byblos city-state

  Byblos during the Early Bronze Age (Early 3rd millennium BCE, 3000BCE)  traded with gold, silver and copper. Egypt was extending to the north and Byblos was an ideal location to establish liaisons with Mesopotamia and beyond and Asia Minor. Byblos traded agricultural products and cedar wood with Egypt since the 1st Egyptian Dynasty. Byblos since early egyptian kingdom has been patronised by Egyptian kings.  The advantage of  and reason of its success and growth was its economic trade position and ability and the availability of a good harbour. Byblos did the link between east and west and north and south since the early ages. Mesopotamian allowed it to benefit from both utilitarian and luxury trade goods and the advent of metal goods manufacture know how and Egypt was a great market for its products. Byblos’s was on top of the trade networks. that position in the trade networks made of Bylos a  wealthier the city. Byblos was at the nexus of so many large trade networks of high volume of metal material trade passing through it when smelting and metallurgy represented a major technological transition.   

Relations between Byblos and Mesopotamia were established from the third millennium BCE. Proof of this is the similarities in craft productions.  The earliest mention of Byblos in Mesopotamian texts appears in a Sumerian text from Ur’s Third Dynasty from the reign of Amar-Sin around 2046–2038 BCE. At this time Byblos was ruled by a man called Ibdati  a name of Amorite origin. These texts mention exchanges of gifts between Ur and Byblos. 

Trading relations between Byblos and Ebla in the third millennium were intense. Byblos imported raw metal, fabrics. and exported linen and worked metals. The two cities also created matrimonial ties between them since a princess of Ebla married a king of Byblos. Texts from Ebla give an indication about the Byblos’s political institutions and its society.

At the beginning of the second millennium, the kings of Mari conducted expeditions up to the Cedar mountains. King Yahdun-Lims of Mari identified himself with the storm god of Bylbos Reshef. The Mari texts mention Byblos in several times and the Byblos-style fabrics.  King Yantin-Ammu (Inten) of Byblos sent gifts on several occasions to king Zimri-Lim of Mari.

Royal rulers in Byblos can be identified as early as the third millennium. Phoenician royal system were inspired by Mesopotamian and Canaanite traditions. The monarch belonged to heaven and thus his kingship was a god-given. He had a judicial responsibility. The king functioned as commander-in-chief (Phoenician word TM) but could delegate to general. The King can bear divine names such as Baal. One of The king roles was chief priest. The king's mother was particularly veneered. The kings appear to have taken guidance from a variety of citizen councils, assemblies, peoples assembly, the council of elders which held considerable political power, the wealthy mercantile families and high-ranking nobles and officials (Phoenician SPT). 

The king was in the same time the governor and the chief priest of the temples. He had full control over the business affairs of the city and any private enterprise operating in the city had to be in conjunction with the king. Trading with other cities went through him. He had the powers to call for popular assemblies.

The System of social ranking (or stratification) was in effect. The aristocracy the uppermost class was constituted of government officials, generals, wealthy merchants, land owners and priests. The Middle Class was constituted of occupational groups such as farmers, fishermen and craftsmen. 

The political system was an aristocratic republic in a metropolitarian system of city and was analogous to the cities in Europe like Genoa at the time when it was a maritime power.  The constitutional form of the society was an oligarchy or an aristocracy  participating in the policy decisions and straightly tied to the king . This aristocracy usually giving hereditary princes. But in the habits of the Phoenicians the system tended to a democracy. 

It is said in Phoenicia and in particular Byblos that municipal liberty made its first appearance in history. The notion of an egalitarian society where citizenship was implemented and the citizens had civil rights and rights over proprietership and the rights to amass wealth.

A legislative body with a high civil magistrate implemented the law. The city had official and representative bodies with distribution of powers. Every function of the city had a person in charge like the supervisor of the port or person in charge of the affairs of the temple.

As for the women role she had patriarchal role raising her children and being a house wife. Priestesses also appear to have played a significant role in Phoenician religious life.

The Rural settlement were located at proximity to the center. The core of the cities was of an average of 2-6 hectares. The city was located at proximity of the sea or to the harbor. In the upper city took place the main palace, major temples, administrative buildings and the residences of the aristocracy. The lower city housed the commercial and industrial zones. The industrial quarter, metal-working, smaller cottage industries and production were in the vicinity of the harbor.

