SIDON (Heb. Sidhôn). - One of the oldest and most important maritime cities of Phoenicia, whose name, perpetuated in present-day Sajdā, 35 km north of Tyre, perhaps derived from the cult of the god Sid, attested in the texts of Rās Śamrah.
Its origin is obscure, but the designation of Sidhôn, in the table of nations, as the firstborn of Canaan (Gen. 10:15) and the practice adopted in the biblical texts (Josh. 13:6) and in the Homeric poems of calling the Phoenicians by the name of Sidonians (Il., VI, 289; XXIII, 743; Odyss., XV, 415; XVII, 424) indicate the supremacy that S. had acquired among the cities of Phoenicia. Even when the powerful rival Tyre prevailed, the name of Sidonians remained synonymous with Phoenicians (1 Kings 16:31). In the Bible S. is remembered both as a city (Judg. 1:31; 18:28; Isa. 23:2; Ezek. 27:8) and as a territory that marked the northern frontier of Canaan (Gen. 10:19) and bordered on the tribes of Zebulun (ibid. 49:13) and of Asher (Josh. 19:28). It is called "great S." (ibid. 11:8; 19:28) with its suburbs and surroundings, as opposed to the original "small city," distinguished in the list of the cities conquered in Sennacherib's glorious campaign. Having rebelled against Esarhaddon, it was again defeated and again sacked by Nebuchadnezzar (Ezek. 32:22) and in 356 by Artaxerxes Ochus. It surrendered to Alexander; in 197 it passed from the dominion of the Ptolemies to that of the Seleucids. In 64 B.C. it was declared an autonomous city by the Romans, but Augustus deprived it of this privilege. The inhabitants of S., attracted by the fame of the Savior's miracles, went to Galilee to hear his teachings (Mark 3:8); Jesus himself visited its territory (Matt. 15:21; Mark 7:24) and during the journey healed the daughter of the Canaanite woman (Matt. 15:22-28; Mark 7:25-30). St. Paul, on the journey from Caesarea to Rome, stopped there (Acts 27:3). Christianity developed there very early and the bishop of S. took part in the Council of Nicaea.
The excavations, carried out only partially, since the city is densely populated, have revealed its ancient origin, with Paleolithic finds and Middle Bronze Age pottery in the citadel. To the Hellenistic period are ascribed the beautiful sarcophagi found in the nearby necropolis.
Bibliography
Donato Baldi