5th century in Lebanon

This article is about the particular significance of the century 401–500 to Lebanon and its people.

5th century in Lebanon

Key event(s):

Christianization of Lebanon

Chronology:

← 4th century 5th century 6th century →

Administration

Map of the Diocese of the East with its provinces, as recorded in the Notitia Dignitatum, c. 400

Constantine's province of Augusta Libanensis was short-lived, but formed the basis of the re-division of Phoenice c. 400 into the Phoenice I or Phoenice Paralia (Greek: Φοινίκη Παραλία, "coastal Phoenice"), and Phoenice II or Phoenice Libanensis (Φοινίκη Λιβανησία), with Tyre and Emesa as their respective capitals. In the Notitia Dignitatum, written shortly after the division, Phoenice I is governed by a consularis, while Libanensis is governed by a praeses, with both provinces under the Diocese of the East.

Events

400s

5th century bull mosaic in the Beiteddine palace.

• Around the year 400, Rabbula, the future bishop of Edessa, attempts to have himself martyred by interrupting and disrupting the pagans of Baalbek but he was only thrown down the temple stairs along with his companion.
• A village featuring a luxurious building with Roman thermal baths and two large winepresses is established in the modern region of Zaarour. (approximate date)

410s

Icon of Maron

• The Christianization of Lebanon begins. The followers of Maron (a Syriac Christian hermit monk who practiced his religion in the Taurus Mountains) put a foundation to the religious Christian movement after his death that became known as the Syriac Maronite Church, in full communion with the Holy See and the Catholic Church. The peoples who belong to the religious community which developed from this movement are the modern Maronites.

420s

Roman ruins of Berytus, in front of Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in modern-day Beirut.

The school's exact location is uncertain, but it is thought to have lain just north of Nejmeh Square (pictured), next to the Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral.

• By the 5th century, the law school of Berytus had established its leading position and repute among the Empire's law schools; its teachers were highly regarded and played a chief role in the development of legal learning in the East to the point that they were dubbed “ecumenical masters”. From 425, the law school of Constantinople becomes a rival center of law study.

430s

• Cyrus, bishop of Tyre (?–431), deposed at the Council of Ephesus as a supporter of Nestorius.
• Berenicianus ordained as successor of Cyrus as the bishop of Tyre. (431–?)

440s

From Al Bass, dated 440: "possibly the oldest fresco of the Virgin Mary worldwide." (National Museum, Beirut)

• In 440, Anatolius (Greek: Ανατόλιος, fl. 421 – 451) a diplomat and general of the Eastern Roman Empire and Consul directs some works at the Heliopolis of Phoenicia.
• In the summer of 2017 a Greek inscription, five-metres long, naming Irenaeus as bishop of Tyre, was found west of the Sea of Galilee, in an excavation co-directed by historian Jacob Ashkenazi and archaeologist Mordechai Aviam. Since the inscription provides the date of the church's completion as 445, it gives credence to a date as early as 444 CE for his ordination.

450s

• in 450 AD Berytus obtains from Theodosius II the title of metropolis, with jurisdiction over six sees taken from Tyre.
• In 451 AD, the Maronites follow the Council of Chalcedon, reject miaphysitisim and maintain full communion with the then united Orthodox Catholic Church.

View of the Qalaat al-Madiq fortress, 2010

• In 451 AD, it's decided in the Council of Chalcedon to restore the jurisdiction of the six sees Berytus obtained, back to Tyre, leaving, however, to Berytus its rank of metropolis. Thus, from 451 AD Berytus is an exempt metropolis which depends directly on the Patriarch of Antioch.
• In 452, after the Council of Chalcedon, the Maronite Beth-Maron monastery at Apamea (present day Qalaat al-Madiq) get expanded by the Byzantine emperor Marcian.

460s

Limestime statue base with ancient Greek inscription mentioning Patricius, a well known jurist who taught in the law school of Berytus. The base was unearthed in 1906 in Beirut. Has disappeared since 1925.

• Euxenius becomes professor at the school of law at berytus in May–June 460.

470s

• A mosaic from Upper Galilee, then part of Phoenice Paralios (Maritima), is completed on 16 April 478 in the celebration of the visit of Longinus, the archbishop of Tyre and several other ecclesiastical figures on the first Sunday after Easter.
• John II Codonatus, archbishop of Tyre, becomes patriarch of Antioch (477).

480s

5th century mosaic of the Goddess Ktisis from the Beiteddine Palace.

• The Metropolitan of Tyre establishes himself as the first in precedence (protothronos) of all the Metropolitans subject to Antioch.

Ecclesiastical administration

The ecclesiastical administration paralleled the political, but with some differences. When the province was divided c. 400, Damascus, rather than Emesa, became the metropolis of Phoenice II. Both provinces belonged to the Patriarchate of Antioch, with Damascus initially outranking Tyre, whose position was also briefly challenged by the see of Berytus c. 450; after 480/1, however, the Metropolitan of Tyre established himself as the first in precedence (protothronos) of all the Metropolitans subject to Antioch.