7th century in Lebanon Key event(s): Chronology: This article lists historical events that occurred between 601–700 in modern-day Lebanon or regarding its people.
Administration Jewish expedition to Tyre According to Eutychius, under the reign of Heraclius, the Jews launched an expedition against Tyre. Bands of Jews from Jerusalem, Tiberias, Galilee, Damascus, and even from Cyprus, united and undertook an incursion against Tyre, having been invited by the 4,000 Jewish inhabitants of that city to surprise and massacre the Christians on Easter night. The Jewish army is said to have consisted of 20,000 men. The expedition, however, miscarried, as the Christians of Tyre learned of the impending danger, and seized the 4,000 Tyrian Jews as hostages. The Jewish invaders destroyed the churches around Tyre, an act which the Christians avenged by killing two thousand of their Jewish prisoners. The besiegers, to save the remaining prisoners, withdrew, having had to suffer the humiliation of watching the heads of the Jewish captives as they were thrown over the walls.
Byzantine-Sassanian War and its aftermath
During the frequent Roman–Persian Wars that lasted for many centuries, the Sassanid Persians occupied what is now Lebanon from 619 to 629. Shortly after the Byzantine victory in the war and the recovery of the region, it was again lost, this time permanently, to the Muslim conquests: by the 640s, the Muslim Arabs conquered Syria soon after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, establishing a new regime to replace the Romans. The Maronite community clung to its religion and managed to maintain a large degree of autonomy despite the succession of rulers over the Levant.Giftopoulou, Sofia (2005). "Diocese of Oriens (Byzantium)". Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor. Foundation of the Hellenic World. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
Islamic rule
The conquest of Lebanon during the Arab and Islamic conquests was linked to the conquest of Bilād Al-Shām as a whole, or what is known as the Levant, being an integral part of it, the Arab Muslims swiftly took it from the Byzantine Empire during the era of Caliph Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, who ordered the division of the Levant when he conquered it, into four Ajnād, including the Jund Dimashq which includes Mount Lebanon with its corresponding western coastal plains and the eastern interior plains.قال صاحب معجم البلدان 1/38; «وأما الجند فيجيء في قولهم: جند قنسرين، وجند فلسطين، وجند حمص، وجند دمشق، وجند الأردن. فهي خمسة أجناد، وكلها بالشام. ولم يبلغني أنهم استعملوا ذلك في غير أرض الشام Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan was at the forefront of the Islamic army, which headed to LebanonThe History of Baalbek, Hassan Abbas Nasrallah, first edition, volume 1, p. 80 and 81. with Yazid's half-brother, Muawiyah. He marched to Sidon, Beirut, and Jbeil, while Khalid bin Al-Walid entered the Bekaa region reaching Baalbek.تاريخ بعلبك، نصر الله، مؤسسة الوفاء، طبعة أولى، مجلد1، ص 96 و 97تاريخ بعلبك، نصر الله، مؤسسة الوفاء، طبعة أولى، مجلد1، ص 98
As for Tripoli, it was conquered for the first time in a separate conquest by the commander Yūqannā in the year 18 AH (639/640 AD),الواقدي، فتوح الشام، ما بعد ص 419. then the Byzantine Empire reoccupied some of its coast at the end of the Caliphate of Umar Ibn Al-Khattab or the beginning of the caliphate of Uthman Ibn Affan. When Uthman appointed Muawiyah over the Levant, Muawiyah sent Sufyan bin Mujib al-Azdi to Tripoli to restore it, and it was three cities combined, so he built in Al-Marj ("the meadow"), miles from it, a fortress called "Sufyan's fort", and he used to stay in his fortress every night and fortify the Muslims there, then go to the enemy in the morning. He besieged Tripoli and cut off the supply of its people from the sea and land. Ibn Asaker adds in his "History of Damascus" details that confirm the story, which he transmitted with his chain of transmission on the authority of Abu Muti' Mu'awiyah bin Yahya al-Tarabulsi (died after 170 AH, 786/787 AD) on the authority of a Sheikh from Tripoli that Sufyan bin Mujib camped with his great army in Marj al-Silsilah (Beddawi), which is five miles from Tripoli. At the origin of Mount Terbol, he used to walk to Tripoli to besiege it and then return to his camp in Al-Beddawi, and he continued on that for months until Muawiyah wrote to him ordering him to build for him and his companions a fortress that would shelter him by night and besiege them by day. As a result, Sufyan built a fortress two miles from Tripoli, which is called "Sufyan's Fort."
On the basis of this historical text of Abu Al-Muti' al-Tarabulsi, the historian Omar Tadmouri said that the Sufyan fortress is now located at the now-known Tripoli Citadel. The castle is two miles away from old Tripoli (El Mina), or 3200 meters.عمر تدمري، الصحابة في لبنان، ص 60. When the siege intensified upon them, they gathered in one of the city's fortresses and wrote to the Roman Emperor Constans II asking him to supply them or to send them boats to escape to. Subsequently, the emperor sent numerous boats to them, so they boarded them at night and fled. When Sufyan became aware, he found the fortress in which they were empty, so he entered it, and wrote the news of the conquest to Muawiyah. Then Abd al-Malik re-built it afterwards and fortified it (in modern El Mina).البلاذُري، فتوح البلدان، من ص126 إلى 128، مكتبة مشكاة الإسلامية.