The Phoenician harbor were vital to Phoenician cities. The harbors were either open to the sea or sheltered. Prior to the fourth century harbors were carved into the natural rock. The end of the fourth century the Phoenicians began to reinforce natural reefs by placing large finely cut ashlar stones as breakwaters.

Dwellings we consisted of three or four rooms with an open-air courtyard that housed the entrance. Stones or rubble masonry were used only for the foundation and lower parts of the walls of the building, the upper part would be built using timber frames and mud bricks. The upper part does not remain till today because it is susceptible to fires and degradation with time and what remain are the bases of the walls. The Phoenicians had a great reputation for being extremely skilled masons who created some large ashlar at the time when ashlar masonry began.

The city of Byblos was an individual city state stretching on the coast over 50 km. It became later a kingdom.  

Byblos is said to be the oldest inhabited city in the world. Byblos ruins sites contains layers of civilizations from the Neolithic to Phoenicians to Persians to Greeks to Romans to the Arabs invasion and crusaders era. Byblos is mainly known for being a major Phoenician city. Its Crusaders Castle and Church are well know attractions. You can browse history through the artifacts found on its site.

The site of the ruins of Byblos, where all the civilizations lived, 8000 thousand years of continuous habitation, place for trade worship and important residences, is on the same location on a plateau about 20 m above sea level, just bordering the sea. It is there where the people of Byblos worshiped the goddess "Lady of Byblos" Baalat- Gebal 3000 b.c and its there where the crusaders made their most important fortification 5000 years later and it is exactly on the same location where the Phoenicians made their most important center city for trade and siege for their Kings 3000 years ago.

In the 3rd millennium b.c the settlements within the enclosed walls reached 5 to 7 ha and the population reached 200 houses lodging 2000 people. The general urban layout of the settlements do not have any particular direction but follow the natural topography of the site. Later on the urban layout followed a perpendicular distribution of houses with streets.

After the indigenous life, people in the Neolithic age started living in small elliptical dwelling made of pebbles and round small stones. But later people started in what become Byblos, to live in houses made of sharp cut rectangular large stones, trading with Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia and countries on the Mediterranean Sea like Cyprus and Crete. Byblos of Lebanon with its mountains and forests was to become for many millennium further the depot for timber for the people in the desertic countries and the vehicle for trade in the region. It was two millennium later, around 1000 b.c, that King Solomon, made his ships from the eternal Cedars of Lebanon (till today there are ceders at high altitude in the mountain of more than 3000 years of age, cedar tree is the symbol of Lebanon and is on the country's flag).

From the fourth millennium b.c Byblos was a very active center for commerce, trading with the Pharaohs of Egypt starting from the early first dynasties in upper Egypt, wood from Lebanon for naval construction and copper from Cyprus and metal from the Caucuses. Byblos used to be also a main religious center in the region.

Between 2500 and 2300 b.c Byblos was the primary city-state in an extensive Phoenician city system. Beginning 2300 b.c Byblos was invaded by the Amonite, but by 1900b.c trade resumed and Byblos reestablished its position as a major port city again and prosperity returned to the city. The middle bronze age (2000 to 1750 b.c) was a period of continuous development. 

After the invasion by Egypt of the Levant during the New Kingdom in Egypt, Byblos became a vassal city-state (1550 to 1300 b.c) to Egypt and played as a key city in the Egypt administered Phoenicia. In the Iron age (1200 to 1100 b.c) Byblos was the central city-state in Phoenicia and the major port in the Mediterranean sea. During this time it was ranked as one of the wealthiest and most important of Phoenician cities and it was an important coastal emporium.

Building activity reached its peak in the Persian period (after 650 b.c). The city which had its own kings was thriving economically and was a regional administration center. During this time money coins were struck in the city though it is said that their main usage was inside Phoenicia.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY:  A Short History of The Phoenicians, Mark Woolmer 

MIDDLE BRONZE AGE IN BYBLOS

The city of Byblos was an individual city state stretching on the coast over 50 km. It became later a kingdom.  

