DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4642#0048
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. I .
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On the south of Sidon, and on a height commanding the City, stands the large square tower now
designated as the Citadel, though formerly perhaps no more than a blockhouse, or advanced post of the
general fortifications. It, however, boasts a romantic antiquity, being supposed to belong to the age of
the Crusades, if not to have been actually built by Louis IX. (a.d. 1258).1
On a coast where good harbours are so rare, and where the winds from both the sea and the
mountains blow with such violence, the harbour of Sidon early attracted a memorable commerce; and
its command, even in later periods, was obviously a matter of importance. It thus exercised the rude
engineering of the Crusaders, who built another Castle on a rock in the sea, connected with the shore
on the north by a causeway of nine arches. But, as the harbour also exposed the City to hazard from
the Turkish fleets, the still ruder science of the celebrated Fakhr-ed-Din found no other expedient for
its protection, than partly filling up the inner harbour with the fragments of ancient pillars, so that boats
alone can enter it. Large vessels lie outside the entrance, on the north of a ledge of rocks, where they
find sufficient protection from W.S.W. winds, but lie open to those from the north.
The Artist strikingly observes: " From a little farm-house, with a garden of olives and mulberries,
we had our first view of Sidon. It is one of the finest that I have yet seen in this country. This once
noble City, jutting out upon its promontory into the clear, blue sea, and connected with its ancient
Citadel by a bridge and causeway; with the snow-clad peaks of Lebanon in the distance, reflected in
the Mediterranean in all the glories of a Syrian sunset, formed a superb spectacle."2
Nau. p. 585. Pococke, ii. 87. Turner's Tour, 87, quoted by Robinson, Biblical Researches, iii. 418.
2 Roberts's Journal.
. I .
T^m ©ITAB^lL ©IF 12lD)®irc
On the south of Sidon, and on a height commanding the City, stands the large square tower now
designated as the Citadel, though formerly perhaps no more than a blockhouse, or advanced post of the
general fortifications. It, however, boasts a romantic antiquity, being supposed to belong to the age of
the Crusades, if not to have been actually built by Louis IX. (a.d. 1258).1
On a coast where good harbours are so rare, and where the winds from both the sea and the
mountains blow with such violence, the harbour of Sidon early attracted a memorable commerce; and
its command, even in later periods, was obviously a matter of importance. It thus exercised the rude
engineering of the Crusaders, who built another Castle on a rock in the sea, connected with the shore
on the north by a causeway of nine arches. But, as the harbour also exposed the City to hazard from
the Turkish fleets, the still ruder science of the celebrated Fakhr-ed-Din found no other expedient for
its protection, than partly filling up the inner harbour with the fragments of ancient pillars, so that boats
alone can enter it. Large vessels lie outside the entrance, on the north of a ledge of rocks, where they
find sufficient protection from W.S.W. winds, but lie open to those from the north.
The Artist strikingly observes: " From a little farm-house, with a garden of olives and mulberries,
we had our first view of Sidon. It is one of the finest that I have yet seen in this country. This once
noble City, jutting out upon its promontory into the clear, blue sea, and connected with its ancient
Citadel by a bridge and causeway; with the snow-clad peaks of Lebanon in the distance, reflected in
the Mediterranean in all the glories of a Syrian sunset, formed a superb spectacle."2
Nau. p. 585. Pococke, ii. 87. Turner's Tour, 87, quoted by Robinson, Biblical Researches, iii. 418.
2 Roberts's Journal.