Editing Tel Dor (section)

===Persian period===
In ca. 460 BCE, the [[Classical Athens|Athenians]] formed an alliance with the Egyptian leader [[Inaros II|Inaros]] against the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persians]].<ref>{{cite book |title=History of the Peloponnesian War |last=Thucydides |author-link=Thucydides |others=[[Richard Crawley]] (trans.) |at=1.104 |url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/History_of_the_Peloponnesian_War/Book_1 |access-date=10 September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Library of History |last=Diodorus Siculus |author-link=Diodorus Siculus |others=C. H. Oldfather (trans.) |volume=4 |year=1946 |publisher=Loeb Classical Library |isbn=978-0-674-99413-3 |at=[https://archive.org/details/diodorussiculus09diod/page/11 11.71.3-6] |url=https://archive.org/details/diodorussiculus09diod/page/11 |access-date=10 September 2010 }}</ref> In order to reach the [[Nile delta]] and support the Egyptians, the Athenian fleet had to sail south. Athens had secured landing sites for their [[trireme]]s as far south as [[Cyprus]], but they needed a way station between Cyprus and Egypt. They needed a naval base on the coast of [[Lebanon]] or [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], but the Phoenician cities of [[Sidon]] and [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] held much of the mainland coast and those cities were loyal to Persia. Fifty miles south of those cities, however, the Athenians found an isolated and tempting target for establishing a way station.<ref>{{cite book |title=Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy |last=Hale |first=John |year=2009 |publisher=Viking |location=New York |isbn=978-0-670-02080-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/lordsofseaep00hale/page/102 102–103] |url=https://archive.org/details/lordsofseaep00hale/page/102 |url-access=registration }}</ref>

The Athenians seized Dor from Sidon. Dor had many strategic advantages for the Athenians, starting with its distance from Sidon. The Athenians had a maritime empire built on oared ships. They did not need large tracts of land and instead needed strategically situated coastal sites that had fresh water, provisions and protection from bad weather and enemy attack. Dor had an unfailing freshwater spring near the edge of the sea and to its south a lagoon and sandy beach enclosed by a chain of islets. This was precisely what the Athenian fleet needed for landing their ships and resting their crews. Dor itself was strategically situated. It stood atop a rocky promontory and was protected on its landward side by a marshy swale that formed a natural moat. Beyond the coastal lowlands was [[Mount Carmel]]. The town had Persian-built fortifications. In addition to this, the town had straight streets and Phoenician dye pits for the purpling of cloth. For these reasons, Dor became the most remote outpost of the Athenian navy.