Sidone e il suo territorio in età persiana. Epigrafia e archeologia

Urban planning in Sidon during the Persian period and the tireless activities of the "roi batisseures", are well documented by epigraphic (royal inscriptions, some of which have been edited only recently), and literary sources (from Assyrian annals to classical sources) as well as by archaeological evidence (from new excavations in the city centre to the survey in the Awali region). The joint analysis of these different sources testifies the importance of the extraurban area during the Persian period. In fact, the area surrounding the ancient urban nucleus, which had been used since remote times as agricultural land and as a burial area, acquired a primary role for the planning of the urban system under the Sidonian dynasty, becoming a focal point in the citizens' public life. In fact, the construction both of and aqueduct and of the temple of the god Eshmun (the most important place of cult of the city) by the river Awali (ancient Bostrenus), evidences the enhancement of this area, wich hade become an an integral element of the urban centre since the sixth century B.C., as a site of religious activity as well as public work, both celebrated in monumental inscriptions.