Batroun
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Batroun (البترون) | |
| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country |  Lebanon |
| Governorate | North Governorate |
| District | Batroun District |
The coastal city of Batroun (Arabic: البترون) located in northern Lebanon is one of the oldest cities of the world. The name Batroun derives from the Greek, Botrys (also spelled Bothrys), which was later Latinized to Botrus.
Contents |
[edit] Tourism
Batroun is a major tourist destination in North Lebanon. The town boasts tens of historic churches, both Catholic and Greek Orthodox. The town is also a major beach resort with a vibrant nightlife. Citrus groves surround Batroun, and the town has been famous, from the early twentieth century, for its fresh lemonade, which is sold by all cafés and restaurants on its main street.
[edit] Demography
The people of Batroun are Lebanese and followers of the Maronite Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches. Batroun is a Roman Catholic (Latin rite) Titular See[1][2]
[edit] History
Batroun was mentioned by the ancient geographers Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy, Stephanus Byzantius, and Hierocles. Theophanes called the city "Bostrys."[3]
The Phoenicians founded Batroun on the southern side of the promontory called in Antiquity, Theoprosopon and during the Byzantine Empire, Cape Lithoprosopon. Batroun is said to have been founded by Ithobaal I (Ethbaal), king of Tyre, whose daughter Jezabel (897-866 B.C.) married Ahab.[4]
The city belonged under Roman rule to Phoenicia Prima province, and later after the region was Christianized became a suffragan of the Patriarchate of Antioch.
In 551, Batroun was destroyed by an earthquake, which also caused mudslides and made the Cape Lithoprosopon crack.[5] Historians believe that Batroun's large natural harbor was formed during the earthquake.[6]
Three Greek Orthodox bishops are known to have come from Batroun: Porphyrius in 451, Elias about 512 and Stephen in 553 (Lequien, II, 827). According to a Greek "Notitia episcopatuum", the Greek Orthodox See has existed in Batroun since the tenth century when the city was then called Petrounion. After the Muslim invasion of the region, the name was arabicized to Batroun.
One of Batroun's medieval archaeological sites is the Crusader citadel of Mousaylaha which is constructed on an isolated massive rock with steep sides protruding in the middle of a plain surrounded by mountains.[7]
Under Ottoman rule, Batroun was the centre of a caza in the mutessariflik of Lebanon and the seat of a Maronite diocese, suffragan to the Maronite patriarchate. Since 1999 it has been the seat of the Maronite eparchy.[8]
[edit] Famous People from Batroun
- Butros Harb, Parliament Member
- Farid Mkari, Vice President of Parliament
- Joseph Attieh, Singer and Star Academy winner
- Joeseph Assaf, Australian businessman and goverment advisor for ethnic affairs, from Hardine- Batroun
- John Abi Zaid, American commander of US army in the middle east, From Douma-Batroun
[edit] References
- ^ Bothrys - Catholic Encyclopedia article
- ^ Botrys (Titular See) - from catholic-hierarchy.org]
- ^ Malalas, Chronogr., XVIII, in P.G., XCVII, 543, cited in Bothrys - Catholic Encyclopedia article
- ^ (Menander, in Josephus, Ant, VIII, xiii, 2), cited in Bothrys - Catholic Encyclopedia article
- ^ Malalas, Chronogr., XVIII, in P.G., XCVII, 704 , cited in Bothrys - Catholic Encyclopedia article
- ^ http://www.earth-prints.org/bitstream/2122/908/1/01Sbeinati.pdf
- ^ Batroun.com - Batroun Official Website
- ^ Eparchy of Batrun (Maronite) - from catholic-hierarchy.org
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
[edit] External links
 |
This Lebanon location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
| Find more information on Batroun by searching Wikipedia's sister projects | |
|---|---|
 |
Dictionary definitions from Wiktionary |
 |
Textbooks from Wikibooks |
 |
Quotations from Wikiquote |
 |
Source texts from Wikisource |
 |
Images and media from Commons |
 |
News stories from Wikinews |
 |
Learning resources from Wikiversity |
