\paperw4890 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \qr \f1 \fs22 The city of Sidon is set on a small promontory studded with a series of little islands. It has two modest watercou
rses and appears to have been inhabited since the fourth millennium. As far as the structure of the settlement in the Phoenician era is concerned, we know that the \b \cf1 \ATXht1 acropolis\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 was set on the promontory that is now occupied
by a castle. There was probably an official Assyrian residence in Sidon, while it is certain that the city was the seat of a Persian governor who had an important palace built there. On the outskirts of Sidon there was an industrial district reserved for
the dying of textiles. The importance of this activity to the city's economy is testified by the fact that the pile of shells used in the dying process reached a height of 40 meters.\par
