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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt:...Al-Makdist, who wrote in 985, divides Syria into six districts. Among the cities of the district of Damascus he names Sidon, which he calls "a fortified city on the sea."3 The most extensive reference to Sidon during this period is found in the diary of AM-Mu'in-Nasir-i-Khusrau, a Persian who traveled through Palestine and Syria in 1047 A.D. The account reads: "From Beyrut we came to the city of Sidon, likewise on the seashore. They cultivate here much sugar cane. The city has a well-built wall of stone and four gates. It has a fine Friday mosque, very pleasantly situated, the whole interior of which is spread with matting in colored designs. The bazaars are so splendidly adorned that when I first saw them I imagined the city to be decorated for the arrival of the Sultan, or in honor of some good news. But when I inquired, they said it was customary for their city to be always thus beautifully decorated. The gardens and orchards of the town are such that one might say that each was a plaisance laid out at the fancy of some king. Kiosks are set therein, and the greater number of trees are of those kinds that bear fruit.' ' This description, which is the last from the period preceding the Crusades, shows that at the close of the first millennium of the Christian era Sidon had regained much of its oldtime splendor, and was apparently destined to play again an important role in the commercial history of the Orient. 1 Kitdb alrbulddn, II, p. 175 (Juynboll). 2 See above, p. 53. 'Ahsan at-tak&stm, p. 160 (De Geoje). 4P.P. T.,Vol. IV, p. 11. CHAPTER VI THE PERIOD OF THE CRUSADES During the period of the Crusades Sidon played a less prominent part than Tyre, Acco, and Joppa, the other port cities along the eastern shore of the...