Berytus (Beirut)

Lebanon

Berytus is modern Beirut, the capital and largest city of Lebanon. Named as Biruta in the 14th-century BCE Amarna letters, it became a Roman colony in 14 BCE and was famed for its school of Roman law, one of the empire's three official law schools under Justinian, until an earthquake in 551 forced the students to Sidon. The hymnographer Romanos the Melodist was ordained deacon there before moving to Constantinople. Taken by Muslim forces in 635 and held by the Crusaders, with a break in 1187-97, from 1110 to 1291, the city later came under Ottoman and then French rule. It has large Christian communities and had a Jewish community, centred on Wadi Abu Jamil, that numbered 9,000 in 1948 before dwindling.

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