Jieh
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Jieh الجية Jiyyah |
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|---|---|
| City | |
Jieh coastline
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 Jieh
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| Coordinates: 33°39′56.51″N 35°25′36.46″E / 33.6656972°N 35.4267944°ECoordinates: 33°39′56.51″N 35°25′36.46″E / 33.6656972°N 35.4267944°E | |
| Country |
 Lebanon
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| Governorate | Mount Lebanon |
| District | Chouf |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Georges Nader El-Azzi |
| Elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
| Dialing code | +961 |
Jieh (or Jiyé, Jiyeh, الجية) is a seaside town in Lebanon with an estimated population of 5000, 23 km south of Beirut, in the Chouf district via a 20-minute drive along the Beirut to Sidon highway south of the capital. In Phoenician times it was known as Porphyreon and was a thriving natural seaport, which still functions today. The town is also known for its seven kilometre sandy beach, a rarity along Lebanon's mainly rocky coastline.
The Hebrew prophet Jonah was said to have landed on its shores when he was spat out of the giant fish described in the Old Testament, and a temple was built which stands until today. Many invaders passed through Porphyreon such as Tohomtmos the Egyptian who landed his soldiers on its natural seaport in order to fight the North. Alexander the Great relaxed on its shore preparing for the attack on Tyre. St Peter and St Paul also walked through Jieh several times.
In modern times Jieh took some of the harshest blows of the Lebanese Civil War that raged from 1975-1990. Being a coastal town made it vulnerable to the countless numbers of Palestine Liberation Organization raids on the area, as well as Israeli army invasions during the 1980s, but the worst being on January 20, 1976. Jieh is being rebuilt, albeit at a slower pace than the nearby capital city of Beirut.
The town houses some of Lebanon's finest archaeological ruins, some of them buried under modern buildings, others waiting to be dug up by excavators, and others having already been removed and placed in museums. Mosaics depicting the story of the Prophet Jonah and the giant fish in the Old Testament have been found in churches dug from underground over time. Examples of these are the grand floor mosaics from the Byzantine Empire period which were so big that trucks were needed to transport them to museums as was the case with the fine collection owned by Walid Jumblatt, a local politician, which are on display at his Beiteddine museum. Jieh has recently been the scene of accidental excavations of a Byzantine era Christian church and surrounding tombs which had been buried underground for centuries. Nothing is being done to protect them at the moment due to political hearings on the matters of the people versus the government - sec. landlords rights to preserve historical artifacts found on said property with vialble direct ancestry value and or documentation. The people versus the government - sec. landlords rights to preserve historical artifacts found on said property which directly pertain to all local populous religious beliefs, practices, and or scriptures or text. All which fall under the world preservation of historical and archaeological acts of 1971.
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