Lebanon is home to Byblos, an ancient coastal city often described as one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited settlements.
Byblos stands on the Mediterranean coast north of Beirut. Its history reaches back to the Neolithic period, and it became a major Phoenician port. The city traded cedar wood and other goods with Egypt and the wider eastern Mediterranean. The Greek name Byblos became associated with papyrus because the city was an important distribution center for the material.
The site contains remains from Phoenician, Egyptian, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, and later periods. Its archaeological area includes temples, a Roman theater, city walls, and a medieval castle. UNESCO added Byblos to the World Heritage List in 1984. Byblos should not be confused with Beirut, Lebanon’s modern capital, which lies along the same coast.