Port in Lebanon; population (1980) 24,740. It
stands at the end of the Trans-Arabian oil
pipeline from Saudi Arabia. Sidon was the
chief city of Phoenicia, a bitter rival of
Tyre about 1400-701 BC, when it was conquered
by Sennacherib. Later a Roman city, it was
taken by the Arabs AD 637 and fought over
during the Crusades.