Scribd
Upload
52 views32 pages

Early History: Lecturer: Dr. Maria Njaim E-Mail: Mnjaim@ndu - Edu.lb

The document provides an overview of the early history of Lebanon from ancient times through Mamluk rule. It discusses the Phoenicians, the periods of Byzantine and Islamic rule including the Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid dynasties. It also covers the Crusades and how they impacted the Maronites. Finally, it summarizes the rise of the Mamluks and their rule over Lebanon and Syria from 1250-1517 AD.

Uploaded by

julio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
52 views32 pages

Early History: Lecturer: Dr. Maria Njaim E-Mail: Mnjaim@ndu - Edu.lb

The document provides an overview of the early history of Lebanon from ancient times through Mamluk rule. It discusses the Phoenicians, the periods of Byzantine and Islamic rule including the Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid dynasties. It also covers the Crusades and how they impacted the Maronites. Finally, it summarizes the rise of the Mamluks and their rule over Lebanon and Syria from 1250-1517 AD.

Uploaded by

julio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 32

Lecture 2:

Early
History
Lecturer: Dr. Maria Njaim
E-mail: [email protected]
WHAT WE'LL DISCUSS
1. Social Formation
2. Phoenicians
3. Byzantine
4. Islamic Era
5. Crusaders
6. Mamluk
7. Impact of the Arab Rule over
Lebanon

TODAY'S
TOPICS
If you don't know history,
then you don't know
anything.

Michael Crichton
The history of Lebanon is almost as old as the earliest evidence of
humankind. Its geographic position as a crossroads linking the
Mediterranean Basin with the great Asian hinterland has
conferred on it a cosmopolitan character and a multicultural
legacy.

At different periods of its history, Lebanon has come under the


domination of foreign rulers, including Assyrians, Babylonians,
Armenians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Ottomans, and
French. Although often conquered, the Lebanese take pride in
their rebellions against despotic and repressive rulers. Moreover,
despite foreign domination, Lebanon's mountainous terrain has
provided it with a certain protective isolation, enabling it to
survive with an identity all its own.
Its proximity to the sea has
ensured that throughout its
history Lebanon has held an
important position as a
trading center.

This tradition of commerce


began with the Phoenicians
and continued through many
centuries, remaining almost
unaffected by foreign rule
and the worst periods of
internal strife.
ANCIENT TIMES

Egypt Persians Romans Phoenicians


Greeks (330 BC)
INTERACTIONS Science Discoveries
Mythology
Expansion over the Mediterranean
(Carthage, Malte,…)

Romans (85 BC)


Important Lebanese Cities in Roman
Times
The Bekaa valley
Roads, agriculture, building innovations
Berytus Law School
PHOENICIAN
HERITAGE (2800
BC)
•MAIN TRAITS OF THE
PHOENICIAN CHARACTER

•POLITICAL, SOCIAL,
ECONOMIC SYSTEM

•PHOENICIAN HERITAGE IN
TODAY’S LEBANESE SOCIETY
The area now known as Lebanon first appeared
in recorded history around 3000 B.C. as a group
of coastal cities and a heavily forested
hinterland.

It was inhabited by the Canaanites, a


Semitic people, whom the Greeks
called "Phoenicians" because of the
purple (phoinikies) dye they sold. The
These early inhabitants referred to Phoenicians
themselves as "men of Sidon" or the
like, according to their city of origin,
and called the country "Lebanon."

Because of the nature of the country and


its location, the Phoenicians turned to the
sea, where they engaged in trade and
navigation.
TRADE
•Amongst the greatest traders.
•Used to trade wood, slaves, glass,
and powdered Tyrian Purple.

LANGUAGE
•Credited with spreading the
Phoenician alphabet throughout
the Mediterranean world.
•This alphabet has been termed
an abjad or a script that contains
no vowels.

ARTS
•Phoenician art had no unique
characteristic
identified with.
that could be
Phoenician
•This is due to the fact that
Phoenicians were influenced by Heritage
foreign designs and artistic
cultures mainly from Egypt,
Greece and Assyria.
HISTORY OF
LEBANON UNDER
BYZANTINE RULE
Upon the death of Under the Byzantine In the sixth century a
Theodosius I in A.D. 395, Empire, intellectual series of earthquakes
the Roman Empire was and economic demolished the temples
of Baalbek (Heliopolis)
divided in two: the eastern activities in Beirut, and destroyed the city
or Byzantine part with its Tyre, and Sidon of Beirut, levelling its
capital at Constantinople, continued to famous law school and
and the western part with flourish for more killing nearly 30,000
its capital at Rome. than a century. inhabitants.
To these natural disasters were added
the abuses and corruptions prevailing
at that time in the empire. Heavy
tributes and religious dissension
between Chalcedonians and
Monophysites produced disorder and
confusion.

In addition, a long period of Sassanid


Persian occupation in the early
decades of the 7th century
temporarily detached the area from
Roman control. Although the
Byzantines re-established themselves
in the region, their hold was shaky,
and they soon lost their Middle
Eastern provinces to the Muslim
conquests.
The Islamic Era

The followers of the Prophet Muhammad, the


founder of Islam, embarked on a movement to
establish their religious and civil control
throughout the eastern Mediterranean from their
base in the Arabian Peninsula.

Their determination to conquer other lands


resulted both from economic necessity and from
religious beliefs, which imbued them with
contempt for death.