Byblos is said to be the oldest inhabited city in the world. Byblos ruins sites contains layers of civilizations from the Neolithic to Phoenicians to Persians to Greeks to Romans to the Arabs invasion and crusaders era. Byblos is mainly known for being a major Phoenician city. Its Crusaders Castle and Church are well know attractions. You can browse history through the artifacts found on its site.

The site of the ruins of Byblos, where all the civilizations lived, 8000 thousand years of continuous habitation, place for trade worship and important residences, is on the same location on a plateau about 20 m above sea level, just bordering the sea. It is there where the people of Byblos worshiped the goddess "Lady of Byblos" Baalat- Gebal 3000 b.c and its there where the crusaders made their most important fortification 5000 years later and it is exactly on the same location where the Phoenicians made their most important center city for trade and siege for their Kings 3000 years ago.

In the 3rd millennium b.c the settlements within the enclosed walls reached 5 to 7 ha and the population reached 200 houses lodging 2000 people. The general urban layout of the settlements do not have any particular direction but follow the natural topography of the site. Later on the urban layout followed a perpendicular distribution of houses with streets.

After the indigenous life, people in the Neolithic age started living in small elliptical dwelling made of pebbles and round small stones. But later people started in what become Byblos, to live in houses made of sharp cut rectangular large stones, trading with Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia and countries on the Mediterranean Sea like Cyprus and Crete. Byblos of Lebanon with its mountains and forests was to become for many millennium further the depot for timber for the people in the desertic countries and the vehicle for trade in the region. It was two millennium later, around 1000 b.c, that King Solomon, made his ships from the eternal Cedars of Lebanon (till today there are ceders at high altitude in the mountain of more than 3000 years of age, cedar tree is the symbol of Lebanon and is on the country's flag).

From the fourth millennium b.c Byblos was a very active center for commerce, trading with the Pharaohs of Egypt starting from the early first dynasties in upper Egypt, wood from Lebanon for naval construction and copper from Cyprus and metal from the Caucuses. Byblos used to be also a main religious center in the region.

Between 2500 and 2300 b.c Byblos was the primary city-state in an extensive Phoenician city system. Beginning 2300 b.c Byblos was invaded by the Amonite, but by 1900b.c trade resumed and Byblos reestablished its position as a major port city again and prosperity returned to the city. The middle bronze age (2000 to 1750 b.c) was a period of continuous development. 

After the invasion by Egypt of the Levant during the New Kingdom in Egypt, Byblos became a vassal city-state (1550 to 1300 b.c) to Egypt and played as a key city in the Egypt administered Phoenicia. In the Iron age (1200 to 1100 b.c) Byblos was the central city-state in Phoenicia and the major port in the Mediterranean sea. During this time it was ranked as one of the wealthiest and most important of Phoenician cities and it was an important coastal emporium.

Building activity reached its peak in the Persian period (after 650 b.c). The city which had its own kings was thriving economically and was a regional administration center. During this time money coins were struck in the city though it is said that their main usage was inside Phoenicia.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY:  A Short History of The Phoenicians, Mark Woolmer 

MIDDLE BRONZE AGE IN BYBLOS

The intermediate Bronze in Byblos is a relatively short duration of the period half a century to a century, late 19th century to late 18th. In the execration texts we have no mention of a King of Byblos but only of tribes. In the stratum from the 20th-19th century were unearthed pottery chiefly incised, some pottery were found hidden in the Royal Tombs. During most of the period between 2100 BCE and 1850 BCE found incised pottery carrying on the tradition of Early Bronze III. There was a great nomadic movement from the east into the Levant during the 19th century and an increasingly active caravan trade between Mesopotamia and the Levant and Egypt. Big waves of migration of the Indo-Europeans into the region , these nomadic people of the steppes organized as war bands bound together by oaths. They relied heavily on the exploitation of secondary products of domestic animals and on textiles production and were behind the so-called Wool Revolution.They invented the use of chariots. This civilization who came into Anatolia, the Levant and  Mesopotamia was eventually absorbed into the more advanced and populated civilizations. 

The Indo-Europeans developed individualizing chiefdoms, since they merged into the civilizations of the region, politics changed, the power of the aristocratic assemblies started to be replaced by a new kind of politics, including military alliances and dynastic marriages. After the obliteration of the Sumerian civilization and then the advent of the first Babylonian dynasty, a new dynasty in Byblos was established headed by AbiShemou I with  names similar from the first Babylonian dynasty. The leaders had Amorites influence. 

