Editing Byblos (section)

{{other uses}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                   = Byblos
| native_name            = جُبَيْل
| other_name             = Jebeil
| native_name_lang       = ar
| settlement_type        = City
| image_skyline          = Byblos Libanon 2003.JPG
| image_alt              = byblos
| image_caption          = Byblos Old Town
| pushpin_map            = Lebanon#Middle East2
| pushpin_label_position = 
| pushpin_map_alt        = Map showing the location of Byblos within Lebanon
| pushpin_map_caption    = Location within Lebanon
| coordinates            = {{Coord|34|07|25|N|35|39|07|E|type:city_region:LB|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_footnotes  = 
| subdivision_type       = Country
| subdivision_name       = [[Lebanon]]
| subdivision_type1      = [[Governorates of Lebanon|Governorate]]
| subdivision_name1      = [[Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate|Keserwan-Jbeil]]
| subdivision_type2      = [[Districts of Lebanon|District]]
| subdivision_name2      = [[Byblos District|Byblos]]
| established_title      = <!-- Founded -->
| established_date       = 
| founder                = 
| leader_party           = 
| leader_title           = 
| leader_name            = 
| area_total_km2         = 4.16
| area_metro_km2         = 17
| population_total       = 40000
| population_metro       = 100000
| population_note        = 
| timezone1              = [[Eastern European Time|EET]]
| utc_offset1            = +2
| timezone1_DST          = [[Eastern European Summer Time|EEST]]
| utc_offset1_DST        = +3
| postal_code_type       = Postal code
| postal_code            = 
| area_code_type         = [[Telephone numbers in Lebanon|Dialing code]]
| area_code              = +961
| footnotes              = {{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
 |child                  = yes
 |ID                     = 295
 |Year                   = 1984
 |Criteria               = Cultural: iii, iv, vi
 }}
| website                = {{URL|http://www.jbail-byblos.gov.lb/}}
}}
'''Byblos''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɪ|b|l|ɒ|s}} {{respell|BIB|loss}}; {{langx|grc|Βύβλος}}), also known as '''Jebeil''', '''Jbeil''' or '''Jubayl''' ({{langx|ar|جُبَيْل|Jubayl}}, <small>[[Lebanese Arabic|locally]]</small> {{lang|apc-Latn|Jbeil}} {{IPA|apc-LB|ʒ(ə)beːl|}}), is an ancient city in the [[Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate]] of [[Lebanon]]. The area is believed to have been first settled between 8800 and 7000{{nbsp}}BC<ref name="PeltenburgWasse2004a">{{cite book |editor1=E. J. Peltenburg |editor2=Alexander Wasse |author=Garfinkel, Yosef |chapter="Néolithique" and "Énéolithique" Byblos in Southern Levantine Context |title=Neolithic Revolution: New Perspectives on Southwest Asia in Light of Recent Discoveries on Cyprus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mKBAAAAMAAJ |access-date=18 January 2012 |year=2004 |publisher=Oxbow Books |isbn=978-1-84217-132-5}}</ref> and continuously inhabited since 5000{{nbsp}}BC.<ref name="byblos1">{{cite book |title=Cities of the Middle East and North Africa |last1=Dumper |first1=Michael |last2=Stanley |first2=Bruce E. |last3=Abu-Lughod |first3=Janet L. |year=2006 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=1-57607-919-8 |page=104 |quote=Archaeological excavations at Byblos indicate that the site has been continually inhabited since at least 5000 B.C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3SapTk5iGDkC&q=byblos+continually+inhabited&pg=PA104 |access-date=22 July 2009}}</ref> During its history, Byblos was part of numerous cultures including [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Egyptian]], [[Phoenicia]]n, [[Assyria]]n, [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]], [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]], [[Roman Empire|Roman]], [[Genoese Republic|Genoese]], [[Mamluk Sultanate|Mamluk]] and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]]. Urbanisation is thought to have begun during the third millennium BC when it developed into a city,<ref>{{cite book |author1=Lorenzo Nigro |author-link1=Lorenzo Nigro |editor1-last=Nigro |editor1-first=Lorenzo |title=Byblos and Jericho in the early bronze I : social dynamics and cultural interactions : proceedings of the international workshop held in Rome on March 6th 2007 by Rome "La Sapienza" University |date=2007 |publisher=Università di Roma "La Sapienza" |isbn=978-88-88438-06-1 |page=35 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NfAWQoiLQwEC&q=byblos+millenium&pg=PA81 |access-date=17 February 2017 |chapter=Aside the spring: Byblos and Jericho from village to town |archive-date=2023-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923091524/https://books.google.com/books?id=NfAWQoiLQwEC&q=byblos+millenium&pg=PA81 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="byblos1" /> making it one of the [[List of oldest continuously inhabited cities|oldest cities in the world]],  if not the oldest. It is a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/295 |title=Byblos |website=UNESCO |access-date=14 March 2018}}</ref>

It was in Ancient Byblos that the [[Phoenician alphabet]], likely the ancestor of the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]], [[Latin]] and all other Western alphabets, was developed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Phoenician alphabet {{!}} Definition, Letters, & History {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Phoenician-alphabet |access-date=2022-11-11 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>