Twenty kilometers south
of Sidon you reach the town of Adlun, the southernmost city of Sidonian
territory. The modern place name Adlun derives from the Latin toponym,
Mutatio ad Nonum, mentioned in the Bordeaux Itinerary and said to
be located 18 kilometers north of Tyre.
Like Sarafand, the ancient settlement lies under the ruins of Tell
Ras Abu Zayd on the seashore, while the modern village is built
on the neighboring hills.
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| The ancient name of
Adlun remains a debated question. It may be the Marubbu of the annals
of Esarhaddon and this name survives in the modern toponym of near-by
al Maarib. In the classical period, the site was called Ornithonpolis.
The Prehistoric Caves of Adlun.
Adlun is one of the most famous prehistoric sites of Lebanon.
A rock shelter, a deposit, as well as two caves were identified
in Adlun as early as the 19th century.
The excavation of one of the caves, the so-called Mgharet al Bzez,
yielded remains of human occupation from the Palaeolithic down
to the Neolithic period. The cave entrance is now closed with
an iron gate to protect it and is not open to the public.
A second cave yielded remains of the Chalcolithic period. On the
terraces overlooking the caves and the modern village, a Neolithic
and Chalcolithic settlement was found.
The Necropolis of Adlun
All western travellers have mentioned the large number of rock-cut
tombs on the hills opposite the seashore. It is unfortunate that
these cemeteries have never been properly excavated and not even
systematically surveyed.
Most of them were robbed in antiquity. The tombs date to the first
millennium B.C., from the Iron Age to the late Roman-Byzantine
period. The oldest tombs have a shaft while the later ones are
simple rock cavities and share the same plan: an entrance, a door
leading to a square funerary chamber with loculi on three of its
walls.
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South Lebanon:
