sidon – Mimo Khair Creative

Lebanese people are known to travel the world, perhaps having something to do with their Phoenician ancestry. But as with any other country, there are the few who are left behind to guard the innocence. I mean the kind of innocence that is so endearing it borders and utter kindness.

This is the kind of old man who would ask you where you are coming from assuming from you camera that you must be a tourist, otherwise why would you want to photograph a stupid vegetable stall. And then you answer, something like Shanghai, and he then goes on to ask you if you know so and so who is married to so and so, whose friend travelled to China, and did you happen to meet them there? It is so lovely to meet people like this, where simplicity is a joy, and life is uncomplicated, basic, uncluttered with too much information.

Eyes like these are much more easily brought to glow of wonder.

Day Four~ February 4th~ Lebanon

Sidon sea castle built by the Crusaders in 1228~ South Lebanon

Possibly the oldest and first metropolis of the Phoenicians, the ‘traders in purple’, the inventors of the first known alphabet from which all other alphabets were derived, inventors of the precious purple dye from the murex shell used for royal clothing, the founders of the kingship of city states called Canaan, Sidon is known to have been inhabited since early prehistory, since pre-pottery times. In Phoenician times and since around 2000 BC, it became the home of the priestess Ashtart, goddess of the Sidonians, and Eshmun, god of the Sidonians.

The very rich and complex Phoenician history in Lebanon is a fascinating area of research for Lebanese and international historians and archaeologists alike. So many civilizations were still to pass through and leave their marks and their scars on this little country, but the Phoenician culture is what resonates most where the Lebanese culture is concerned.