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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, and the European part, including Macedonia, to
Antigonus IThis 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. Disorder
and dynastic struggles marked the last century of Seleucid rule
which ended in 64 BC, when the Roman general Pompey added Syria
and Lebanon to the Roman Empire. Economic and intellectual activities
flourished in Lebanon during the Pax Romana. The inhabitants of
the principal Phoenician cities of Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre were
granted Roman citizenship. These cities were centers of the pottery,
glass, and purple dye industries; their harbor also served as
warehouses for products imported from Syria, Persia, and India.
They exported cedar, perfume, jewelry, wine, and fruit to Rome.
Economic prosperity led to a revival in construction and urban
development; temples and palaces were built throughout the country,
as well as paved roads that linked the cities. Upon the death
of Theodosius I in AD 395, the empire was divided in two: the
eastern or Byzantine part with its capital in Constantinople,
and the western part with its capital in Rome. Under the Byzantine
Empire, intellectual and economic activities in Beirut, Tyre,
and Sidon continued to flourish for more than a century. However,
in the 6th century a series of earthquakes demolished the temples
of Baalbeck and destroyed the city of Beirut, leveling its famous
law school and killing nearly 30,000 inhabitants. To these natural
disasters were added the abuses and corruption prevailing in the
empire at that time. Heavy tributes and religious dissension produced
disorder and confusion. Furthermore, the ecumenical councils of
the fifth and sixth centuries AD were unsuccessful in settling
religious disagreements. This turbulent period weakened the empire
rendering it easy prey to the newly converted Muslim Arabs of
the Arabian Peninsula.
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