Biblical Sidon—Jezebel’s Hometown
Who were the Sidonians?
Human-Ram Deity from Sidon. With human features as well as the eyebrows, nose and horns of a ram, this painted limestone figurine represents a deity and dates to c. 1650 B.C.E. (the Middle Bronze Age). Photo: Courtesy of Claude Doumet-Serhal.
Who were the Sidonians, and what do we know about their religion?
The Sidonians were the inhabitants of ancient Sidon, a seaport on the Mediterranean Sea in modern Lebanon. Those familiar with the Biblical text will recall that Sidon was an influential, wealthy Phoenician city when the kings of Israel and Judah ruled during the Iron Age. Yet Sidon was a significant site before this period, too.
Claude Doumet-Serhal of the British Museum details recent excavations at Sidon in her article “Sidon—Canaan’s Firstborn,” published in the July/August 2017 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. The latest archaeological discoveries shed light on Biblical Sidon and provide a window into the Sidonians’ polytheistic religion and worship practices during the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Who were the Sidonians of the Bronze Age (c. 3000–1200 B.C.E.)? They were Canaanites and shared numerous similarities, including many of the same gods, with their close neighbors in the southern Levant—who were also predominantly Canaanite.
Who were the Sidonians of the Iron Age (c. 1200–586 B.C.E.)? They were Phoenicians. Essentially, the Phoenicians were the Canaanites who survived from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age and who were not supplanted by new people groups (Philistines, Israelites, etc.). However, even though their origins were Canaanite, the Phoenicians established their own distinct culture. There was, therefore, continuity in Sidon’s population from the Bronze to the Iron Age.
Biblical Sidon is perhaps most infamously known as the birthplace of the Phoenician princess Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31), who became queen of the Israelites during King Ahab’s reign in the ninth century B.C.E. (the Iron Age). In the Bible, Jezebel is notorious for persecuting the worship of Yahweh and for demanding that the Israelites worship Baal.
Sidon’s Phoenician Temple. Archaeologists at Sidon have uncovered a 12th–11th-century B.C.E. (Iron Age) temple. One of the rooms in this temple had a bench, where offerings would have been placed, and an altar made of piled and unhewn stones, which recalls the Biblical command to make altars of uncut stones (see Exodus 20:25). In another room was a round base that likely supported a wooden pillar. Photo: Courtesy of Claude Doumet-Serhal.
Given Jezebel’s religious fervor in the Bible, one would expect to find evidence of Baal worship at Sidon. Some extraordinary discoveries from recent excavations have allowed us to partially reconstruct Sidonian religion during the Bronze and Iron Ages—showing that Baal worship at the site had deep roots.
Sidon’s Storm God. Dated to c. 1750 B.C.E. (the Middle Bronze Age), this impressed handle depicts a ship and a leonine dragon, which is the symbol of the Mesopotamian storm god Adad. Adad roughly equates with the later Phoenician storm god Baal, the worship of whom is championed by the nefarious queen Jezebel in the Bible. Photo: Courtesy of Claude Doumet-Serhal.
Notably, an impressed handle found near a Canaanite grave at the site depicts Sidon’s storm god and a ship. Dated to c. 1750 B.C.E., the handle pictures the storm god as a leonine dragon. Usually the storm god is illustrated as a striding human figure, but sometimes he is represented by one of his symbols, such as the bull or leonine dragon. Doumet-Serhal explains the significance of the handle’s iconography:
The dragon epitomizes the most fundamental ancient mythical perception of the Mesopotamian storm god. The handle displays an impression of a ship with the leonine dragon Ušumgal, the storm god Adad’s attendant, next to it. Adad (the Canaanite Hadad, the Semitic Hadda, the Hurrian Teshub, the Egyptian Resheph, the Phoenician Baal/Bel, the Sumerian Ishkur) is the Mesopotamian storm god, who has special maritime, celestial and meteorological attributes important to the well-being of sailors. Given Sidon’s position on the coast, it is not surprising that the storm god is Sidon’s most important god.
Indeed, throughout its history, the most important god at Sidon was the storm god—known during the Phoenician period as Baal or Bel.
Learn more about Biblical Sidon and Sidonian religion in Claude Doumet-Serhal’s article “Sidon—Canaan’s Firstborn” in the July/August 2017 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
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This Bible History Daily Article was first published in 2017.
Related reading in Bible History Daily:
British Museum Excavations at Sidon Expose Millennia of History
=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/inscriptions/the-phoenician-alphabet-in-archaeology/
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What Tamils are you speaking of? Certainly not those of east Asia. The name is more likely derived from the god Baal. Note the name of her father, King of the Sidoneans and apparently (Josephus) a priest of Baal as well.
I would also challenge the suggestion in the text of the article that the location of “Lot’s cave” is known. While it is acceptable to say that it was in what is now Jordan, to point to a particular cave and say, “This is it.” is ridiculous. It’s is right up there with the thought that we know where Jesus was born, or that one can see a descendant of the original burning bush, etc..
