A Phoenician city located 25 miles up the coast from Tyre. Sidon was ruled by kings and had a close relationship with Tyre. Sidon was the first Phoenician city to send ships into the open seas, and was the first in the area to make contact with the Greeks. Sidon is mentioned several times by Homer.
Assyria subdued Sidon and other Phoenician towns, and they were required to pay tribute. King Ahab married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, who was the King of Sidon, and she introduced her native cults to Israel. God directed Elijah the prophet to the widow's house in the area of Sidon, to live during the three-year drought.
Nebuchadnezzar conquered Sidon on his way to Judah, but when Babylon later fell, Sidon was revived, and under Persian protection became powerful again.
When Alexander the Great conquered Tyre, Sidon gave up willingly and even benefited from the fall of Tyre. In 198 BC it was conquered by the Seleucids of Syria, and in 64 BC it was taken by Pompey. Jesus traveled to the Sidon, Tyre region and cured the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman.
Paul, as a prisoner traveling to Rome was allowed to visit friends when his ship docked at Sidon. Today Sidon is a city in Lebanon.
Next: Smyrna
Go to: List of places in the Bible