Non-Muslims were considered Ahl Zihmma


second-class citizens, protected by the Islamic
Caliphate as long as they obey the rules and
restrictions enforced upon them.
Calling for a jihad (holy war) against non-
Muslims, the Prophet's successor, Caliph
Abu Bakr (632-34), brought Islam to the
area surrounding Lebanon. Dividing his
forces into three groups he ordered:
one to move in the direction of Palestine
one toward Damascus
one toward the Jordan River.
ISLAMIC
DYNASTIES
Ummayad Abbasid Fatimid

Damascus 661-759 Baghdad 750-909 Cairo 909-1171


UMMAYAD

After the Battle of Yarmuk, Caliph Umar appointed the Arab Muawiyah
founder of the Umayyad dynasty, as governor of Syria, an area tha
included present-day Lebanon.
Muawiyah created troops on the Lebanese coast and had the Lebanese
shipbuilders help him construct a navy to resist any potential Byzantine
attack.
He also stopped raids by the Marada.
Concerned with consolidating his authority in Arabia and Iraq, Muawiyah
negotiated an agreement in 667 with Constantine IV, the Byzantine
emperor, whereby he agreed to pay Constantine an annual tribute in return
for the termination of Marada spreads.
During this period some of the Arab tribes settled in the Lebanese and
Syrian coastal areas.
ABBASID

The Abbasids, founded by the Arab Abul Abbas, replaced the


Umayyads in early 750.
They treated Lebanon and Syria as conquered countries, and
their harshness led to several revolts, including an abortive
rebellion of Lebanese mountaineers in 759.
By the end of the tenth century, the Amir of Tyre proclaimed
his independence from the Abbasids and coined money in his
own name.
However, his rule was terminated by the Fatimids of Egypt, an
independent Arab Muslim dynasty.
With Byzantine support and manipulation, the Maronites
formed a military faction called Al Marada to help stop the
continuous Islamic attempt to conquer what is left of the
Byzantine Empire.

Al Marada: powerful people who had settled in the Lebanese


mountains and who were used by the Byzantine rulers to
prevent any Arab invasion that would threaten the Byzantine
Empire.

This caused more trouble for the Maronites with the Islamic
rulers.

Soon enough, the Marada rejected the Byzantine


manipulation and restricted their fight to protect their own
regions.
THE CRUSADES
(1095-1192 AD)
Conquest 1 Conquest 2 Conquest 3

1095-1099 1147-1149 1187-1192

Main Aim: Liberate the Holy Lands from the Muslims and revive the
Christian Control over the land of Christ.
The arrival of the Crusaders gave the Maronites a
reviving breath and eased the oppression they have
been suffering from for 400 years.

They renewed and improved their links with the


Catholic Church

Welcomed the first Latin community to settle in


Lebanon

Expanded their presence into more coastal and


southern areas like Zgharta, Keserwan, Metn, Baabda,
Jezzine, and Sour.

During the Crusade invasion, the Druze of Mt. Lebanon


strongly fought against them and defended the Holy
Lands which gave them a favorable image in the eyes of
the Muslim rulers who accepted them as part of Islam
and gave them priority control over Mt. Lebanon.
Salah el Din el Ayoubi was a
Kurdish commander of the
Fatimid armies who liberated
Jerusalem from the Crusaders and
established the Ayoubi Sultanate.
He claimed the title of Sultan of The
Egypt and Syria (1174-1193). This Mamluks
dynasty did not last long.
1250-1517
AD
The Mamluks were a combination of Turkoman slaves from the area east
of the Caspian Sea and Circassian slaves from the Caucasus Mountains
between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea.

They were brought in by the Muslim Ayyubid sultans of Egypt to serve as


their bodyguards. One of these slaves, Muez-Aibak, assassinated the
Ayyubid sultan, Al Ashraf Musa, in 1252 and founded the Mamluk
sultanate, which ruled Egypt and Syria for more than two centuries.
From the eleventh to the thirteenth century, the Shia
Muslims migrated from Syria, Iraq, and the Arabian
Peninsula and to the northern part of the Biqa Valley and
to the Kasrawan Region in the mountains northeast of
Beirut.
They and the Druzes rebelled in 1291 while the Mamluks
were busy fighting European Crusaders and Mongols, but
after repelling the invaders, the Mamluks crushed the
rebellion in 1308.
To escape from repression and massacres by the Mamluks,
the Shias abandoned Kasrawan and moved to southern
Lebanon.
IMPACT OF ARAB RULE

Arab rule under the It was during this period that Lebanon
Umayyads and Abbasids had became a refuge for various ethnic and
a profound impact on the religious groups. The presence of these
eastern Mediterranean area diverse, cohesive groups led to the
and, to a great degree, was eventual emergence of the Lebanese
responsible for the confessional state, whereby different
composition of modern religious communities were represented
Lebanese society. in the government according to their
numerical strength.
IMPACT OF ARAB RULE

The physician Rashid ad Din, the jurist Al


Under the Abbasids, Awazi, and the philosopher Qusta ibn Luqa
philosophy, literature, and were leaders in their respective disciplines.
the sciences received great The country also enjoyed an economic
attention, especially during boom in which the Lebanese harbors of
the caliphate of Harun ar Tyre and Tripoli were busy with shipping
Rashid and that of his son, as the textile, ceramic, and glass industries
Al Mamun. Lebanon made prospered. Lebanese products were sought
a notable contribution to after not only in Arab countries but also
this intellectual renaissance. throughout the Mediterranean Basin.

You might also like