Meaning of Jezebel: This word can be also pronounced as Isabel. Take the word ‘isabel’; it can be split as isa bel or as isai bel. Now the word ‘isai’, simply means ‘music’ in Tamil. The word ‘bel’ can be transformed into vel or val. Val is related to ‘valimai’ in Tamil. Valimai means strengh, or force or weight. So the word Jezebel finally means ‘one who is a good musician. The ancient Tamils had connections with the Syrians and Sidon. Sidon is the birth place of Jezabel. But Jezebel’s religion is not Jewish whereas the religion of the Tamils is more like that of the Jews. Even now some ancient Jews (white and black) live in Cochin, Kerala, India.
Now another presentation that the Phoenicians who are also connected with the Canaanites had traded with the trading mariners of Kerala, India. The proposition for the concept is as follows: The Latins called the Phoenicians as Poeni. The combined letters o and e is joined to pronounce the sound ‘ye’. So the word Poeni can be rewritten as Peyeni or as Payani or as Payan. In Tamil Nadu, the following words ‘payachi paarai’, Peyazhwar, payans, pai (meaning devil) are currently in use. This establishes the fact that the Cannanites (Phoenicians) has connections with the Tamil speaking ancient Kerala mariners.
The Macedonian Cleopatra planned to send her son to India through the Red Sea. This shows that the ‘Egyptian’ Cleopatra had maritime connections with the ancient Kerala Tamils. Anyway she changed her mind and sent his son to Libya etc
The above comment is by Prof. Abraham Joseph, M.Sc., M.Phil.; contact address: [email protected]
Alan, how said anything about John baptizing Jesus? Or about Yahweh?
Since you mentioned John baptizing Jesus…
For those who think the baptism of John (Yochanan) was something new under the sun… recall that he was a Levite as was his father Zechariah (Tsekharya). He was overseeing a tevilah (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual_washing_in_Judaism#Full-body_immersion_.28Tvilah.29) in a mikveh (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikveh). The Jordan River (Nahar ha-Yarden) qualified as a mikveh as its flowing “living waters” originated from a natural spring (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_River). This full-body immersion was required for converts (giyur) to the “sect” called The Way (HaDerech) in Acts — whether a Pharisaic/Saddusaic Jew or a Gentile proselyte (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_to_Judaism). The Septuagint (LXX) referred to the latter as a “stranger” [in the land].
Everything Joshua* (Yehoshu’a) did was in accordance with the TaNaKh, which is an acrostic for Torah (=Law/Instruction), Nevi’im (=Prophets), and Ketuvim (=Writings).
Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (NASB)
* “Jesus” is a transliteration of the Latin; it is NOT a translation! The Septuagint (LXX) rendered Joshua, the son of Nun, in Greek as ‘Iesous; the same was used for Christ’s name in the NT. In Hebrew, it is rendered Yehoshu’a, and in Aramaic, Yeshua. Reuben Alcalay, a famous Hebrew lexicographer, stated that Yehoshu’a is closely related to “Let there be…” So, let’s be intellectually honest and start using the proper English translation: Joshua. I know the firstborn of Creation through and for Him everything was made would appreciate it!
Can we stop with the Yahweh pronunciation once and for all? The Tetragrammaton should be rendered as Yahoah, with the “vav” being pronounced as the “o” in Torah, menorah, Eloah (singular form of Elohim), and Yehoshu’a (=Joshua, Christ’s REAL name). A DSS fragment has it spelled ‘Iaw in Greek (iota-alpha-omega), which is consistent with Yahoah; see ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/lxxjewpap/4QLevB.jpg. I appreciate your consideration, and I’m sure the Most High does as well!
The Masoretic text has the 4 letters YHWH with a sheva under the ‘Y’, pronounced ‘yuh’, and a Qamats below the ‘W’, i.e. a little T-shaped mark that stands for the long-A vowel (like ‘a’ in ‘father’). Thus, IF one is to pronounce the Tetragrammaton according to the masoretic vowel-markings, then it should probably be pronounced something like yuh-WAH or yuh-HWAH. Jews nowadays say “Ha-Shem” [i.e. “The Name”] instead of prouncing the YHWH word — even though the Masoretes added the sheva below the ‘Y’ and the Qamats below the ‘W’. I prefer transliterating the sheva with [*] rather than any other English vowel letter, so I prefer Y*HWaH to YuHWaH or to YaHWeH, for that matter.
JezaBel can be respelLt as JezaVel ~ JezaVAl ~ IezaVAL ~ Isaval-lavi ~ an expert in music. Isai is music in Tamil and Vallavi means an expert. Tamil is connected with the Phoenician. Sidon was well connected by trade by the traders of the Pandya kingdom of Tamil Nadu. Silapadikaram, a Tamil Classic, mentions more than 200 musical instruments.
you didn’t even mention her horrible daughter Athaliah, the only killer queen
that the southern kingdom of Judah ever had ….just like her momma.