The Institut du Monde arabe in Paris opened an exhibition on March 24 titled *Byblos, cité millénaire du Liban*, focusing on the archaeological heritage of the ancient city of Byblos, located on the coast of modern-day Lebanon. Scheduled to run until August 23, the exhibition aims to highlight the rich history of Byblos, one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the Levant, reflecting millennia of cultural and commercial exchanges in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Organized in partnership with Lebanon’s Ministry of Culture and the Direction générale des antiquités du Liban, the exhibit combines artifacts from European and Lebanese collections, including loans from the Verdierasiatchess Museum in Berlin, the Louvre Museum in Paris, and public collections in Byblos and Beirut. However, some key Lebanese items remain delayed due to ongoing conflict in Lebanon, with gaps in the exhibition left as placeholders until these artifacts can be safely transported, underscoring the challenges faced by cultural preservation amid geopolitical instability.

Byblos, known locally as Jbeil and situated about 40 kilometers north of Beirut, has been inhabited since the Neolithic era, with its archaeological site dating back to the 6th millennium BCE. The exhibition primarily covers the Bronze Age period from approximately 2500 to 1200 BCE, corresponding with ancient Egyptian chronologies spanning from the First Intermediate Period through the Middle and New Kingdoms.

While Byblos later rose to prominence during the Phoenician era, influencing Mediterranean history through maritime trade and cultural diffusion, this exhibition focuses on its earlier phases, revealing its longstanding role as a commercial hub. The city was a crucial source of prized cedar wood, essential to ancient Egyptian shipbuilding and construction. Exhibits include a model of an Old Kingdom Egyptian solar boat, which exemplifies the significance of cedar imports, as well as around two dozen anchor stones reflecting Byblos’s maritime heritage.

Artifacts on display reveal Byblos’s extensive trade and cultural links with Egypt, including correspondence from the Amarna Letters—clay tablets dating from 1360 to 1340 BCE that were sent by Rib-Hadda, king of Byblos, to Egyptian pharaohs. One letter, now held in Berlin, recounts delays in delivering cedar wood shipments due to Hittite hostilities. Other items include Egyptian-influenced jewelry, bronze figures, scarabs likely exchanged as diplomatic gifts, and a bust of Pharaoh Osorkon I with Phoenician overwriting, loaned by the Louvre.

Another highlight is the sarcophagus of Ahiram, discovered in Byblos’s royal necropolis in 1922, which features one of the earliest known Phoenician inscriptions. This script, composed of 22 alphabetic characters, significantly influenced the development of the Greek alphabet and, by extension, Latin script, thereby shaping Western literary traditions. The exhibition traces the diffusion of the Phoenician alphabet and its impact on subsequent civilizations.

The final section of the exhibition explores Byblos during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods, after Alexander the Great’s conquests and the establishment of the Seleucid Empire. The Roman integration of the region is illustrated through a 2nd-century CE mosaic panel depicting the myth of Europa’s abduction by Zeus, underscoring the historical linkages between Phoenician culture and European civilization.

Overall, the exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of Byblos’s pivotal role in ancient Mediterranean history, emphasizing both its archaeological significance and contemporary cultural resonance amid ongoing challenges in Lebanon.