The vassal states of the kingdom of Ur would have stretched over a huge tract of land, reaching from the Mediterranean Sea to the plains of Iran and from Kurdistan to Oman and most probably Gubla (Byblos) could have belonged to the zone of vassal states, and we see an economy of Ubaidian chiefdoms. As for the end of the of Byblian prince AbiShemou I dynasty, it was prince Yantin  son Si-batbor seems to have put an end to its autonomy and the end of Egyptian power.

A new dynasty of Semitic Kings founded by AbiShemou II ushered in the early Hyksos period about 1700 BCE. It is said that Lycians were found at the court of Abishemu. When trade was resumed in the 17th century BCE, there was a new culture in the land, perhaps specifically of Byblian origin. Both the pottery and faience types had changed in the interim. The material remains from this period at Ugarit share far more parallels with sites in the Levant. New and larger regional cultural zones such as Nordic or Atlantic emerged as a result of the distribution of metal and the regularity of social interaction. They incorporated natural pathways such as coastal sea routes and mountain passes. It is a first phase of wide-spread urban development and construction, as well as the development of a protective rampart and glacis at Byblos. It is said a substantial number of the settlers at the Egyptian capital Avaris originated most probably from the northern Levant. 

The Mycenaean period 15th–13th is  well characterized by the importance of wool production and its use in the palatial economies. We see the emergence of new forms of stable long-distance alliances and confederacies. This trade was dominated by eastern Central Europe, ranging from state-sponsored trading expeditions to private ventures. Trade in the Bronze Age Mediterranean Basin and Near East was ever expanding in scale, direct imports and indirect imitations of Minoan/Mycenaean objects and styles in the Nordic realm during the period 1450–1300 BCE. The 15th– 13th centuries BCE were a period of intensive socio-political development and a period of great cultural and economic expansion. 

Thutmose III around the mid 15th century built a guarrisson in the city and made of it an administrative center and a center for ship building.

During the period 1300–1150 BCE  we see an increased interaction between the eastern Mediterranean civilizations and the European hinterlands. A strong correlation between traders and warriors existed just like at the time of the Crusades. The transition between the Middle and Late Bronze Age in Cyprus and the Levant is characterized by political and economic changes, with increased international trade in the Eastern Mediterranean. This well-oiled network collapsed during the transition to the 13th century BCE and was replaced by an East–Central European network. At the same time we see a geographical expansion of metal hoarding . The rise of the Late Bronze Age warrior aristocracy in temperate Europe and its expansion especially after 1300 BCE was characterised by intensive development and great mobility. The tale of Wenamun suggests that there were Levantine captains on Egyptian boats. A large population concentration reached a tipping point around 1200 BCE with huge migrations at land and sea. A dramatic change took place in the supplies of bronze and was cut off due to warfare linked to social and religious reformation throughout eastern Central Europe. New east/west hostilities on a regional scale poped-up and led to the onset of a Dark Age giving way to the decline of the palatial societies.

The Chalcolithic denotes the period when the first metal instru­ments appeared, around 4500 to 3200 BCE.  Instruments made of copper from the Chalcolithic period were obtained by casting.  Flint tools were used like hatchets. New pottery shapes started to appear with craters.

Chalcolithic period characterized by social complexity and centralization. Towards the late of this period architectural style changed, houses were no longer rectangular in shape but oval and double-apsed.

Ceramics found in Byblos were part of a study that shows the penetration in Greece and the Balkans shortly before 4000 BCE of a new type painted ceramics in relation with  that of Southern Anatolia and Northern Mesopotamia proof of the  already established network of navigation in the Mediterranean in that time.  

Trade between Egypt and Byblos has recently been proposed that the Byblos Chalcolithic tombs contain a typical combination of late Naqada I objects. These have been interpreted as an indication of an Egyptian-Byblos trade through sea in the predynastic periods.  

The “Énéolithique recent” (recent Eneolithic) during 4th millennium at Byblos takes into consideration the spatial organization and the major architectural features of the pre and proto-urban village of Byblos and shows the important role played by the spring and the temple of the "Sacred Precincts" in the general layout of the villages. The layout is marked by terrace-walls and boundary-walls and neat demarcations of the domestic compounds and the fortification of the town of the beginning of the III millennium BCE. Raised platforms, silos, slab-paved surfaces are common architecture features in this phase.

