ISBN 978-1-349-00568-0 9 781349 005680 A SHORT HISTORY OF LEBANON By thesameauthor * HISTORY OF SYRIA, includingLebanonand Palestine HISTORY OF THE ARABS LEBANON IN HISTORY SYRIA: A SHORT HISTORY THE ARABS: A SHOH.T HISTORY A SHORT HISTORY OF LEBANON BY PHILIP K. HITTI ProfessorEmeritusofSemiticLiteratureonthe WilliamandAnnieS.PatonFoundation Princeton University MACMILLAN London · Melbourne · Toronto ST. MARTIN'S PRESS New York 1965 Copyright© PhilipK. Hitti 1965 Softcoverreprintofthehardcover 1stedition 1965 MACMILLANAND COMPANYLIMITED St Martin'sStreetLondonWC2 alsoBombay Calcutta Madras Melbourne THE MACMILLANCOMPANYOF CANADA LIMITED 70BondStreetToronto2 ST MARTIN'S PRESSINC I75FifthAvenueNew York IOOIO NT LibraryofCongress Catalogue CardNo. 64-25714 ISBN978-1-349-00568-0 ISBN978-1-349-00566-6(eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-00566-6 To thememoryof MY MOTHER who, knowingnoforeign language, taughtme theuniversallanguageoflove and thememoryofmyteacher EFFIE S. HARDIN who, givingmemyfirst lessons in Englishand French, set myearlysteps on thevoyageofunendingdiscovery CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE ix LIST OF MAPS Xl DISTINCTIVE FEATURES SETTING OF THE STAGE 8 EARLIEST SETTLERS: THE CANAANITES 15 INDEPENDENCE, TRADE AND COLONIZATION 24 LITERARY AND RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY 37 UNDER MESOPOTAMIAN AND PERSIAN DOMINATION 43 ALEXANDER AND HIS SUCCESSORS 5I IN ROMAN DAYS 59 ROMANIZED LEBANON CHRISTIANIZED 68 IN THE ORBIT OF ISLAM AND ARABISM 80 ENTER THE MARONITES AND THE DRUZES 89 UNDER ABBASIDS AND SUCCESSOR STATES 104 LATE MEDIEVAL LEBANON 127 WITHIN THE OTTOMAN CRESCENT 142 FEUDAL LEBANON: THE MANS 157 THE SHIHABS 167 EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL RELATIONS 176 BETWEEN MEDIEVALISM AND MODERNISM 184 CIVIL DISTURBANCES 190 MOUNT LEBANON UNDER MUTASARRIFS Ig8 TRANSFORMATION: ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, INTELLECTUAL 210 UNDER THE CEDAR FLAG 224 INDEX 237 vii PREFACE OF the Near East states, Lebanon is in a class by itself. Its historic experience, mountainous geography and the compo sition ofits population combine to give it an identity and a personality of its own. Democratic in politics, relatively stablein its government, free-enterprising in its economy and Western in its orientation, Lebanon holds the promise of pursuing the same course in its future career. Hence the justification for the author's devoting of a volume, Lebanon in History (1957, 1962), one of the first of its kind, to this subject. A Short History ofLebanon is based on that volume, with a special emphasis on the material on the contemporary period. It is hoped that the reading of this book will whet the appetite of at least some for further information on the subject. P. K. H. ix LIST OF MAPS PAGES THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST 3 TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP OF LEBANON AND ADJACENT LANDS 9 ANCIENT LEBANON, SYRIA AND PALESTINE 17 PHOENICIAN COLONIES 33 SYRIA AS A ROMAN PROVINCE 61 BYZANTINE SYRIA-LEBANON 73 MOSLEM CONQUEST OF LEBANON AND SYRIA 85 NORTH LEBANON 93 SOUTH LEBANON 99 CRUSADER STATES OF LEBANON AND SYRIA III LEBANON IN THE MAMLUK KINGDOM 12'9 AL-GHARB IN CENTRAL LEBANON 135 THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AT ITS HEIGHT 150- 1 LEBANON UNDER THE MANS AND THE SHIHABS 171 LEBANON AND SYRIA IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 199 xi DISTINCTIVE FEATURES SIX miles north ofBeirut, where the Dog River empties into the Mediterranean and the Lebanon wades in the sea to its ankle, the face ofthe limestone rock bears nineteen inscrip tions in almost as many languages, beginning with ancient Egyptian, Assyrian and Babylonian, continuing through Greek and Latin and ending with English, French and Arabic. The inscriptions commemorate, at this narrow pass where native mountaineers took theirdecisive stand, military feats offoreign invaders. First to leave such a record was Ramses II, who battled against Hittites some thirteen cen turies before Christ; then came Esarhaddon of Nineveh, and Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, followed by Emperor Caracalla of the Syro-Lebanese dynasty in Rome, Sultan Salim of Constantinople, General Allenby and General Gouraud. TheArabicwas carvedby the LebaneseRepublic commemoratingthe evacuationofthe lastFrenchmandatory troops in December 1946. Other world figures and con querors who could have left their cartes de visite in this extra ordinary open-air museum were Alexander the Great, Salah-al-Din (Saladin) and Baldwin I of Crusading fame. Through the narrow window thus opened by these records we gain a glimpse ofthe checkered, varied, colourful history of the land styled today Lebanese Republic. HistoryknewLebanonfrom theearliestoftimesandnever forgot it. Perhaps no other area of comparable size, about 3977 square miles (halfthe size ofthe State ofNew Jersey), can match it in the volume ofhistorical events squeezed into it and in their meaningfulness and relevance to world progress. Figuratively microscopic in size, it is literally I