Ten miles to the north appeared the towers and minarets of Zidon, surrounded with the most luxuriant gardens in the world. In the intervening distance sections of the old Roman road can still be traced, and along the highway are several milestones. On one are inscribed the names of Septimius Severus and his son, M. Aurelius Antoninus, better known in history as Caracalla. The inscription bears the date of 198 A.D. Entering the famous gardens of the modern Saida, we rode for an hour through lengthened avenues of acacias and tamarisks, and amid mulberry groves, and vast orchards of peaches, pears, apricots, plums, quinces, oranges, lemons, bananas, and citrons, which filled the air with a delightful fragrance, and presented to the eye a variety of finely-tinted and exquisite foliage. Interspersed through these beautiful groves are country seats possessing all the charms of an earthly paradise. Our rural path terminated at the very gate of the city, which was carefullyguarded by Turkish soldiers. Entering the town, we found it situated on a small promontory projecting obliquely into the sea. Thoroughly Oriental in character and appearance, its narrow, shaded streets and groups of trees give it an air of repose. While many of its buildings are small, like those in most Syrian towns, there are several large and costly. The population is not less than 10,000, and is composed of Moslems, Maronites, Greeks, and Jews. The chief vocations of the citizens are the cultivation of fruits and the manufacture of oil and silk, which are exported into Egypt and to ports along the Mediterranean.
SIDON.
With an antiquity anterior to authentic history, Sidon is among the oldest of known cities.Mentioned by the inspired historian in connection with Sodom and Gaza,[662]it is supposed it was founded by Sidon, the grandson of Noah.[663] Increasing in wealth and power,the city had achieved such fame at the time the Hebrews entered Canaan that it is designated by Joshua the “Great Zidon.”[664] As early as the Trojan war the Sidonians were celebrated for their skill in the arts, especially for the manufacture of gorgeous robes, to which Homer alludes:
“The Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe went,
Where treasured odors breathed a costly scent;
There lay the vestures of no vulgar art,
Sidonian maids embroidered every part,
Whom from soft Sidon youthful Paris bore,
With Helen touching on the Tyrian shore.