At Byblos the shift to an Early Bronze I occurred in a strong continuity between the Calcolithic and the “Énéolithique Récent”. It was the beginning of quantity cutting and shipping of cedar timber and export of olive oil and wine. This export activity is proven from the findings in the Pre- and Proto-Dynastic Necropolis of Egypt namely at Saqqara and Abydos. The discovery of boat-burials made of cedar timber in the Proto-Dynastic necropolis of Umm el-Qaab is a support to those propositions. A strong and developed exchange system was established between Byblos and Egypt in this period. The first appearance of copper in Byblos was a major event . The contact between Byblos and the foreign world transformed the fishermen of Byblos into sailors and created a rapid social stratification. Stamp seals, cylinder seals and seals impressions found indicate to a form of institutional control in the city of Byblos.

The society in this period follows the previous one and lives about the same kind of life. It occupied initially in the previous era only a very restricted area of the mound, but it will extend over the entire area of Byblos promontory, covering the previous facilities in layers on top of the previous layers and also spreading in the south and west parts of the mound. People still live in simple huts, circular, rectangular, sometimes absidial. The floor of the house is in earth or more rarely gravel or a rough pavement of small flat stones. The most important dwellings have an interior division.   

  Then the potter’s wheel was introduced. Flint tooling evolved. Different metals started to be used for mak­ing weapons. tools. silver for headbands. bracelets and rings. gold for rings and beads. One ceremo­nial club is in ivory. From the fourth millennium. trading in silver from mines in the Taurus mountains in southern Turkey. At the end of the prehistoric period. the villages in Lebanon were already structured. and their specialized activities. This would seem to be the be­ginning of the commercial stage as they began exporting and importing finished goods.  

 Proto-urban installation (3200-3000 BCE). It is the continuation of the type of construction of the previous installation as well as its modes and uses. Instead of independent mono-cellular dwellings, solid rectangular houses with a three partition are now being built, apparently derived from the old-fashioned apse houses. And these houses are grouped inside large enclosures. The development of metal tooling, including the use of the flat ax, allowed the use of mountain wood. It allowed to provided strong wooden posts. These posts were erected within the stone wall. They support a ridge beam from which descended the two sides of the roof made of mats.  

 First Urban Facility (3000-2800 BCE). Gradually the houses of the previous installation are now more densely organized. The spaces are progressively filled, streets run between the houses. The whole mound is covered with buildings. The houses are articulated around many streets that form a framework forming an urban layout. The rooms inside the houses are aggregated to each other. Houses are grouped in neighborhoods where streets put them in Communlcatlen according to a canvas. The urban layout covered an area of about 5ha and the population reached 2000 people.  

 Inside a cartouche found in Byblos Pharaoh Menkaouhor was easily read ( the builder of the 3rd pyramid) of the 5th dynasty, The fifth dynasty is also represented in Byblos by vase found with dedication to Pharaoh Ounas , and also another inscription to that of Pharaoh Dedkarà . It would make three kings following each other represented in Byblos.  It seems certain that the temple of Baalat Gebal in Byblos was founded by MenKaouhor , or one of his immediate predecessors , during the 5th Dynasty , Egyptian objects in the temple of Baalat Gebal are spread out between the first and sixth dynasties , Some objects  found in Byblos in the the temple of Baalat Gebal bear the name of king  of the 2nd dynasty in Egypt Khase-khemoui , Cheops of the IVth , the queen Meritat and Mycerinus whose name of banner is read on a fragment discovered, and seal with the name of Horus-Seth.. The objects found in Byblos from the Fourth Dynasty in Egypt are even more numerous,  

 By around 2200 B.C Byblos halfway between the Persian Gulf (Mari) and Egypt  reflect  both cultures.  During the Third Dynasty of Ur in Mesopotamia Byblos had relations with the kings of this dynasty. The relationship with Mesopotamia is centred on the metal-worker's art. The metal craftsmen of Byblos learned the special techniques from the craftsmen in Sumer.  Another thing the large stone and most of the metal beads  of that era found in Byblos  follow Sumerian tradition. Some found go to the Akkadian period with types extending thinly into the Neo-Sumerian period or Ur III.  Objects found in the Montet Jars of Byblos are related to the dynasty of Ur 2113-2006 B.C. and also  the reign of Naramsin, 2291-2255 B.C.   

