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Ancient Prehistory Canaan/Phoenicia (2500–333 BC) Egyptian rule (1550–1077 BC) Hittite rule (1600–1178 BC) Assyrian rule (883–605 BC) Babylonian rule (605–538 BC) Persian rule (538–332 BC)
Classical Hellenistic rule (332–64 BC) Roman rule (64 BC–646 AD) Sassanid interlude (610s–628 AD)
Medieval Rashidun Caliphate (636–661) Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) Tulunids (868–905) Hamdanid dynasty (890–1004) Fatimid Caliphate (909–1171) Ikhshidid dynasty (935–969) Mirdasid dynasty (1024–1080) Seljuk Empire (1037–1194) County of Tripoli (1099–1291) Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099–1291) Zengid dynasty (1127–1250) Mamluk Sultanate (1291–1515) Assafs (1306–1591) Ma'anids (1490–1697) Harfushids (1493–1860)
Colonial Ottoman rule (1516–1918) Emirate of Mount Lebanon (1516–1840) Tripoli Eyalet (1579–1864) Sidon Eyalet (1660–1864) Shihabs (1697–1842) El Assaad Family (1749–1957) Double Qaim-Maqamate of Mount Lebanon (1843-1861) Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate (1861–1918) Beirut Vilayet (1888–1917) Allied administration (1918–1920) French rule (1920–1943)
Republic of Lebanon 1958 Lebanon crisis Chehabist era Palestinian insurgency Lebanese Civil War (Aftermath) Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon Syrian occupation of Lebanon 2005 Lebanon bombings Cedar Revolution 2006 July War 2006–08 political protests 2007 North Lebanon conflict 2008 conflict in Lebanon Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon Lebanese presidential crisis Maritime boundary dispute Liquidity crisis (Reaction) 2020 Beirut explosion
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The Persian Empire, including modern Lebanon, eventually fell to Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia. He attacked Asia Minor, defeated the Persian troops in 333 BC, and advanced toward the Lebanese coast. Initially the Phoenician cities made no attempt to resist, and they recognized his suzerainty. However, when Alexander tried to offer a sacrifice to Melqart, Tyre's god, the city resisted. Alexander besieged Tyre in retaliation in early 332 BC. After seven months of resistance, the city fell, and its people were sold into slavery (See Siege of Tyre (332 BC)). Despite his early death in 323 BC, Alexander's conquest of the eastern Mediterranean Basin left a Greek imprint on the area. The Phoenicians, being a cosmopolitan people amenable to outside influences, adopted aspects of Greek civilization with ease.

The Seleucid Dynasty

After Alexander's death, his empire was divided among his Macedonian generals. The eastern part—Phoenicia, Asia Minor, northern Syria, and Mesopotamia fell to Seleucus I, founder of the Seleucid dynasty. The southern part of Syria and Egypt fell to Ptolemy I Soter, and the European part, including Macedonia, to Antigonus I. This settlement, however, failed to bring peace because Seleucus I and Ptolemy clashed repeatedly in the course of their ambitious efforts to share in Phoenician prosperity. A final victory of the Seleucids ended a forty-year period of conflict.

The last century of Seleucid rule was marked by disorder and dynastic struggles. These ended in 64 BC, when the Roman general Pompey added Syria and Lebanon to the Roman Empire.

Hellenistic writers from Seleucid and Roman Phoenicia

• Antipater of Sidon, poet
• Boethus of Sidon, Stoic philosopher
• Zeno of Sidon, philosopher
• Boethus of Sidon, philosopher
• Dorotheus of Sidon, astrologer
• Meges of Sidon, physician
• Porphyry of Tyre, philosopher
• Maximus of Tyre, rhetorician
• Marinus of Tyre, geographer