However, with the exodus of the Islamic Arab tribes to the coastal areas and the border areas within the framework of the conquest, the Christians of Lebanon began to gather in the fortified mountainous areas along the coast. Subsequently, from time to time, they used to communicate with the Byzantines, who took a spearhead from them to attack the Muslims since the days of the Umayyad Caliph Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan, taking advantage of his preoccupation with the events that accompanied his disagreement with Ali bin Abi Talib. The christian anti-islamic rebellion reached its climax during the reign of Abdul Malik bin Marwan during the events that culminated in the Hijaz and Iraq against the background of the revolution launched by Abdullah bin Al-Zubayr, So Abd al-Malik had to stop resisting the Mardaites and had to pay their leaders tributes in the form of dinars.السيد محسن الامين : خطط جبل عامل ، ص 65-66الموارنة وروما
Lebanese towns and cities
Other principal towns and cities of the Jund Dimashq were Beirut, Sidon, Tyre (the tax proceeds of which went to Jund al-Urdunn), Tripoli and Byblos along the coast. The coastal cities and their immediate surroundings formed their own small districts.
As of the administrative system approved by the Caliphate for the city of Tripoli, the Umayyads adopted an administrative system for the Lebanese cities which stipulates the presence of a governor for each city, and these governors were directly subordinate to the caliph in Damascus. However, the coastal cities such as Tripoli, Beirut and Tyre enjoyed the presence of a city 'āmil (administrator) and an amīr for the sea.عمر تدمري، لبنان من الفتح الإسلامي حتى سقوط الدولة الأموية، ص 218، طرابلس، جروس برس، ط1/1410هـ - 1990م.
Events 600s
Start of the Byzantine-Sasanian war in 602 AD. The Patriarch of Antioch, Anastasius II is martyred in 609, leaving the Maronites without a leader. With the ongoing Byzantine–Sasanian War and general unrest in the area, Constantinople began to appoint a series of titular patriarchs; which leads to the appointment of the first Maronite Patriarch.El-Hāyek, Elias. "Struggle for Survival: The Maronites of the Middle Ages", Conversion and Continuity, (Michael Gervers and Ramzi Jibran Bikhazi, eds.), Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1990J. D. Frendo, "Who killed Anastasius II?" Jewish Quarterly Review vol. 72 (1982), 202-4
610s The Jews of Tyre launch a Jewish revolt against Heraclius, 610 AD. Beginning of the Sassanid occupation of Lebanon, 619 AD.
620s The Byzantine–Sassanian Wars end in 628 AD. The Emperor Heraclius personally visits the monastery of Deir Maroun in 628, prior to his proclamation of his Monothelitism. End of the Sassanid occupation of Lebanon, 629.
630s
Caliph Abu Bakr introduces Islam to the area around Lebanon, from 632 to 634 AD. Baalbek sends two thousand soldiers to support Huwwarin when Khalid Ibn Al-Walid attacked it in the year 13 AH / 634 AD.تاريخ بعلبك، حسن عباس نصر الله، طبعة أولى، مجلد 1، ص 80 و 81. In 634 AD, soon after the appointment of Abu-Ubaidah as commander in chief of the Rashidun army, he sends a small detachment to the annual fair held at Abu-al-Quds, modern day Ablah, near Zahlé 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of Beirut. Beirut passes into Arab control in 635 AD.Britannica 1910 Khalid walks to Baalbek on the Zabadani road. At the same time, Heraclius sends to the army of Baalbek ordering it to march to Bisan to support the Byzantines there. When Khalid approached the outskirts of Baalbek, he learned that the Roman army had left the city, so he took with him the sheep and cows that he found on his way and returned to Abu Ubaidah, who lives in front of the walls of Damascus. Khalid did not enter Baalbek nor did he besiege it. This was done in the month of Dhul-Qi'dah, 13 AH, January 635 AD.تاريخ بعلبك، نصر الله، مؤسسة الوفاء، طبعة أولى، مجلد1، صفحة 81: 83 After the Battle of Yarmouk, Caliph Umar appoints Muawiyah I, founder of the Umayyad dynasty, as ruler of Jund Dimashq, an area that included Lebanon at that time, 636 AD. In 639, Tripoli is finally invaded by the Rashidun Caliphate.
640s In the late 640s, the Rashidun caliph's governor Muawiyah, launches his naval invasions of Cyprus from Tyre.
650s In June 659, the bishops of the Jacobites — Theodore and Sabukht — comes to Damascus and holds an inquiry into the Faith with the Maronites in the presence of Mu'awiya.Maronite Chronicle
660s Shabib bin Amer, the pro-Alid governor of Upper Mesopotamia, reaches Baalbek with his anti-Umayyad attacks in the year 39 AH - 660 AD. the Hasan–Muawiya treaty is signed in 661 CE, which leads to the spread of Shi'ism among segments of the local populations living among them in Jabal Amel, Beqaa valley, Tyre and Tripoli, The Maronite Chronicle, an anonymous annalistic chronicle in the Syriac language, is completed shortly after 664. The Maronite belief is defined in the year 667 AD as the existence of two natures in Christ, with him having one will for the two natures to meet in one hypostasis. Muawiyah negotiates an agreement with Constantine IV, the Byzantine emperor, agreeing to pay an annual tribute to Constantine in exchange for stopping the Mardaite massacres and raids of the muslim inhabitants, 667 AD.
670s Greek fire proper, is developed in and is ascribed by the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor to Kallinikos (Latinized Callinicus), an architect from Heliopolis (Baalbek) in the former province of Phoenice, by then overrun by the Muslim conquests. According to Theophanes the confessor: "In this year [676 or 677 CE], the Mardaites penetrated into the range of Lebanon and made themselves masters of the Black Mountain up to the holy city and seized the heights of Lebanon. Many slaves, captives and natives fled to their homes, so that in a short time there were many thousands. When Mauias [Muawiya] and his advisers heard of this, they were very afraid..."Chronographie of Theophanes the Confessor
680s
John Maron gets elected as the first Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East in 685 with the approval of Pope Sergius I.