It was the emergence of the Amorites era  during towards the end second millennium, the population of Byblos emulated Amorite elite practices and  Amorite material cul­ture.  Amorite rulers adopted a type of defense common to settlements in the Middle Euphrates and was probably  applied in Byblos, massive earthen ramparts were crowned by thick mud-brick walls which were supplemented by deep ditches. 

Ships from Byblos making their way to Egypt as demand grew in Egypt for olive oil and wine.  The ships began to transport copper from Cyprus, wool, timber and resins from Lebanon along with trinkets.  Tin was also distributed through this network.  A proliferation of bronze weaponry and tools was noted.  It appeared that by the end of the  second millennium regional specializations are evident especially in finished metal goods and textiles. 

 After the conquest of the Amorite, Byblos became under Bablonian rule from around 2000 BCE till around 1750BCE. In this era, the temples retain the general organization of the past but their essential part, the sanctuary, is radically transformed. the entrance which was in the long side becomes frontal. One new temple was erected dedicated to the god Reshef , the god of warfare (equivalent to Herishef in egyptian religious pantheon). In the temple dedicated to him or the temple of the obelisks today  were found the gold plated bronze statueted of influence of babylonian style. In this Era, Royal tombs were built deep in deep wells and were provided with funerary furniture of great wealth. Some of the ojects founds in the tombs bear the names of the Pharaohs of the XII dynasty in Egypt.  The princes burried in these tombs bear the names of Abis-shemu and of Ipi-shemu-abi his son. These names have similarities with the names of  families of the princes of the first Babylonian dynasty. The objects related to that era attest to the influence of the metallurgical centers of the Caucasus and of Armenia. Mesopotamian influence is manifested in the religious field and by its industrial techniques. This era witnessed imports of textile and carpets from Babylon. Also summerian script was importes and pseudo-hyogryliphic writing appeared in Byblos. Science and techniques from Mesopotamia had their great cultural influence on Byblos. But still Egypt is there with all the prestige of its civilization and the arsenal of its influence also. Even distant Crete sent to Byblos its richly decorated potteris. Politically, governement structure showed infleuce from Mesopotamia organisational and management structure. 

In Hyksos time, bronze was imported to Scandinavia from the East Mediterranean mostly Byblos, pictures in Scandinavia show large ships cut into bedrock surfaces.  There are plenty of  symbols and shapes of bronzes (like the spiral ornament)  that seem to lead their origin from the East Mediterranean region, the Mycenaean, Minoan and Phoenician cultures. This trading started about 1750 BC at the time of the Hyksos. At just the same time amber from the Baltic started to appear in Mycenaean and Minoan graves. This gives evidence of active trading between the Mediterranean and Scandinavia.

Byblos at the time of the Hyksos was dated  at the time of Amenemhat III and IV.  The  antiquities found in the tombs in Byblos, either in the Royal necropolis or in Necropolis K go to the time  between the end of the Middle Empire in Egypt and of the Hyksos and those of the beginning of the New Empire in Egypt.

The excavations of Phenicia and in Byblos confirmed imports and Aegean influences in the Levant during the Middle Bronze period, before and during the time of the Hyksos. 

According to the Persians, Phoenician sailors came to the port of Argos to trade and, their cargo once sold,  they abducted by force the daughter of the king of Argos IO along with several other women to take them on their ship to Egypt. According to the Phoenicians, IO sailed voluntarily for Egypt because she had united with the master of a Phoenician ship.

The Intermediate Bronze Age is typically characterized as pastoral-nomadic. That period showed large-scale pastoralism. Some evidence of a sort of decentralized sedentary village-based settlement patterns subsisting on agro-pastoralism. People from northern Mesopotamia were moving westward and contributing to the urban expansion of cities including Byblos. A close parallelism show that the Megiddo temples are similar in configuration to the triple temple complex (Temple in L later became Temple of the Obelisks) from Byblos in antis.

