Zidon

2 definitions found

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Zidon
     a fishery, a town on the Mediterranean coast, about 25 miles
     north of Tyre. It received its name from the "first-born" of
     Canaan, the grandson of Noah (Gen. 10:15, 19). It was the first
     home of the Phoenicians on the coast of Palestine, and from its
     extensive commercial relations became a "great" city (Josh.


     11:8; 19:28). It was the mother city of Tyre. It lay within the
     lot of the tribe of Asher, but was never subdued (Judg. 1:31).
     The Zidonians long oppressed Israel (Judg. 10:12). From the time
     of David its glory began to wane, and Tyre, its "virgin
     daughter" (Isa. 23:12), rose to its place of pre-eminence.
     Solomon entered into a matrimonial alliance with the Zidonians,
     and thus their form of idolatrous worship found a place in the
     land of Israel (1 Kings 11:1, 33). This city was famous for its
     manufactures and arts, as well as for its commerce (1 Kings 5:6;
     1 Chr. 22:4; Ezek. 27:8). It is frequently referred to by the
     prophets (Isa. 23:2, 4, 12; Jer. 25:22; 27:3; 47:4; Ezek. 27:8;
     28:21, 22; 32:30; Joel 3:4). Our Lord visited the "coasts" of
     Tyre and Zidon = Sidon (q.v.), Matt. 15:21; Mark 7:24; Luke
     4:26; and from this region many came forth to hear him preaching
     (Mark 3:8; Luke 6:17). From Sidon, at which the ship put in
     after leaving Caesarea, Paul finally sailed for Rome (Acts 27:3,
     4).
     
       This city is now a town of 10,000 inhabitants, with remains of
     walls built in the twelfth century A.D. In 1855, the sarcophagus
     of Eshmanezer was discovered. From a Phoenician inscription on
     its lid, it appears that he was a "king of the Sidonians,"
     probably in the third century B.C., and that his mother was a
     priestess of Ashtoreth, "the goddess of the Sidonians." In this
     inscription Baal is mentioned as the chief god of the Sidonians.
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Zidon, hunting; fishing; venison