|
Search for hotels
|
|
|
|
|
|
Al Bustan Hotel
|
|
Superbly located with breathtaking panoramic views over Beirut and the Mediterranean, the Al...
|
|
more...
|
|
|
|
Lebanon: Search for areas
|
|
|
|
|
Beirut
|
|
Description
|
|
|
Once known as the Paris of the Middle East, Beirut really took a beating during the long civil war in Lebanon. The city underwent a major transformation in the years following the cessation of hostilities, particularly in the downtown area and it's now a city of vibrancy and charm.
Beirut is a city of contrasts: beautiful architecture exists alongside concrete eyesores; traditional houses set in jasmine-scented gardens are dwarfed by modern buildings; winding old alleys turn off from wide avenues; and swanky new cars vie for right of way with vendor carts.
© 2005 Lonely Planet Publications
In 140 BCE, the city was taken and destroyed by Diodotus Tryphon in his contest with Antiochus VII Sidetes for the throne of the Seleucid monarchy. Beirut was soon rebuilt on a more regularized Hellenistic plan, renamed Laodicea in Canaan, in honor of a Seleucid queen.
Under the Romans it was enriched by the dynasty of Herod the Great, then made a colonia in the late 1st century CE.
Beirut passed to the Arabs in 635. As a trading centre of the eastern Mediterranean Beirut was overshadowed by Akko during the Middle Ages. From 1110 to 1291 it was in the hands of Crusader lords. No matter who was its nominal overlord, whether Turk or Mamluk, Beirut was ruled locally by Druze emirs. One of these, Fakr ed-Din Maan II, fortified it early in the 17th century, but the Ottomans retook it in 1763 and thenceforth, with the help of Damascus, Beirut successfully broke Akko's monopoly on Syrian maritime trade and for a few years supplanted it as the main trading centre in the region. During the succeeding epoch of rebellion against Ottoman hegemony at Akko under Jezzar and Abdullah pashas, Beirut declined to a small town, fought over among the Druze, the Turks and the pashas. After Ibrahim Pasha captured Akko in 1832, Beirut began its early modern revival. In 1888 Beirut was made capital of a vilayet in Syria, including the sanjaks Latakia, Tripoli, Beirut, Akko and Bekaa. Beirut became a very cosmopolitan city and had close links with Europe and the United States.
|
|
|