 During the New Kingdom in Egypt, under the Amarna Dynasty (1550 BCE) Byblos became a vassal city-state to Egypt and had its own king. In the language of diplomacy  between Egypt and Byblos two key-terms  were used "brotherhood" and "love"  to invoke equality.

For the effective functioning of the Egyptian administration in the Levant a series of legal framework were in use. Local kings were set or specified by means of an oath having the validity of a treaty.  Intervention of  Egypt in the field of military affairs dominate.The Egyptian Pharaoh is often asked for solutions in individual conflicts including security and trade matters. In order to maintain a viable working system the Byblos kings were expected to fulfill a set of duties or obligations.  

There was a narrow link between the military and economic sphere, with Egypt direct military interventions taking place when the economic priorities of the Egyptian administrative system became affected or endangered. Egypt  military response  can be interpreted as a protection of economic interests and resources.  The Egyptian economy in Byblos was represented through transfer of commodities through the port of Byblos and a connecting point to the inland. The port of Byblos was center for the storage and the collection  tax. 

A  system  of formalized interpersonal relations between the respective authorities was developed. 

The Phraoh Thutmosis III sailed from Egypt to Byblos and built ships in the area of the city from local wood in order to attack Mitanni.   The city of Byblos played an important strategic role in Thutmosis military activities.  It is possible that Djehuty was a commander of Thutmosis III’s army in the Levant and was possibly based in Byblos. Thutmosis III built a chapel in the city of Byblos in the temple of the Obelisks that was later dismantled and replaced by Ramses II. Thutmosis III venerated particularly the Lady of Byblos Baalat Gebal. Byblos craftsmen worked in Thutmosis III’s shipyards  and is  demonstrated by the presence of people with Semitic names and the existence there of cults of Baal Gebal or Astrate among the Egyptian people.

The expedition to Byblos is described by Sennefri in his tomb, Sennefri arriving in Byblos gave offerings to the local goddess before obtaining the wood. 

Many text date from that period (1350-1100 BCE). Eleventh century BCE  Phoenician texts,  tenth-century royal inscriptions from Byblos, several eleventh-and tenth-century inscribed arrowheads, eleventh-century Assyrian foundation-text of Tiglath-Pileser I detailing a trip to Lebanon, the Egyptian account of the Egyptian emissary Wenamon to Byblos, many vessels bearing inscribed pharaonic cartouches found in Byblos mostly between the Old Kingdom and the reign of Ramesses II.

Wenamon story suppose of the existence of a flourishing eleventh-century settlement at Byblos.  They seem to attest high-level diplomatic gift-exchange be tween Egypt and Byblos. Wenamon. story also suggests continuity in élite institutions.

The royal  tomb by the tenth-century King Ahiram suggests that Byblos monarchy enjoyed a period of prosperity around the time of Ramses II,  but presents itself as part of a dynastic line stretching back into the Bronze Age.   Thirteenth-century BCE Tomb V at Byblos makes it to propose continuity with the preceding period.

Eleventh and tenth centuries weaponry was becoming increasingly symbolically important.

During this period many  references to the Sea Peoples occur in New Kingdom texts, with little consistency in whose army they are fighting for.

An inscribed doorway of Ramesses II found at Byblos suggests it was part of a chapel dedicated by the pharaoh at the temple of Baalat Gebal. Ramesses II  commisionned chapel in the temple of the Obelisks in Byblos  confirming that Ramses II was very active in the city .  During  first and sixth campaigns the Pharaoh  was active in the area of Byblos both before and after the battle of Qadesh.   Byblos was likely involved in Ramses II’s military operations, at least during the first campaigns.  The peace treaty between the Hittites and Ramesses II and the ensuing period of peace will have affected Byblos significantly into making Byblos a prosper city. Byblos appears in the written sources of the reign of Ramses II and from the Hittite Empire. Textiles from Byblos were significant enough to the Hittites to appear in a mythological context.  In this period Byblos recovered many of the territories lost to Amurru during the Amarna Age.  An inscribed statuette of Ramesses III suggests that Egyptian control was less imperialistic in Byblos and more based on a development of the diplomatic trade relationships.

Isis rather than the Egyptian goddess Hathor started to be associated with the Lady of Byblos, this shift could be related to a change in the Egyptian perceptions of the city, considering that a similar shift from Hathor to Isis happened in Egypt too.  

