian Empire 1365 to 912 BCE
• Kassite Babylonia c. 1595 to 1155 BCE
• Middle Elamite period c. 1500 to 1100 BCE

Elsewhere in the world at the same time

• Minoan civilization c. 3100 to 1450 BCE, Europe
• Shang dynasty c. 1600 to 1046 BCE, East Asia
• Old Kingdom of Egypt c. 2686 to 2181 BCE, North and West Africa
• New Kingdom of Egypt c. 1550 to 1069 BCE, North and West Africa

Questions