The end of this Era and the Late Bronze Age might be due to the drought event or climate-driven famine, sea-borne-invasion, region-wide warfare, and politico-economic collapse and  of a destruction carried out by the Sea Peoples who “lived on boats” and staged various raids in dif­ferent areas of the eastern Mediterranean. 

Little information was found on the archaeological site of Byblos regarding the role of Byblos in the Iron Age (1100-550 BCE) but Byblos maintained close relation with Egypt and a role of a key port in the Mediterranean.  A base of a statue of Shishak Pharaohs of Egypt was found in Byblos with a dedication by King Abibaal  of Byblos. The ties with Egypt continued during the reigns of Osorkon I  924-889 BCE and Osorkon II  872-837 BCE  Pharaohs of Egypt.  A dedicatory inscription , of Elibaal king of Byblos was found on a bust of Osorkon I. 

In campaign of Shalmaneser III 841 BCE   King of Assyria  Byblos is also mentioned alongside Tyre and Sidon . Tiglath-Pileser III was the first Assyrian monarch to launch attacks directed against Phoenicia , Byblos may have also been annexed but still enjoyed a certain measure of autonomy,  as the king of Byblos  Shiptibaal II  740 BCE  appears in the tribute lists of Tiglath-Pileser III. Archaeological excavations in Byblos show that new massive fortifications were built during the late eighth or seventh century BCE . Sennacherib  king of Assyria  received tribute from king  Urumilki of Byblos.  With the ascension of Ashurbanipal  king of Assyria  to power,  king Milkishapa of Byblos , paid him tribute and supplied naval assistance on his first campaign against Egypt .

 In the Persian Era (550-330 BCE) toward the end of the fifth-beginning of the fourth century BCE, coinage from Byblos changes typologically and rised in value, switching from the initial Attic weight standard to the Phoenician weight standard. The fact that coinage was minted in Byblos in the Persian period indicates that the city continued  its overseas trade. The continuity of coinage minting in Byblos indicates that the city had peace time and flourished in the Persian period.  There is a similarity in the  typological  iconography engraving on coins of Byblos with Egyptian  traditions.

The oldest Persian-period inscriptions from Byblos dates 500 BCE one of Kink Shiptibaal of Byblos and indicates the political subordination of the king of Byblos to the Persian King.  The King Yehawmilk of Byblos inscription indicates that the economic climate and political situation was prosperous. Epigraphic sources indicate that Byblos exhibited compliance with the policies of the new empire. The  Persians allowed local dynastic kings to rule over Byblos.  The transition from Neo-Babylonian rule to Achaemenid rule  change things much in Byblos. There was a rise of religious syncretism In Achaemenid Byblos. 

The site of Byblos in the Hellenistic period (330-50 BC) is then covered with a dense network of constructions. A sanctuary is built on the ruins of the ancient temple of Rechef.  it is almost certain existence of a Hellenistic temple of the Lady of Byblos.  

Numerous handles of stamped amphora that go back to Hellenistic period (330-50 BCE) found in the Byblos and indicate a real Hellenization of the population of Byblos.  The study on the Roman period in Byblos shows some elements of the earlier period,  the Hellenestic period, in particular on religious cults and deforestation. Byblos had a secondary role in Phenicia for to the Greeks. 

The story of Diodorus mentions the kingdom of Byblos.  Antigone have asked the ruler of Byblos to provide him with the wood necessary for the construction of his fleet. The city seems to have been a Ptolemaic garrison town. The city in the general sense corresponded to a hyparchy of the Ptolemaic administration. By an order of Ptolemy II around 260 BC the royalty of Byblos disappears very soon after Alexander since no king is known after Aynel who was permitted to rule Byblos under Alexander and lot of coins minted in Byblos at his time.

Byblos begins again to coin money in the name of the Seleucid kings but without international trade, and that the Byblos coins hardly came out of the territory.  We must  mention a "council of elders" in Byblos, It is this same council which would be at the origin of the monetary strikes of the city where does not appear the name of the king. 

The inventories of Delos mention in the middle of the 3rd century the ethnic employee probably representing the assembly of citizens. An inscription of Byblos mentions the function of gumnasiarchos responsible for the gym. The Byblos wine is known from Hésiode .